Hal Poe once wrote, “At the end of the nineteenth century, many churches added a Sunday evening service as an outreach effort to people who did not normally come to church. The service was informal, and the songs tended to be of a more popular nature that dealt with personal experience. These were the gospel songs people [such as] Fanny Crosby composed. Sunday evening became the evangelistic service. It was the equivalent of today’s contemporary service.
“Today many churches have moved the function of the Sunday evening service to Sunday morning and eliminated the traditional service designed to strengthen the church in the apostles’ teaching. The result is that the congregations are bereft of doctrinal preaching designed to build up the body.
“There is nothing wrong with moving the evangelistic service from Sunday night to Sunday morning just so long as the rest of the ministry continues. Preaching that only addresses the felt needs of people neglects the unfelt needs. If churches go a generation or more without teaching theology in the context of worship, it is not surprising that post-denominational trends should begin to appear…” (Union Univ. Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 2)
Blessings!
Michael Duduit
mduduit@salempublishing.com
www.michaelduduit.com