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My two cents |
The strict Constructionis |
Yes, cancel Sunday night service.
Instead of a day of rest, Sunday has become one of the busiest, hectic days of the week for many Christians.
9AM- Sunday School teacher's meeting.
9:30 AM -Sunday School
10:30 Am Praise Singer practice
10:45 AM Worship service.
4:30 PM Choir practice.
5:30 PM Pre-service prayer
6-8 Pm (or later) Evening worship
8:30 - 9 PM leaders meeting
People are wore out !!
This is NOT 1955. |
Golf Cart Mafia Capo Famiglia Posts: 4295 4/1/07 4:55 pm
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Re: My two cents |
Telecaster |
The strict Constructionis wrote: | Yes, cancel Sunday night service.
Instead of a day of rest, Sunday has become one of the busiest, hectic days of the week for many Christians.
9AM- Sunday School teacher's meeting.
9:30 AM -Sunday School
10:30 Am Praise Singer practice
10:45 AM Worship service.
4:30 PM Choir practice.
5:30 PM Pre-service prayer
6-8 Pm (or later) Evening worship
8:30 - 9 PM leaders meeting
People are wore out !!
This is NOT 1955. |
Has it occured to anyone that of course it's not 1955. In those days, they didn't have all the meetings and practices and so forth. We've made Sunday's a work day because of our desire for perfection over holiness and worship in many cases. |
Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1882 4/1/07 7:59 pm
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It Was |
almond |
the best thing Our church ever done... |
Member Posts: 38 4/1/07 9:45 pm
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I think it depends... |
prefontaine |
Telecaster wrote that we are trading preparation for holiness. He said perfection, but I call it preparation. God does like perfection, ever read about the steps the priests took before entering the holiest place? Do you think that God ordered ever single step they took? I agree that the schedule laid out by the Constructionist is a little overwhelming, I am as involved as anyone in my church, and that would burn me out in about a month. However, there is nothing wrong with rehearsing what you are doing...especially in the area of music. Sunday school teachers shouldn't need a meeting every week, and maybe instead of a leadership meeting after every Sunday night service, the leadership should split up and take a whole bunch of new people out for a coke and fries.
I live in a very recreation minded town. Mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, snow skiing, water skiing...you name it, we got it. Unchurched people move here to enjoy those things on the weekends. So, if we are going to reach them, why not enjoy those things with them? I have been given the chance to mountain bike with a couple of unsaved coworkers on Sunday afternoons. That is where I am going to be able to reach those guys. I can show them what it is to be a Christian at work, as well as at play. Sure, I want them to come to church, but that may be a little harder than getting them on the trail. I used to live in a town that is full of shift workers that might not be able to make a Sunday morning service, and our Sunday night services were great there. So, that is why I say it depends...it depends on what works in your community. If it is a fit with your community, and you are reaching people, then great---go for it, but if you can reach the community better without a night service, then you need to that instead. |
Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 5103 4/2/07 4:10 pm
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can someone tell me |
WACOG |
When did the Church of God officially start having Sunday Night services anyway? _________________ "It's Not About Me,It's Not About You, It's All About HIM!" |
Friendly Face Posts: 218 4/2/07 6:31 pm
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Re: can someone tell me |
georgiapath |
WACOG wrote: | When did the Church of God officially start having Sunday Night services anyway? |
I have been attending the same COG since 1952, we have always had Sunday Night services. |
Acts-dicted Posts: 7604 4/3/07 5:38 pm
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WACOG... |
prefontaine |
It's in the minutes...they must start between 6 and 7 pm, have choir practice just before, and business meeting afterward...didn't you get your copy? |
Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 5103 4/3/07 6:16 pm
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tryingtogetitright |
It is simply a tradition. Like most church traditions, it is not supported, nor condemned by scripture. The schedule is just tradition. Way back then, if they had started a Tuesday 2:00 AM service, many folks today would still be declaring it to be the only way to go.
By the way, some history indicates that the second service began because their services lasted all day on Sunday. They started taking breaks in the middle to eat and rest. The rest became extended. Eventually, two services formed. I guess if we really want to be Godly, let's go back to all day long services on Sunday. Any takers? |
Hey, DOC Posts: 55 4/3/07 6:54 pm
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Culture Has Changed |
BV COG |
Sunday nights are fading away folks, in some areas that is. _________________ HOOVER, HOOVER, HOOVER!
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Acts-dicted Posts: 7914 4/3/07 8:40 pm
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sunday night |
Musicman4him |
As I stated before on this topic, it all boils down to the personality of the Church and area.
If Sunday night is working for your Church, and God is blessing, then by all means keep it. I know many Churches in the south, where the highlight of the week is Sunday Night "meetin", and there are more in attendance then, than on the Sunday morning service.
Others however, it just doesn't work.
A few months back i responded on this same topic. At that time, our Church was having Sunday night service, however it was out of tradition and hardly anybody was coming out and it was dead and just a repeat of Sunday morning. As of right now, our Church is small, and we are running 50-60 on Sunday AM, however on Sunday night we would only have about 8-15 people. Now, our Pastor has seen the light and cancalled it. It's wonderful.
I agree that Home groups are the way to go for most churches. It builds relationships and strengthens the body. Also it makes it where unchurched friends may come to your home, and get saved.
The main thing is just to be led of the Holy Spirit concerning the matter. God will let you know if your Church should be having a PM service.
M4him |
Friendly Face Posts: 112 4/3/07 8:44 pm
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And I'm Thinking |
BV COG |
Of cancelling Wednesday night service during the summer too, now that should spark the debate! _________________ HOOVER, HOOVER, HOOVER!
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Acts-dicted Posts: 7914 4/3/07 8:48 pm
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Re: And I'm Thinking |
Bill Kinley |
BV COG wrote: | Of cancelling Wednesday night service during the summer too, now that should spark the debate! |
Why start back at the end of summer. Cancel it all together if there is not much interest. By the time most of my people get off work and commute back home its after 7. If I had a midweek service, I would be lucky to have 10 people there. Having a scheduled midweek is not feasible for me with the way people work. Myself included... _________________ "Life is like a jar of jalapenos...what you do today may burn your butt tomorrow." |
Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1263 4/3/07 9:26 pm
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Well That's The Hope |
BV COG |
Quote: | Why start back at the end of summer. Cancel it all together if there is not much interest. By the time most of my people get off work and commute back home its after 7. If I had a midweek service, I would be lucky to have 10 people there. Having a scheduled midweek is not feasible for me with the way people work. |
Around 25% attend the Wednesday night from Sunday morning so the thought is there to not have it at all.... we'll see? _________________ HOOVER, HOOVER, HOOVER!
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Acts-dicted Posts: 7914 4/3/07 9:29 pm
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Here's a thought... |
prefontaine |
What a few churches up here in the PNW do, and it seems to be successful, is have home groups on different nights of the week. It replaces the traditional Wednesday night service, but it is more specialized to the people in each study. My favorite that we have done is have a few in depth discipleship groups (with a high commitment level for those attending) and ran a "Foundations 101" class for the newer Christians and those who were not able to commit to the more in depth study. It helped people to grow where they were. We were able to do an abbreviated NT and OT survey, teaching about prayer, history of the church and Bible, along with a few other things in the foundations class. Then the discipleship groups focused on discipling more than teaching. Showing people how to be Christians, not just teaching them what a Christian is like. The turn out wasn't great because there was more of a commitment level, but those that did attend are solid rocks now, and have grown leaps and bounds in the time sense then too. |
Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 5103 4/4/07 9:52 am
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If its so important |
Political_Pastor |
If Sunday night is so important, then why do churches cancel Sunday night services on Easter, Christmas, Father's & Mother's Day? Just wondering. |
Friendly Face Posts: 246 4/6/07 9:32 am
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my memories of sunay night are not what i would call.... |
Joe Nail |
inspiring. yes they were loud. yes there was good music (most of the time) yes we were there come he%$ or high water. i attended debate-ably the oldest COG in Alabama. Sunday nights were evangelistic in nature. so the faithful would come and get skinned out pretty good. there were the smokers who quit every Sunday night, throw their cig's out the window and some of the kids would retrieve them so they had a steady supply. most of these would start back by Wednesday. us teens would have surly committed some deadly sin during the week so we had to go get right with God in case "HE" came back before school Monday. we would usually make it till Thursday without sinning to bad because we had youth prayer on Tuesday,ype on Wednesday. but by Saturday night we had surely committed enough sin to send us strait to hell. i rode this roller coaster of Pentecostalism for years. i learned to hate Sunday night services. it was a time you came to church to be condemned for something you were wearing, doing, saying,or thinking, that did not fit the speakers way of reading the bible. so my memories are very bittersweet. i would much rather go for a long hike in Gods great creation or fish {we know Christ loved fishermen!!} than attend a service where i get beat up about something.
i know this is maybe not typical but in my case it is true. i finally came to realize that in my case God just had more than this in mind when he called it CHURCH. _________________ all that counts is your faith showing itself in love. |
Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1904 4/6/07 10:12 am
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We have Sunday nights here and |
WACOG |
we average about 55% of what is in attendance on Sunday Morning. However we use Sunday Night as a time of coming together to receive added strength and encouragement to witness to a lost and dieing world and in many cases to a dieing church community.
The reason many become stressed on Sunday according to many post here is we book too much on Sunday's and not during the week. God forbid us to sacrifice coming out one or two nights a week so we can have more free time on Sunday to rest. _________________ "It's Not About Me,It's Not About You, It's All About HIM!" |
Friendly Face Posts: 218 4/7/07 8:54 am
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Hishanmaden |
I remember when I was growing up (and that was a very long time ago) that we would go to Sunday morning service all the time but never to Sunday night services. Occasionally I would attend on Sunday night, but there were maybe 15 folks there. Where I am now, we have been trying to cut out Sunday nights for several years. A few years ago we had a vote about Sunday nights and it was voted to continue Sunday night service. Our Sunday night services now average 25 folks when on Sunday mornings we have 250-300. It is very discouraging. So I do understand where you are at. _________________ If may people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, I will forgive their sins and I will heal their lands. |
Acts-celerater Posts: 604 4/8/07 7:17 pm
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idontplaygolf |
So, we cancel Sunday night services because it makes people think you have to be at church all the time. People are too busy. People need to spend more time with their families. If we cancel Sunday night services because not as many people come, should we stop living a holy life, because people like sin. Doesn't Hebrews say to meet "so much the more as you see the day approaching." I'm glad Jesus wasn't worried about family time when it was time to come to this world as a Savior for us. |
Friendly Face Posts: 146 4/10/07 12:43 pm
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Sunday Night Service.. |
GODROCKS |
was always my favorite service to attend. It is way more laid back with great music and NO time restraints. The church I attend now does not have a Sunday night service but they do have a Saturday night service. I would much rather go to church on Sunday night than on Saturday night. I have read some of the post that say they want more time to spend with their family. What better way to spend time with your family than being in the House of God worshiping. I remember when I was a teenager we had Prayer and Share on Monday night, Choir practice on Tuesday night, Church on Wednesday night and then Church Sunday AM and PM and we never missed a service even though we worked, played sports, etc. Church came first and we worked our life around that, not the other way around. |
Friendly Face Posts: 381 4/10/07 3:03 pm
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