# Sunday School, Sunday Nights, and Wednesday Nights.



## jjraby (Aug 21, 2010)

Are attending these types of gatherings at your local church required of Church Members? 

It is my understand that these are superfluous and even though they might be good to attended, they should not be required. The same goes with Christmas Eve Services and other type "holiday" gatherings.


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## raekwon (Aug 21, 2010)

PCA membership vows include one to "support the Church in its worship and work," and members are supposed to be removed from the rolls after having "willfully neglected the church for a period of one year." It's not spelled out beyond that in the BCO, but it's largely assumed that what is meant there is the primary worship gathering -- usually Sunday morning. If that's the case, then faithful attendance at that meeting is what's "required."

Participation in other things, like Sunday School, small group meetings, Sunday evening services, etc can be rightly encouraged by a church's leadership, but calling them and treating them as "requirements" can quickly devolve into becoming burdens for God's people, rather than a joy. I'm thankful that my church (among many others) is pretty minimalistic when it comes to official "church functions" outside of Sunday morning.


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## rbcbob (Aug 21, 2010)

Our Church Covenant requires that members attend all the stated meetings of the church. Membership is voluntary. All who become members agree to keep the church covenant.


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## Jack K (Aug 21, 2010)

Actually, I was once part of a PCA church where the elders gently instructed members _not_ to attend all the church's meetings. It was a fairly large church, with several weekday gatherings in addition to the Sunday ones. The elders' fear was that some people might become overly churchy, deriving smugness from being at every event and failing to live out their faith in their homes, workplaces and larger communities.

There's also a difference between neglecting Wednesday evenings or holiday services because you don't care, and choosing to be elsewhere out of a godly desire to be with family or to be engaged as a believer in the community. Hopefully, individual members are connected enough that when the church gathers for these events and someone isn't there, folks understand and appreciate why.


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## Augusta (Aug 21, 2010)

The only Wed. service I ever experienced was in a modern charismatic Church. When we became Presbyterian (OPC) we were told that churches down through history met morning and evening because that was the practice of the early church. We are encouraged to come to the evening service at our church. Being a sabbatarian it seems only logical and normal to me, in order to keep the whole day holy unto the Lord, that it would include the morning and the evening services.


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## N. Eshelman (Aug 22, 2010)

In the RPCNA Wednesday evening services (usually a prayer meeting or some other type of "unto one another" service) are not required. 

In our Covenant of Communicant Membership the member does vow to attend the service*s* of the church. Now how much that is "enforced" is up to each session, I guess.


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## dannyhyde (Aug 22, 2010)

jjraby said:


> Are attending these types of gatherings at your local church required of Church Members?
> 
> It is my understand that these are superfluous and even though they might be good to attended, they should not be required. The same goes with Christmas Eve Services and other type "holiday" gatherings.



Why is Sunday evening worship "superfluous" but Sunday morning is not?


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## toddpedlar (Aug 22, 2010)

dannyhyde said:


> jjraby said:
> 
> 
> > Are attending these types of gatherings at your local church required of Church Members?
> ...


 
As you well know, I'm sure, the second service has become 'superfluous' in most people's minds because expecting two services of folks on the Lord's Day is seen as 'too restrictive' or 'legalistic'. It might interfere with their ability to watch football all day long...


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## Jack K (Aug 22, 2010)

toddpedlar said:


> dannyhyde said:
> 
> 
> > jjraby said:
> ...


 
Yes, all too true in many cases. But let's acknowledge that in other cases, faithful churches have elected to hold just one "service" in an attempt to promote other godly activities on that day, such as small group gatherings. In some churches, members live far apart and organizing the second half of the day into small groups based on members' neighborhoods helps people spend the day with other believers, engaged in study and fellowship.

That's the exception, perhaps, but I wouldn't want to assume churches that've moved to a single service are necessarily doing it because their priorities are messed up. In some cases, it's large churches finding that members are actually better engaged in study and Christian fellowship when small groups are the day's second event.


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## Austin (Aug 22, 2010)

The demise of Sunday Evening & Wednesday evening gatherings is due, in my experience, to the demise of the 'neighborhood' or 'parish' church. When people commute to church it is often very hard to go to those services other than the Sunday morning worship service.


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## Idelette (Aug 23, 2010)

Austin said:


> The demise of Sunday Evening & Wednesday evening gatherings is due, in my experience, to the demise of the 'neighborhood' or 'parish' church. When people commute to church it is often very hard to go to those services other than the Sunday morning worship service.


 
To be honest, I'm not so certain that it has to deal with a demise of the neighborhood church, because there are churches on every corner, particularly in the Bible belt. And people that are serious about Worship will make the extra effort to commute. 

For example, at my church people travel as much as 2 & 1/2 hours each way, and we have a morning service, catechism class, fellowship meal, and second service every single Lord's Day. And we also have a service every Wednesday night. We do believe in setting apart and observing the entire Lord's Day, and have maintained how the Church has worshipped for hundreds of years. If I remember correctly, Calvin preached every single day, so in light of that...I don't think it's much of a burden to have 3 services per week. 

Ultimately, I think there has been a demise in the _PRIORITY_ of Worship. People would rather be involved in "groups", have recreation, and even work on the Lord's Day rather than set it apart for Worship!


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