Mid-Week Attendance

[bookslover]

How well-attended is your mid-week service, if you have one?

Any explanations for the attendance you do have - good, bad, or indifferent?

I must admit, our attendance is downright lousy. In a congregation of about 100, we only get about 7 or 8 out on Wednesday night. I realize it's not the "same" as a Lord's Day morning worship service, but still...

 

[Grymir]

Mid-Week? We don't even have a Sunday evening service.

 

[Barnpreacher]

We have a mid-week service. On Sunday mornings we usually have anywhere from 30-50, and on Wednesday nights we'll have about 20.

Those that come on Wednesday night really just enjoy the fellowship of being with one another. I usually give the folks a chance to ask questions they may have regarding the Scriptures, and it usually turns into some very profitable conversation.

 

[tellville]

I'm not sure how to answer this because we have 6 mid-week services....

Monday to Friday we have a 6:00 AM service, and Friday we have an evening service. I'd say over the week we have an ok attendance, but nothing compared to a Sunday.

 

[danmpem]

We had a mid-week college gathering. It was the only time real monergistic theology was preached (by college students nonetheless!). Now we don't have anything.

 

[Zadok]

How well-attended is your mid-week service, if you have one?

Any explanations for the attendance you do have - good, bad, or indifferent?

I must admit, our attendance is downright lousy. In a congregation of about 100, we only get about 7 or 8 out on Wednesday night. I realize it's not the "same" as a Lord's Day morning worship service, but still...

What do you folk in America do in a midweek meeting? Here in the UK most large churches will have meetings most nights, but the 2 main meetings will be

1. A prayer meeting - devoted almost wholly to bringing before the Lord thanksgiving, prayers, supplications and intercessions for souls and the needs of the church in the work of evangelism etc.

2. A bible study - a time for an in-depth study of the Bible and biblical teaching.

 

[Herald]

Satch,

We have a lesson and kingdom focused prayer. Currently I am teaching 1 Corinthians.

 

[SueS]

We have a Wednesday evening prayer meeting where our pastor does a short teaching on various aspects of prayer and then we spend the remainder of the time praying for ministry needs, the needs of people, and the country, military, etc. We usually have about 20% of our congregation in attendence - our pastor once said that we would have a lot more if Wednesday night was a regular service, but he considers prayer to be extremely important and we are praying that others in the congregation would come to see this. Btw - choir rehersal is immediately after the prayer meeting - only a handful of the 20-some members come for prayer - it's frustrating that they can't come an hour earlier to participate in this important ministry!

 

[Zadok]

We have a Wednesday evening prayer meeting where our pastor does a short teaching on various aspects of prayer and then we spend the remainder of the time praying for ministry needs, the needs of people, and the country, military, etc. We usually have about 20% of our congregation in attendence - our pastor once said that we would have a lot more if Wednesday night was a regular service, but he considers prayer to be extremely important and we are praying that others in the congregation would come to see this. Btw - choir rehersal is immediately after the prayer meeting - only a handful of the 20-some members come for prayer - it's frustrating that they can't come an hour earlier to participate in this important ministry!

Seems to be a common occurence - I mean the lack of attendance at Prayer meetings - and these folk really should be made to read Spurgeon's "Only a Prayer meeting" to bring them to their senses. As Spurgeon said the prayer meetings were the "power house" of the church. Any wonder we see so little blessing?

 

[christianyouth]

I'm not sure how to answer this because we have 6 mid-week services....

Monday to Friday we have a 6:00 AM service, and Friday we have an evening service. I'd say over the week we have an ok attendance, but nothing compared to a Sunday.

This is amazing! I remember reading about a Puritan minister, maybe Richard Baxter, who would rise each morning and preach a sermon to his congregation before the working day began. Really glad to hear that your church gathers so often.

Wednesday nights we usually have around 30, and Sunday mornings we usually have 110-140.

 

[SueS]

We have a Wednesday evening prayer meeting where our pastor does a short teaching on various aspects of prayer and then we spend the remainder of the time praying for ministry needs, the needs of people, and the country, military, etc. We usually have about 20% of our congregation in attendence - our pastor once said that we would have a lot more if Wednesday night was a regular service, but he considers prayer to be extremely important and we are praying that others in the congregation would come to see this. Btw - choir rehersal is immediately after the prayer meeting - only a handful of the 20-some members come for prayer - it's frustrating that they can't come an hour earlier to participate in this important ministry!

Seems to be a common occurence - I mean the lack of attendance at Prayer meetings - and these folk really should be made to read Spurgeon's "Only a Prayer meeting" to bring them to their senses. As Spurgeon said the prayer meetings were the "power house" of the church. Any wonder we see so little blessing?

Our pastor quoted that Spurgeon story to the congregation a while back - it made a huge impression on dh and me!

BTW - there is a small group of us who are currently praying for revival in our congregation. It has been in existance for 156 years and we have some members who have been there for over 70 years - you can get the picture!!! We are praying that the Lord will bring to life those who are spiritually dead, awaken those who are slumbering, and bring us all to a deeper commitment to the Word, to prayer, to worship, and ultimately, to a renewed desire and ability to reach out to the lost in the community around us. It's exciting!

 

[holyfool33]

Our Church is only23people but where good attending it.

 

[JBaldwin]

We have only been in existence for 6 months. We average about 40 on Sunday mornings and about 15 on Sunday nights which is our prayer and Bible study time. The elders are working on getting another Bible study going midweek.

The reason we have such a small attendance on Sunday evening is that we are still classed as a "daughter" church and our youth are still participating in the youth bible studies on Sunday evenings at our "mother" church.

 

[jambo]

I used to travel around the country speaking at various midweek meetings. I always found it strange that in a small church (under 40 members) aprox 25% of the members would attend the midweek. However as the church size increased the percentage of those who attend the midweek actually declined. Of course there are exceptions but in general terms this was the case.

 

[JonathanHunt]

20-30 at each sunday service, 7-12 at our midweek.

Which is about 35%

 

[christiana]

We have three weekly services and they are all of the same format with the exception the Lord's Supper is done Sunday night.

Probably 80% of Sunday morning attendance is present Wednesday night and Sunday night. Our Sunday attendance is likely around 500 or 600.

 

[Davidius]

I usually do my homework on Wednesday evenings so that I may remain faithful to my secular calling, although I do attend our mid-week bible study/prayer meeting when possible. Worship on the Lord's Day, however, is what is required. Perhaps the "lack of blessing" is due to bad teaching in the thousands of churches that have multiple bible studies and small group meetings every week, yet fill their members with hogwash and keep them in Church all the time where they can't do the world any good. I respect Spurgeon, but to say that the health of the church depends on something God didn't institute sounds like adding commandments.

 

[jaybird0827]

We have Christian education at 10:00 and morning worship at 11:00, on the Lord's Day. No mid-week here.

People are so overscheduled one is grateful to see those who turn up at the Saturday morning men's meeting (once a quarter) or at a Friday night Psalm Sing (semi-annual).

 

[Zadok]

...I respect Spurgeon, but to say that the health of the church depends on something God didn't institute sounds like adding commandments. ...

Prayer meetings not instituted by God

This deserves another thread I think!

What do you suppose the disciples were doing on the day of Pentecost? Or for instance in Acts 12.5?

 

[Davidius]

...I respect Spurgeon, but to say that the health of the church depends on something God didn't institute sounds like adding commandments. ...

Prayer meetings not instituted by God

This deserves another thread I think!

When I became a member of my congregation, I vowed to faithfully attend services on the Lord's Day. If the scriptures require more, I'm more than happy to be shown where I and my church's constitution are wrong.