Evening Worship Preferred over Small Groups

Through the years,  I have been mourning the overall decline in attendance for evening worship services on the Lord's Day. Nowadays I mourn the decline in the number of churches that even have an evening worship service. My friend and former seminarian, Mike Hutchinson, recently contributed a helpful piece for the Gospel Reformation Network titled, "A Case for Evening Worship" and I commend that piece to you so that you may see the biblical and historical basis for having two corporate worship services on the Lord's Day.

What I wish to address is something that while having good intentions has unwittingly contributed to the decline in the number of churches offering an evening worship service, namely the so-called small group ministries of a particular congregation. On a most basic level, small groups are gatherings of some members to pray, discuss, study, sing, encourage, etc., usually in someone's home. Frequently, they are geographically determined, though that's not always the case. This is not a wholesale argument against small groups, nor even against small groups that are somewhat age segregated. The small group ministries to which I refer are the ones that are promoted by the elders of the church instead of a Lord's Day evening worship service when the ability to have such a worship service is not hindered by circumstances outside of their control. Thus, small groups that meet at various times on the other six days of the week are not the issue here at all.

Now it is true that some churches are hindered providentially from having a second service. For example, I know of one church plant that at one time only had access to their rented facility for one afternoon service. In such an instance, providential circumstances simply do not allow for a second corporate worship service and as such small groups would be helpful and certainly better than nothing. There are certainly other not so hypothetical circumstances that can hinder a second corporate worship service and make small groups a viable option.

However, when there are no such providential hindrances, consciously determining to have small groups instead of a second Lord's Day corporate worship service - that's where my beef is, so to speak. When a congregation owns their own facility or like many rent but has 24/7 access, and the elders determine to have small groups instead of a second corporate worship service, they are actually doing a disservice (pun intended) to God's sheep under their care. A second corporate worship is to be preferred over small groups.

Since the Lord's Day corporate worship service is the time when God's people gather together in His presence in a most unique way, it should be obvious that a second service ought to take precedence over small groups. It is true that God is everywhere and that we are always in His presence. However, when we gather for corporate worship we are actually gathering into the throne room of grace, the most holy place, through the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit (see the argument given to us in Hebrews 9-10). When the elders of a particular church give priority to small groups instead of a second corporate worship service, they are unwittingly and no doubt unintentionally denying the sheep the blood-bought access into the most holy place! Christ died and shed His blood so that through Him, you would have direct access to God - something that only one person had in the Old Testament and even then it was only once a year. 

There are two other important and related reasons to discuss, though there are certainly others that can be mentioned. The first is this: in the corporate worship service you have the unique opportunity to sit under the authoritative preaching of the word. It is the Holy Spirit who makes the preaching of the word effectual in converting sinners to Christ as well as building up and strengthening His people in holiness and comfort (see Westminster Larger Catechism Q.155, Shorter Catechism Q.89, and more importantly these scripture proofs - Neh. 8:8; I Cor. 14:24-25; Acts 26:18; Ps. 19:8; Acts 20:32; Rom. 15:4; II Tim. 3:15-17; Rom. 10:13-17; 1:16). Ordinarily, the preaching of the word simply does not happen in small groups and ordinarily it cannot. Thus, small groups having precedence over a second corporate worship service denies Christ's sheep the opportunity to sit under a primary means of grace.

The second reason is this: the corporate worship service is the place where God specially blesses His people. Ordinarily this unique blessing happens twice in many Reformed churches: in the salutation and in the benediction. The salutation is usually taken from the beginning of one of the New Testament epistles. For example, one that I usually use is found in the beginning of most of Paul's epistles: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." This salutation taken from Scripture is a pronouncement of blessing upon God's people as they enter into His presence to worship Him. It is a pronouncement and a promise that the place in which God's people enter is the place where they will be blessed by God. The benediction follows the pattern set forth by Numbers 6:22-26 and is one I and other ministers use at the close of the corporate worship service: "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you: the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace." Other benedictions found in scripture include 2 Corinthians 13:14 and Hebrews 13:20-21. The benediction, too, is both a pronouncement and promise of God's blessing upon His people as they leave His presence and go forth and serve Him in the world. Such blessings ordinarily cannot come to God's people in small groups.

The Psalms of Ascent (120-134) are helpful in illustrating this point. These are Psalms of pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Many, though not all, are plural, that is, they reflect the voice of a group rather than merely an individual. Thus, the pilgrimage itself was a gathering that could be described as a small group! What was the goal of the pilgrimage? The gathering of God's people in God's presence for corporate worship!

In sum, if your Church encourages and promotes small groups on the Lord's Day instead of having a second corporate worship service, seek out your elders and lovingly encourage them to shift gears and establish a second worship service. Such a practice will in the long run be much more beneficial to the sheep under their care.