Why I Believe in the Importance of Sunday Evening Services
A pastor might say to the pulpit to where almost everyone used to be a Roman Catholic, "Folks, a lot of you grew up in a religion where the message for the Sunday morning service will be the same message for the Sunday afternoon or evening service. But let me tell you this: this is not a Roman Catholic mass. We're here to have two different services with two different messages."
At first, even I thought it was absurd. Not all the Baptist and Evangelical churches I know have Sunday evening services. But the more I started to love attending Sunday evening services, the more I realize that having Sunday evening services is beneficial to the Christian. Although I don't see much of a direct commandment from the Bible but it's neither condemned in the Bible. With sound teachers getting into the joys and wonders of expository preaching the more I see why Sunday evening (and maybe Wednesday services) are becoming more necessary. Remember that John Calvin started the two Sunday sevices idea and the Puritans continued it. Though Acts 20:7 has Paul speaking until midnight though I'd rather go for two Sunday services.
At first, even I thought it was absurd. Not all the Baptist and Evangelical churches I know have Sunday evening services. But the more I started to love attending Sunday evening services, the more I realize that having Sunday evening services is beneficial to the Christian. Although I don't see much of a direct commandment from the Bible but it's neither condemned in the Bible. With sound teachers getting into the joys and wonders of expository preaching the more I see why Sunday evening (and maybe Wednesday services) are becoming more necessary. Remember that John Calvin started the two Sunday sevices idea and the Puritans continued it. Though Acts 20:7 has Paul speaking until midnight though I'd rather go for two Sunday services.
Expository preaching is no easy task. Any commentary thicker than today's commentary has a lot more volumes. I remembered reading the Matthew Henry Complete Commentary and digesting it wasn't easy. I'm now reading John Gill's exposition of the Bible and it isn't easy. Expository preaching seeks to dig into the deeper meaning. It's not lazy but it's a huge task that lazy preachers ditch behind. It's more than just taking Scriptures in context but it also involves understanding a deeper meaning. Don't tell me any local church can certainly move forward faster if it only has a Sunday morning service. Having a Sunday evening service to preach the series of lessons will help the local church pick up on a better pace than just having a Sunday morning lesson.
Having two services also allows more more presentations for the ministry as well as having honored guest speakers. If the evening service may not be devoted to continue the preaching of the morning's message then we certainly can have the evening for something else. Having guest speakers from other Christian churches is helpful in affirming this Scriptural truth that the Church is one. Although today's churches are organizationally divided but they're spiritually united. This helps affirm the unity of the Bride of Christ that even if they may exist in different Christian groups or organizations but they're still one in the Spirit.
This is time to consider how much of a blessing having not just one but two Sunday services would be. Most people choose to do Sundays for worldly affairs. Christians should take the time to have two worship services to also help in revival. It's time to say that churches shouldn't only worship God in Spirit and in Truth during the mornings but also during the evenings.