One Service Sundays
 

Well, to be honest, I am not sure how I feel about these.

I have been a part of churches that observe these usually on the 4 occasions that have a 5th Sunday in the month or perhaps on a holiday weekend. I also have seen those who have one service on Mother's Day, but ironically have two on Father's Day....heresy if you ask me:tantrum

Having not been a pastor, I am sure there are some considerations that I have not taken into account. What say ye?

Re: One Service Sundays
 

GloryLand has one English service now on Sundays. It is wonderful, with all the preparation we have for the next week. In April, we start a 3 o'clock Spanish service as well.

Re: One Service Sundays
 

I like it. We observe it on holidays and on 5th Sunday. It gives us some variety and on holidays it gives you time to visit with family and not feel rushed to get back to church or guilty that you did not make it to church. I would go to just one service on Sunday all of the time, but I love Sunday night service and most churches do away with that service.

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I find that I like it as well, especially on certain holidays where I might have family in town for the special occasion. As you, I could never get away from Sunday night entirely.

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I sometimes feel sorry for our Spanish pastor. He goes from Sunday morning, then to Spanish Sunday School at 2:00, Service at 3, then Sunday night....but his burden is great and they have seen great growth...he is in my prayers continually

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we only have one service a week. it's good. we have small groups and other stuff during the week. having been a part of churches that do the twice a sunday,mon tue night bible stud, wed nite prayer, thur night small group, fri nite youth, yada yada, i like the break. it's actually worship and not obligation.

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I agree, our attendance should be one of service and not obligation. Another question arises, not necessarily directed to you, AP. Does the trend to abandon services, in general, seem like a bad idea? It seems like it doesn't take much for some churches to cancel services these days.

Re: One Service Sundays
 

I speak only for myself, when I was at churches that had all the services, AND i felt pressured to be there for most of them then church tended to take over my life. I think God and ministry to unbelievers should be the focus of my spiritual life, not church. The weekly worship service should be a supplement, and it should serve it's purpose of worship in united Christian community. jmo. so i don't have a prob w/dropping services if the goal is to help people better prioritize their lives and their christian service.

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We haven't had a Sunday night service for over a decade. It has not diminished anything but "tiredness" of folks. Dedication to the Lord has not dwindled. We put emphasis on other things like small groups where growth and strength really happen. Methods are NOT sacrosanct.....the message IS.

What is going to happen when Christianity is outlawed except for the "state" church? Will people be able to maintain their Christianity with no services except "underground" church? Actually, it happens in many countries. The amount of services one has at their church or a person attends does not guarantee any part of their experience. IMHO :D

Re: One Service Sundays
 

Sounds like our church. 9:30 Adult Bible class / Sunday School / New converts classes...then at 10:30 we all worship together in main auditorium.
We are usaaly out by noon...so we can beat the Methodists to the good restuarants .:bored

home freindship groups both day and evenings available.

April 6th "The Journey" begins at 5:30 It's church for the twenty to thirty year old.

Those of the younger set will have their option to attend either our regualr 10:30 service or just go to the evening service.

"The Journey" will be a casual setting in the fellowship hall, seating around small tables.

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Ya know MOW it seems to me ,back in the day when we had church 4 or 5 times a week....we were told we couldn't "make it" without all those services...just couldn't live for God.

Pentecostals have been conditioned to believe a lie...that the amount of times in a week you go to church equals your level of holiness and dedication to God.

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It ain't the Methodists you need to worry about. It's them Baptists!!! :D

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We have 3 services a week. One on Sunday morning. Monday night prayer meeting and Wednesday night bible study which is usually informal. I love prayer meeting.

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We have 2 services back to back on Sundays..... and Wed. night... I wil have to say that I like having Sun free because we aren't exhausted on Mon morning... If I had it my way, I guess I would have church Sun nights again because I always loved Sunday night services.... I know God moves Sunday morn's but there was always something about our night service. Especially when you had an incredible morning service and your mind was on God all day and the expectations were high already. By the time you got to church Sunday night, you were ready to dance and shout all over the place! Then I really didn't mind being exhausted on Mon. morns'... :)

Re: One Service Sundays
 

God will move in the life of an individual not based upon the number of times they attend church, but the times they "attend" to His presence in their lives. :D

That being said, we should still not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

Re: One Service Sundays
 

I think it's a practice more churches should embrace. Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest and offering to him, but instead is becomes a rush sunday morning to eat and nap and a rush to get the kids home bathed and in bed before 10. I think if people only had one service on Sunday they would be more likely to worship because they don't have that opportunity again on that day. They will not be worried about whether there are clean clothes for the work week when they get home, but just be able to relax, worship, and focus on God. I find if I have one service, it makes it easier and more encouraging to get up and go.

A local pastor did some research on the topic and supposedly this is a tradition that all started because other churches started offering two services in order to up their numbers, making the other churches lose theirs. So everyone offered 2 services. Don't know the whole jist of it, but I remember my friend talking about it.

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That is tradition... Sunday did NOT replace the Sabbath!!

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We have 9 and 11 AM in Jackson and then we go to Memphis and do a 5 PM. If we had any more services, I don't think I would not make it physically. LOL!

I am such a creature of habit, it was really hard for me when we first did away with Sunday nights a few years back. I loved the Sunday night worship, and not feeling rushed to get the people out. There were times that we lingered in the presence of God for hours on Sunday nights.

However, now we gear our Wed. nights to be like Sunday nights used to be. They are intense times in the presence of God, seeking after whatever He wants, gifts of the Spirit, prayer for healing, etc. I love midweek! The children and teens also have changed their Wed. nights to be more of a deep spiritual encounter time.

Re: One Service Sundays
 

We start Sunday School at 10 and then after the SS kids go home we have a worship service at 11:15. We don't always beat those pesky Baptists to the restaurant.

The churches I have been in for the last 20 years have all been small churches and we have people that drive a half hour to an hour each way to church.

We also found that we had all our visitors on Sunday morning, very rarely on Sunday evening, so we adapted to an evangelistic service on Sunday morning.

We have prayer and Bible study on Wednesday night.

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We do a single service on 5th Sundays. I wish we always did it.

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Our church has one English Service on Sunday and one on Wednesday. We also have one Spanish Service on Sunday and one on Thursday. There is prayer service on Mondays for both.

From now till Pentecost Sunday we have a joint Son(sun) Rise service then our seperate English and Spanish services on Sunday. Our pastors are usually very tired by the end of it all.

Re: One Service Sundays
 

Our church was the first upci church in our section, maybe in the state to go to one service. It works out rather well.

There are a few words of caution however. If you live in an area with other churches of like faith who have services on Sunday evening expect your some of your saints to be at their door steps on Sunday evening. I'm not suggesting a mandate which forbids saints going to other churches on Sunday nights, I have noticed a disturbing trend. People who feel they need two services will eventually leave the one service congregation. Those people are usually unproductive immature saints who have sat on the pew for years. They usually have been in the way for years. They have also been IN the way for a long time. Since I'm not the pastor, I can get away with suggesting to fellow saints this is a bad practice. I tell fellow saints if they are doing what they should be doing they wouldn't have time nor energy to "visit" other churches.

My family and I are usually at the church between 6am - 8am Sunday Morning. We have staff meeting, prayer, service prep for 10:30am. Service goes to 12:30pm - 1pm. Church staff spends half hour to 45 minutes meeting with guests after service. My family spends about an hour after that with various responsibilities around the church. Sometimes we take a new family out to eat. Pick up the tab and everything. We make hospital visits as needed, contact absent saints, grocery shop, deposit offerings at the bank, then make the 30 minute drive home. It is not uncommon for our family to be out to 7-8 o'clock on a Sunday. IF by chance we do get home by 3 or 4 o'clock, we are too tired to visit any of the 16 other pentecostal churches within a one hour drive.

My point with this post is to show how we utilize the extra time God gives us to be productive. Hopping from church to church only shows spiritual immaturity.

Re: One Service Sundays
 

Well... one thing is what when you do one service per sunday you can only take up one offering per sunday.

:)

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What business is it of yours what other churches' schedules are for their services?

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Good grief, Ronzo! He didn't ask what color underwear you have on or whether they were clean.

Got the Monday morning blues? :killinme

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I get highly annoyed at the people with the measuring sticks always wanting folks to measure up to their standards...

Tain't nunyabidness what other churches do... they don't answer to you...

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I just thought he was asking a question in general. I prefer one service on Sunday. :D

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The comment I made was not directed at him, but I realize I did not make that clear. My fault for that.

It was simply a general statement... not focused at him.

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Gotcha. :thumbsup

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hey bro. sombody put starch in your skivies? LOL!

I thought it was a simple exchange of ideas about what others are doing....

information good.

judgement of the children of God bad...


Peace!

Re: One Service Sundays
 

And they are proud of this distinction! Some friends attend a church that pats themselves on the back becuz of their superior holiness! Just glad I don't live in that city.


Our local home missions work (started Apr '99) has always had Sun AM only.
Wed night had sevices but this has been replaced by home cell groups. There is also a Sat night worship service. Sun nights offer discipleship classes for new converts. (this is one of four churches in a large metro area; I think the others still have Sun PM services.)
I personally like the one service concept; more family time among other things.

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This question is not for argument sake but can someone address it?

When does bringing your family to church negate "family time?"

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we have one service on sunday most of the time, i have attended a church most of my life where i went to church 3 or 4 times a week, obligation and habit, i love our church and getting more rest, and time with fam, dt:kickcan

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We have afternoon service that starts at 2 p.m. I like it, but I am not a morning person at all.. so it just gives me more time to wake up and get my act together before getting to choir practice and then church.

However, on beautiful sunny Sundays… I miss my Sunday afternoons in the sun..

I attended another church in Michigan who had Sunday Afternoons and I liked it too…gives you plenty of time in the evening to plan for school/work or even get grocery shopping done like I did last night.

Re: One Service Sundays
 

We have one service on Sundays, and have for a little over the last 10 years or so (probably longer than that). It's great! We have choir practice at 12:30, Sunday school at 1:30 and church at 2:30. We are usually done around 4:30. This makes it nice to have the evenings free. . .and while we don't church hop as was previously mentioned, if there are some special services/revivals at neighboring churches on Sunday nights, we are free to go if interested (which we've done).

I wouldn't change it at all. Everytime I visit my mom's or sister's, and we have to get up and be at church by 10:00. . .well let's just say we don't always make it on time. Right? Probably not, but when you're not used to getting up that early and getting 4 people ready, it can be pretty stressful. (I'm not a morning person so this probably attributes to that as well)!!!

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You are so right. My husband works, generally, every Saturday. Two services doesn't give him a very relaxing weekend. He's getting ready to work out of town for a few months and will be home on weekends. I think that will make him very tired.

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I agree that work schedules interfere with one ability to have a relaxing weekend. However, I find it hard to argue against that perhaps the most valuable family time we may experience, will be when we find ourselves in church with them.

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I agree if it's only one service on Sunday. I hate fixing my hair!!!!

:bliss:bliss

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I better say this before someone jumps on my back.....this is not saying that the church walls are the only place one could find spiritually enriched family time.

Re: One Service Sundays
 

Me too!