# Sunday Night Services



## CharlieJ

I have recently heard that the Sunday night service was a 19th century invention. I was under the impression that some parts of the Reformed community had operated with two Sunday services for much longer than that. Can anyone help me with the origin of the two Sunday services?


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## Contra_Mundum

I think someone's being facetious. Or disingenuous. I can't give you a reference or a liturgy, but I'm certain that the Reformed order goes back to the days of the Reformation/post-reformation. Just think of the Dutch Catechetical sermon. That was their second-service assignment for ages.

Jonathan Edwards was preaching two sermons per Sunday in the early 1700s (18th century).

Now, what if a second service was held in the "afternoon' instead of at 5:00 PM or 7:00 PM. What difference is that? A matter of circumstance. The Westministerian church (17th cent) has taught consistently that the "whole day" is to be devoted to the Lord (WSC58, WLC116). The Puritans preached twice on Sunday.

I think the one offering hostility to the idea is someone talking out of their hat. That's what they'd like to believe, so they can do what they want with a clear conscience.


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## Guido's Brother

See "The Second Sunday Service in the Early Dutch Reformed Tradition," Donald Sinnema, Calvin Theological Journal 32 (1997): 298-333.


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## lynnie

The apostle Paul preached all night


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## JBaldwin

Lynne, I thought the same thing. When and how often a congregation worships is up to the elders. I know churches that don't have Sunday morning worship services because they have no place to meet on Sunday morning. My church does not have a Sunday evening worship service, but we have a prayer and Bible study time. Does it make that church or ours out of line with Scripture. NO


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## dannyhyde

CharlieJ said:


> I have recently heard that the Sunday night service was a 19th century invention. I was under the impression that some parts of the Reformed community had operated with two Sunday services for much longer than that. Can anyone help me with the origin of the two Sunday services?



If I may be so bold, the Church has always worshipped at least twice on the Lord's Day. You see it in the book of Acts, you see in the ancient church, medieval church, Reformed churches...

From "Pliny the Younger's Letter to Trajan" (_ca_. 112)"
They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food – but ordinary and innocent food.​
In Pliny’s letter we learn that Christians gathered twice on the Lord’s Day: “before dawn” in order to sing to Christ and to bind themselves together in a common life of morality (a possible reference to the Ten Commandments) and “again” in order to partake of food (a possible reference to the Lord’s Supper).


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## bookslover

Spurgeon had morning and evening services on Sunday. He had a prayer meeting (just prayer, no Bible study) on Monday nights - and the Metropolitan Tablernacle was packed. He also had a full worship service on Thursday nights - again to a mostly packed house.

Many of his Sunday night sermons were communion sermons, by the way, since the church celebrated the sacrament at the evening service.

By the way, reading a biography of William E. Gladstone (1809-1898), who was Prime Minister of England four times, I was interested to read that, as a young man, he heard Thomas Chalmers preach in an evening service at a baptist chapel somewhere. Gladstone casually remarked that Chalmers preched - remember, this was an evening service - for _an hour and forty minutes_! And Gladstone was not complaining about that fact, either.


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## satz

Would it be wrong for a church to hold only one service?


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## JohnGill

I remember hearing in a lecture on John Calvin that he preached on Sunday night. John Knox as well.


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## bookslover

satz said:


> Would it be wrong for a church to hold only one service?



No. It's up to the Session of each congregation to make these decisions. How many services a church has on a Lord's Day is one of the circumstances of worship, as opposed to those things which are required.

-----Added 2/1/2009 at 12:15:56 EST-----



CharlieJ said:


> I have recently heard that the Sunday night service was a 19th century invention.



I think it would be fair to say that Sunday evening services became more common and more popular in the late 19th century as electric lighting became common. But, Sunday evening services, _per se_, have a long history in the church.


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## DMcFadden

CharlieJ said:


> I have recently heard that the Sunday night service was a 19th century invention. I was under the impression that some parts of the Reformed community had operated with two Sunday services for much longer than that. Can anyone help me with the origin of the two Sunday services?



During the church growth and seeker-sensitive era, several writers claimed that the Sunday evening service was an artifact of the 19th century and that it had something to do with lighting. The church all lit up was an attraction in small towns and villages was the claim. 

Here is an example



> Evening services did not arise until the advent of gas lamps, which readily allowed lighting of night meetings. This began primarily in cities, first in England, then spreading to America. With the gas lamp it became easy for businesses and entertainments to be open in the evening, certainly a draw for people on a Sunday evening. The evening service's chief purpose was to provide a beneficial alternative to these other secular Sunday evening activities. Many considered it a prime opportunity for evangelism. By the late 19th century, still primarily in cities, the focus of these evening meetings was sometimes narrowed to young people in particular. For example, the Bible studies and discipleship training of these meetings grew into the Baptist Young People's Union (subsequently the Training Union and Baptist Student Union).
> 
> Widespread use of electricity, especially combined with the automobile as an easier and faster form of transportation, provided the catalyst for bringing the evening service to rural churches. In fact, some isolated circuit pastors now started holding a morning service in one church and then an evening service in another. Evening meetings, in rural settings, tended to be for the whole church, without the initial evangelism or the youth emphasis found in metropolitan areas. As such they echoed another unspoken aspect of the popularity of these services, regardless of where they were held, namely their alternative social aspects. Prior to our era of modern media, commuting, day cares, children's programs, dual income parents, etc., families tended to have a lot more "together" time. An excuse to have social interaction outside of the common daily circle was another compelling motive for an extra church service.


 Lion Tracks QnA -- Should churches have a Sunday evening service? Why did Sunday evening services start? Where did our traditional church times come from?

When you consider the historical evidence for a Sunday evening service in Reformation churches and during the Puritan period, it is difficult to understand why some have spoken so confidently and ahistorically.


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## CharlieJ

Thanks to everyone. I'm glad to hear the facts behind the matter. I recently picked up Clark's _Recovering the Reformed Confession_, which has a chapter on it as well. Dennis, my friend gave me the exact same quote. Guess that clears that up.


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## VictorBravo

DMcFadden said:


> CharlieJ said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have recently heard that the Sunday night service was a 19th century invention. I was under the impression that some parts of the Reformed community had operated with two Sunday services for much longer than that. Can anyone help me with the origin of the two Sunday services?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> During the church growth and seeker-sensitive era, several writers claimed that the Sunday evening service was an artifact of the 19th century and that it had something to do with lighting. The church all lit up was an attraction in small towns and villages was the claim.
> 
> Here is an example
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Evening services did not arise until the advent of gas lamps, which readily allowed lighting of night meetings. This began primarily in cities, first in England, then spreading to America. With the gas lamp it became easy for businesses and entertainments to be open in the evening, certainly a draw for people on a Sunday evening. The evening service's chief purpose was to provide a beneficial alternative to these other secular Sunday evening activities. Many considered it a prime opportunity for evangelism. By the late 19th century, still primarily in cities, the focus of these evening meetings was sometimes narrowed to young people in particular. For example, the Bible studies and discipleship training of these meetings grew into the Baptist Young People's Union (subsequently the Training Union and Baptist Student Union).
> 
> Widespread use of electricity, especially combined with the automobile as an easier and faster form of transportation, provided the catalyst for bringing the evening service to rural churches. In fact, some isolated circuit pastors now started holding a morning service in one church and then an evening service in another. Evening meetings, in rural settings, tended to be for the whole church, without the initial evangelism or the youth emphasis found in metropolitan areas. As such they echoed another unspoken aspect of the popularity of these services, regardless of where they were held, namely their alternative social aspects. Prior to our era of modern media, commuting, day cares, children's programs, dual income parents, etc., families tended to have a lot more "together" time. An excuse to have social interaction outside of the common daily circle was another compelling motive for an extra church service.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Lion Tracks QnA -- Should churches have a Sunday evening service? Why did Sunday evening services start? Where did our traditional church times come from?
> 
> When you consider the historical evidence for a Sunday evening service in Reformation churches and during the Puritan period, it is difficult to understand why some have spoken so confidently and ahistorically.
Click to expand...


Indeed. Even without a history book, they might have gotten a clue if they looked at some old hymnals. The Lutherans, for example, had hymns for evening and hymns for morning, and these were from the 16th and 17th century.


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## Theognome

satz said:


> Would it be wrong for a church to hold only one service?



Not at all. Many services start at 9:00AM and last until the wee evening hours.

Theognome


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