Evening Worship Services and the ARP
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Good Morning,
Recently a friend of mine compiled a list of churches, presbytery-by-presbytery, in the Presbyterian Church in America who offer a second service (whether that be in the afternoon or in the evening) on the Lord’s Day. The PCA currently has 1,930 worshipping congregations. 238 of them have morning and evening services on the Sabbath, or roughly 11% of the denomination. Not to be left behind I went about and did my own sleuthing to see what the situation looks like in our beloved Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Similar work done for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (the OPC) and the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (the RPCNA) showed in those respective communions a near/above 60% rate for evening worship. Our Dutch Reformed brothers (CanRC, URC, etc...) are closer to 90%. I figured we would not be anywhere near those numbers, and I was correct. As with all investigative reporting I am sure my findings are not 100% on the nose accurate, however, I think they are more than a fair representation of the data available. Before we get into that let’s take a second to step back and look at some of the history of the Sunday evening service and the ARP.
In the bicentennial supplement of the “red books” Dr. C.A. Boswell notes that as early as the 1980s evening worship had become rare, and attendance small. Yet, one need not go too far back to read that the Lord’s Day in nearly every church, regardless of a settled pastorate or not, were observers of a two-a-day pattern of worship. So what happened? While some blame could be put on the relaxing of Sabbath observance, that’s not really the main culprit. Attendance at the second service was always lighter than the morning service. You can find ministers lamenting that fact even in the days of John Knox. It also cannot be the fault of distance from the house of God. Even if you live 25 miles from your church now it still would take you less time to get back at 5 or 6pm than it did your great-grandfather in his horse and buggy in 1920 when he was within earshot of the building. Is it the complexities of modern worship styles and the time needed to prep a praise band? I doubt it is about that either. Gig musicians are adept at picking up a tune and running with it on Saturday nights, shouldn’t be an issue for Sunday either. Though, to be fair it is a lot simpler for our acapella RP brothers and sisters on this front. Regardless of what the reasons were the simple fact is that for most of the ARP an evening service became by the time Dr. Boswell wrote his paper in 1982 a rare thing.
Where are we today in 2023 then?
In figuring out the numbers the method was fairly simple. I checked church websites for service times and availabilities, and then for congregations either without an internet presence or possessing a site not updated since the second Bush administration I simply asked someone with knowledge about the situation on the ground. Below were my findings for ARP churches who have worship in the morning and the evening divided up by Presbyteries:
Catawba = 8 of 42 First = 5 of 45 Grace = 4 of 18
Virginia = 1 of 13 Northeast = 0 of 31 Canada = 11 of 11
Second = 2 of 29 MVP = 3 of 25 Florida = 1 of 22
TN-AL = 2 of 15
In raw numbers that means of 251 ARP churches polled currently 37 offer an evening service for a total percentage of ~14%. I figured we’d be right around the PCA, and that was true. We share a cultural heritage with the PCA so the presence (or lack) of the second worship tracks the same.
The follow up, other than providing statistical analysis, is the so what question. Why does it matter if your or our churches have or don’t have evening worship on the Lord’s Day? From a personal point of view I think in our day and age of biblical illiteracy, matched with the ever growing attacks of the world upon our faith more church is better than less church.
Some of the arguments I’ve heard include that a second service is too much on the pastor, and it can be if the plan is for the later gathering to be a carbon copy of the morning version, especially if the 11am time is super involved with lots of movements and/or parts. Just using Bethany as an example of an evening service ours usually lasts about forty-five minutes and has a liturgy of a call to worship, short exposition (5-10 min) of a chapter read consecutively (Zechariah right now), song selection from the congregation, followed by a season of prayer, then another crowd-sourced psalm, closing with a doctrinal sermon (more like an interactive presentation really), and a benediction. It takes no more time to put that together for me than it does a Wednesday night lesson or a Sabbath School talk. In fact writing this article for Kyle and 1782 took longer. In addition this will cause some to guffaw, but I don’t even wear a suitcoat in the evening! Egads!
Yet, actually the secret blessing of an evening service that doesn’t get mentioned enough is the unplanned fellowship opportunities that spring out of there being no need to rush home when the benediction happens. Another thing that I’ve heard tell of, and seen at our own church, is that a second service provides a chance for men and women who have to work in the morning and/or are providentially hindered from attending that first service a worship for them to receive on the Lord’s Day. We’ve also seen baptists who are Presby-curious come and check us out. I know of some congregations who alternate observance of the Lord’s Supper from morning and evening in order to feed those who labor for us out of necessity and mercy when we normally take communion.
So, again, why have one? Especially if it seems like just more stress and work. It is a worthwhile concern to have. Whenever we do stuff at any church we need to have a good idea what either you can gain from it or more importantly what our Lord says about a particular thing.
What about a little Bible for a second? From the very beginning of the Creation we see a pattern of morning and evening. That is continued in the order of the old covenant sacrifices, which were to be offered in the morning and in the evening (c.f. – Ex. 29:38-39). Then in Psalm 92:1-2, which is titled, A Psalm, a Song for the Sabbath Day, we hear David say, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night.” Central to the Fourth Commandment is a whole day given to God.
Well, that is the Old Testament what do we see in the New?
In the Book of Acts when it comes to the life of the body we can certainly draw some helpful conclusions. For instance, on the day of Pentecost when 3,000 are entered into the rolls of the active Church there is a picture drawn of what was taking place. Acts 2:42 has this to say, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” There is an interest in spending time together with their fellow believers growing in grace via the means of fellowship, learning the “apostle’s doctrine”, and praying for one another. Scenes like this repeat when Paul is at Troas in Acts 20:7. There we have him holding service in the evening as he is making ready to head out on the Monday morning. To help with that he is found with the Lord’s people in preaching, prayer, and spending time with His fellow brother’s and sister’s in Christ. An evening service allows us to spiritual prepare for the week ahead and as well helps to “book-end” the Lord’s Day with worship, fellowship, and enjoying God’s grace in the means of His provision.
I ain’t telling you to do anything here that you don’t want to do. I mean, I don’t mind being called a legalist. I get that a lot. Have an evening service, don’t have an evening service. There are plenty of good reasons (church plants/churches renting facilities, congregations without ministers needing pulpit supply twice-over, etc...) for why it’s not possible for you right now.
However, an evening service is good, both for you as ministers and elders, and your people.
Think about it, pray about it. Do it. It’s worth it.
In Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser