The Sunday evening service and why you should attend it

In most churches today it is the case that the Sunday evening service is more sparsely attended than the morning service. In some congregations the difference is minimal, yet in others it is significant; a church which is more than three quarters full in the morning may be less than half full in the evening. Although there can be prevailing circumstances in the lives of some church members which genuinely prohibit them from attending the evening service, with others their absence is harder to explain. There are those who have been associated with the church for decades, have professed the name of Christ, yet have rarely if ever been seen at their local church in the evening. In dealing with this matter we are not taking issue with those who have genuine reasons why they cannot frequently attend the house of God twice on a Sunday. For parents with young children it is understandable that there are occasions where both parents cannot be out twice on a Sunday. Amongst the elderly of the congregation there will be those who through age and infirmity are simply unable to attend two services in the one day. Where church members are employed in the emergency services it is accepted that as a result of their shift patterns, there will be occasions where they cannot attend as many services as they would desire. These are justifiable reasons for why some people may miss church services and we would not seek to condemn them. Our concern is with those who are regularly, and sometimes always, absent from their local church on a Sunday evening.

Sunday morning only?

The Bermuda Triangle is well known as bring that triangular region of the sea between Bermuda, Florida and Puerto Rico where aircraft and ships have been reported to have mysteriously disappeared. Many reasons have been given in an effort to explain their disappearance, from human error, violent weather and the gulf stream, to the more outlandish claims of supernatural and extra-terrestrial activity. At the end of the day however the answer to many of the disappearances is that we do not know the reason. What is not in doubt however is the infamy that is associated with that particular region of the Atlantic Ocean. The name of the Bermuda Triangle is instantly connected with unexplained disappearances.

Within the church today there is also a 'Bermuda Triangle' to be found, where instead of planes and boats, people go mysteriously missing. Likewise little explanation can be found for their disappearance. What is this 'Bermuda Triangle' within the church that we are talking about? It is the Sunday evening service. Between the morning and evening services a mysterious disappearance takes place and great multitudes cannot be found at the latter meeting who were present in the morning. Even when considering legitimate reasons why some people cannot be present very often the mystery still remains. Where have they gone? Are they at another church, are they at home, perhaps they are visiting friends or family, or maybe they are asleep. Perhaps the weather is favourable and they are at the beach or spending the time in some pursuit of leisure. Yet really the answer is that we simply do not know.