Jump to content
  • Welcome Guest

    For an ad free experience on Online Baptist, Please login or register for free

Goodbye to Sunday evening services


Recommended Posts

  • Members
27 minutes ago, E Morales said:

Some churches have dropped having Sunday evening services, have yours, just checking. I believe, once your church drop having Wednesdays, and Sunday night evening services, it will be very hard to bring it back. 

 

Our church is bringing Sunday evening services back this Sunday. We've already reinstated the Wednesday services about a year ago. But, you're correct, many churches have dropped them and are happy with the status quo right now. It's less hassle for the pastor, less time spent in church by the parishoners (laziness always takes it's toll when it's allowed to continue), and will definitely be hard to get it back into place. I'm praying these churches wake up and smell the coffee!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators

Many (most, actually) churches in this area do not have Sunday evening services. Most of those do not have Wednesday evening services, while some of them have "cells" which meet in homes (while it is not a gathering of the church, at least they are meeting).

We have meetings on Sunday evening and Wednesday evening. However, we do not have many people who attend. Various reasons are given, but "excuses, excuses, you'll hear them every day..." Hubs, however, is not going to close the doors. This area is hard to the Lord. Harder than I've ever seen. And I'm including Christians in that statement, sadly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
3 minutes ago, HappyChristian said:

Many (most, actually) churches in this area do not have Sunday evening services. Most of those do not have Wednesday evening services, while some of them have "cells" which meet in homes (while it is not a gathering of the church, at least they are meeting).

We have meetings on Sunday evening and Wednesday evening. However, we do not have many people who attend. Various reasons are given, but "excuses, excuses, you'll hear them every day..." Hubs, however, is not going to close the doors. This area is hard to the Lord. Harder than I've ever seen. And I'm including Christians in that statement, sadly.

Sadly I've heard that this is the case in the PNW...I wish it weren't so. We have acquaintances who are SBC church planters in the PNW, and they say that it's unbelievably hard there towards Christ.  But, I'm finding that this attitude is also starting to grow here in the South. Many Christians, since the beginning of this "pandemic" have grown cold to Christ because of their not being with other believers, lockdowns, job losses, deaths in the families from the virus, etc. I'm thankful that our church is going to be starting Sunday evening Bible studies (separated into men's and women's groups) again this Sunday. After two years of challenges, we thought it would never happen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
11 minutes ago, swathdiver said:

My church has not stopped any regular services though attendance is down.  It sure would be dis-heartening to show up on Wednesday night and see the parking lot empty!  

Though we didn't get to attend Wednesday services often because of our schedule, we were usually in Sunday Evening small groups. It was one of the best parts of our week. We were glad when the preacher restarted the Wednesday evening services after a year of them being stopped because of the VID virus. We have been able to be in a couple of them since. Now that Sunday evenings are starting again, we should be able to be there. I know when we would drive by the church on Sunday evenings and nobody was there, we often wondered if the small groups would ever start again. PTL for answered prayers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Our local church took a 2 week stop to all services and went online only. We just started back this past Wednesday evening, all services are on now, Sunday AM-PM, & Wednesday evening prayer meeting.

2 hours ago, swathdiver said:

My church has not stopped any regular services though attendance is down.  It sure would be dis-heartening to show up on Wednesday night and see the parking lot empty!  

Amen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
16 hours ago, HappyChristian said:

Many (most, actually) churches in this area do not have Sunday evening services. Most of those do not have Wednesday evening services, while some of them have "cells" which meet in homes (while it is not a gathering of the church, at least they are meeting).

We have meetings on Sunday evening and Wednesday evening. However, we do not have many people who attend. Various reasons are given, but "excuses, excuses, you'll hear them every day..." Hubs, however, is not going to close the doors. This area is hard to the Lord. Harder than I've ever seen. And I'm including Christians in that statement, sadly.

If you remember Decatur, it is very rural, and attendance is down. Some do watch the online service. It is difficult to encourage in person attendance. It seems harder to slow anyone down long enough to even speak to about the Lord, yes including 'Christians'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators

Our church, as a body, chose to not chose the doors for any service. We chose instead to follow God's word contained in this verse: Hebrews 10:25 (KJV) Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

We did make provision for those that felt it too dangerous, and for extenuating reasons such as "at risk" situations, by also putting all services online.

This worked out well for us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Our church services are now both in-person and online. During the summer we met in-person outside at a nearby park and online. On Thursday evenings we have our "Prayer and Share" session and that is totally online. One advantage of being online is former members who live in other states can join us. It is good to be able to touch base with them.

Edited by Razor
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators
16 hours ago, 1Timothy115 said:

If you remember Decatur, it is very rural, and attendance is down. Some do watch the online service. It is difficult to encourage in person attendance. It seems harder to slow anyone down long enough to even speak to about the Lord, yes including 'Christians'.

I do remember Decatur, and I'm sorry to hear that. It sounds a lot like here! 

 

~~~~

I was able to go to church tonight for the first Sunday evening service since my mom fell. My hubs is sick, so he stayed home with her. Our son taught Sunday School and preached the morning service and then taught tonight. 

Sunday School was our son, me, and my mom. Two people joined us for morning service. This evening it was my son, me, and a gentleman who has been coming lately (his car didn't start this morning). 

Yep. It's disheartening. But we are praying and trusting God to build His church.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I once belonged to an IFB that specifically chose not to have Sunday evening services and encouraged home fellowships in their stead so that the congregation could get to know each other better on a more personal basis. While this approach is certainly not for everyone, it did have its merits. My wife and I were new to IFB at the time and these more personal gatherings allowed us to grow much quicker than otherwise "I think". It was through one such gathering that my wife finally conceded to Homeschool our children, seeing how well it worked for others and how it was not beyond her grasp if she had the Lord by her side.

Our current church had to forego all in church gatherings for several months back when COVID first reared its ugly head mainly because we are in New York where the government is easily moved to be rather draconian. We did have regular services online during that time, and our pastor also set up regular Zoom gatherings during the week where we could all get together and fellowship. As soon as it was possible we got back into the church proper, though, and that is by far the best situation.

Personally I think all this COVID nonsense is just another means Satan is using to divide and conquer (as I believe this very topic attests to). It has pulled people out of the church and, for some, weakened their faith. It has made many people fearful of others and reluctant to gather. Satan knows that individually we are easier to pick off, and it makes for a much weaker church, which leads to a weaker godly presence in the community; especially now when our communities need that godly presence most.

Sad. Pray.

Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of themMT 18:19-20  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
19 minutes ago, E Morales said:

Today many christians work on Sundays, the evening services, serves those that cannot make it Sunday mornings. I believe, this was one of the main reason why for evening church.

I know while I was in Bible college, I couldn't always get out of working on Sunday mornings or evenings. I usually had a job that would allow me to have one or the other off. I was always thankful for the Sunday I didn 't have to work at all. Even after I had left Bible college, I was in jobs where much of the time I had to work either th Sunday morning or the Sunday evening shift. They did work with me when I was preaching and let me off to speak in churches throughout Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Tennessee and so on. 

I don't know when church in the evenings became a part of history, but I do remember Dr. Richard Weeks from Maranatha saying that he recalled a time when the church would only meet on Sunday mornings, and that the congregants would meet together during the week in each others homes to study the Bible and pray. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...