‘Why do you go to church twice on a Sunday? Isn’t once enough?’ In many churches the Sunday evening service is disappearing.
There are two main reasons for this. First, demands from employers have increased enormously over the last 30 years. Weekends have become precious. Two Sunday services are seen as taking up too much of the weekend. Second, back in 1994, the Tory government legalised Sunday trading. This secularised the day, giving people many more options with regard to how we spend it. Simultaneously it put extra pressure on many to work on Sundays.
Scripture tells us to ‘not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching’ (Hebrews 10.25). While many Christians are faithful to meet once for worship on the Lord’s Day, they leave it at that. There are those who through age, ill health or other circumstances really can’t make it out twice on a Sunday. So is there any sense in the tradition of two services? I believe there is.
The re-emergence of heavy shepherds
What would you think if you received a letter from your church leaders that read like this? ‘Are church members …