Reflections of 25 Years: We Gave up a Lot When We Gave up Sunday Night Worship

Dr. Randy White

When I started ministry 25 years ago, the departure from Sunday night worship was just beginning. Now, 23 years later, it is the exception to have Sunday night worship, not the rule.

For most of my pastoral career, I preached on Sunday nights and I loved it. A number of years ago, however, we dropped the worship in place of an evangelism program that worked well for a season, but then itself died out. We tried a few other Sunday night activities, but nothing really stuck, and in the end Sunday nights were just committee meetings and special events.

For many, the Sunday night issue is a dead horse. But even for them, I think they will have to admit that we gave up far more than we knew when we dismissed the congregation from Sunday night worship.

Remember when testimonies were regularly given in church, by church members? They were simple, everyday people giving simply beautiful testimonies of God’s grace. We do not do testimonies anymore because they are too unpolished for Sunday mornings (so we think) or take too much time (nobody ever stops at the three minutes they are given) or too unpredictable (“I can’t believe he said that!”). Testimonies were very appropriate in Sunday night services. They helped new believers express their faith. They allowed older believers to encourage others with their faith. They were a witness to the lost and a blessing to the saved. Now, only on rare occasions does a church member give his or her testimony in church.

Remember “sing your favorites” on Sunday nights? We do not do those anymore, either. It would be a disaster on Sunday mornings, but they were great times of celebration on Sunday night. The loss of the hymnal also makes this somewhat more challenging, though not impossible. The “sing your favorites” night gave children a chance to influence the worship of the congregation, gave the song leader an idea of what people liked and gave everyone an opportunity to sing what they loved. The opportunity to join together in community and sing the songs of the faith that are written on our hearts was a great way to build fellowship, have fun and worship the Lord.

Another thing we lost was the ability to discuss local or denominational matters. Whether it was the need for new linoleum in the kitchen or meeting the needs of youth camp, Sunday night was the place we talked about such things. We informed members of denominational matters and concerns (maybe this is why the denomination does not matter and we are not concerned anymore). We were able to minister to needs of members and let others know of these needs in Sunday night services. These are things that simply do not work well on Sunday mornings.One of the worst casualties of the cancellation of Sunday night services was missions promotion. It was Sunday nights when we taught people about Christian generosity and educated them about people and places on the mission field that could use their support. We used Sunday nights to call our young people into missions and to raise funds to send them. We heard missionary testimonies, read missionary requests and encouraged our folk to stay in touch with those who had gone to the field. The time constraints of Sunday morning do not allow much in terms of missions education and promotion. Maybe this is why we are calling missionaries home rather than sending missionaries out.

Finally, when we dropped Sunday night worship, we also lost “the fellowship of kindred minds.” Sunday nights were certainly singing and preaching, testimonies and missions promotion, but they were also fellowship times. We chatted before the service. We went to get pie or pizza after the service. We met one another and got to know each one on a first-name basis. We had after-church fellowships. We often went home a little too late, but filled with happy hearts and touched by wonderful friends.

Can we ever revive Sunday night services? I doubt it. I think the damage is done. Like selling an item in a garage sale too cheaply, we gave up Sunday night services without counting the real cost. Now many churches and most of society have a generation of people who have never been part of Sunday night services, and do not see the value. The older generation (that’s me) looks back with fond memories. And the task at hand is to figure out how to strengthen what we lost.

Next in this series: Reflection No. 8—The Pastor Probably Did Not Try to Offend You.

To read all the articles in this series, click here.