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month the editor welcomes a panel of experts to answer your questions
on subjects such as doctrine, theology, Christian living, and the
church. To submit questions to Holiness Today click
here. |
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Where did
Sunday night services originate (and of course at 6:00 P.M.)?
Why did we begin meeting during that time slot? What is it in our
tradition that gave us Sunday evening services? |
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The time
slot is purely arbitrary. Before 6:00 P.M. became
the standard, most churches had 7:30 P.M. services.
The population was more rural then, and services were probably scheduled
to give farmers time to milk their cows before church. Later, 6:00
seemed to fit the needs of more people. Some churches now do not even
have a Sunday night service as such, finding it more helpful
to schedule meetings at different times of the week or to hold separate
meetings such as Bible studies, fellowship, and choir practice for
different groups on Sunday evening.
As for the last part of the question, it is our evangelistic tradition
that birthed the Sunday evening service. In the past, many churches
designated the Sunday morning service for worship and the Sunday evening
service for evangelism, and usually both services were well attended.
That design seldom works in today’s
society. Therefore many pastors have found the morning worship service
to be a better time for evangelism than a Sunday night meeting.
Of course Christians have always met “on
the first day of the week”
to worship the risen Christ. But there is nothing about a particular
time on the clock that is sacrosanct, biblical, or theologically based.
Each church may (and should) schedule services to meet the needs of
the greatest number of its people and of the people it wants to attract.—rls |
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This
month’s
Editor’s Forum: |
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rls—Rob
L. Staples
is professor of theology emeritus at Nazarene Theological Seminary
in Kansas City. |
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