I’m seeing more an more millennial churches, in an effort to appeal to it’s namesake, have Saturday evening services as an alternative to Sunday morning services. Why do they do this? I think people who may have come from a secular or casual church background are used to doing entertaining on Saturday nights. A Saturday night worship service is just an extension of this entertainment but makes participants feel positive without having the burden of going to an early church service the next day. And when I say entertainment, I truly mean entertainment. Have you seen worship services lately? It’s nothing but a big concert peppered with prayers and a self help message in between.

There is nothing wrong with worshiping God on Saturday.  Although to do it in lieu of a Sunday service is not in accordance with what the Bible teaches.

Examples:

“And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.”
Acts 20:7

“Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.”
1 Corinthians 16:1-2
Paul instructed the Corinthian and Galatian church to take up a collection on the first day of the week. What is in question is if this was a instruction just for those churches or if we should follow the example of the Corinth and Galatia churches and take up a collection on the first day of the week. I side with the latter. After all, the only way we have to know we are following Christ’s teachings is to follow Biblical examples and foregoing any of our own ideas.

Obviously from the above examples, the first day of the week was so important to the early church. Peter preached the first sermon on the first day of the week, the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). In Acts 2:42 it says the early believers devoted themselves to the Apostle’s teaching. Somehow I’ve got to believe that based on the examples of Galatia, Corinth, and Troas was just an extension of the Apostles teaching in Acts 2.

So why the Saturday night worship? Are they looking to the Jewish calendar where a new day started at sunset? Or is it just a matter of convenience? As a reminder worship is never a matter of convenience. Was it convenient when Cain did not offer his best to the Lord? Was it convenient when Abraham set off in a multi-day journey to sacrifice his son Issac? I just get the feeling that those around me who call themselves Christians are only Christians when it is convenient to them.