by Pastor Adam Parker

The Evergreen Session is very glad to announce that we will begin offering another opportunity once a month for us to gather, worship the Lord, and to hear a message from God’s word. I want to take a moment to explain what this is, how often we will have it, and why we are doing it. I’m also going to make clear what the expectations are and are not for the members of Evergreen when it comes to this worship service.

What Will This Entail?

Once a month, on the fourth Sunday of every month, we will have a worship service in the late afternoon from 4:45 to 5:30pm. This will be a simple service that will be early enough to allow families to return home with enough time to be prepared to rest and sleep for school the next day.

We are being very intentional about making this a service that is distinct from the first service. There will be a sermon that is not a repeat of the morning sermon. We will sing a couple of familiar songs that can be sung without accompaniment so that we are not adding extra work to our musicians, and also because there is a beautiful simplicity in singing without instruments at times.

Ordinarily, this sermon on Sunday nights will be preached by Matthew Poole, and will be a great opportunity for you as a church to be ministered to by him as your new (Lord-willing, come October) Associate Pastor. The preaching of God’s word will be the central draw of this evening service, as we are given a new opportunity to hear from God’s word and to worship God by hearing him speak.

When Do We Start This?

This evening worship service is scheduled to begin on October 27^th, at 4:45pm. That particular service will be special for a couple of reasons. Not only will it be our inaugural evening worship service, but it is also planned to be the ordination and installation service for our new Associate Pastor, Matthew Poole.

That particular service on the 27^th may not fit in our ordinary time frame because so much needs to be done in an ordination and installation service. But after that, the services are expected to be 45 minutes long and to be simple enough to always be done with little inconvenience to worshipers.

Why Do This?

Now that you have heard what is involved, we have an important question that must be asked: why do this at all? Why not continue only having weekly worship services each morning? Why create an extra thing for people to come to? Let me mention a number of reasons that have motivated the Session to make this addition to our worship schedule.

Because we believe it will be a blessing. The Psalmist says in Psalm 92:1-2 that “it is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night.” The Psalmist says that “it is good.” We want to give people more opportunities to declare God’s faithfulness “by night.”

Because many have been asking for it. We have a number of members and prospective members who have, for years, been privately asking for the Evergreen session to introduce evening worship. Some have grown up in traditions that regularly held evening worship. Some are in the habit of returning to church again in the evenings to once again worship and hear from the Lord.

Because we hunger for the word of God. “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” (Ps. 42:1-2). I have personally been amazed and overjoyed at how much desire there is among members of Evergreen to know God’s word more deeply, and to be ministered to by it.

Because it gives us an opportunity to end the day well. Speaking from my own previous experience at my former pastorate, we had weekly evening worship. There was something about returning to worship again that transformed the whole of the day. Instead of leaving worship around noon and feeling like perhaps the rest of the day belonged to us, evening worship left us with a distinct sense all day long that the Lord had more to do with us still. Although it was certainly extra effort to return to the church again, it was worth that extra effort, and I look back on the years of evening worship as purely positive with no regrets. I believe this will be our own testimony here as well.

Because it will minister to our souls. Isaiah 55:11 reminds us of the power of God’s word, when God himself says, “For as the rain and snow come down from heaven…so shall my word be that goes out of my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose.” How can we not benefit from hearing again from the Lord in an additional service?

Because it gives your new Associate Pastor an opportunity to minister to you. While Pastor Adam will continue as the regular preacher on Sunday mornings, it would be beneficial for Pastor Matthew to have a chance to open God’s word to the church as well.

Because it allows those doing works of necessity on the Lord’s Day an opportunity to be ministered to. I think this really speaks for itself. We do indeed have those among us who are unable to always make it to morning worship, and for some this evening worship may be an opportunity that is greatly appreciated.

Because worship is restful. As I said above, we had evening worship at my previous pastorate. It was an incredible amount of work for me to write two sermons every week, and to return to preach again each evening. I do think often there were times I might have said, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” It added about ten hours of work to each week as a Pastor. If there was anyone for whom two services might be thought of as onerous or difficult it would have been me. And yet, I can joyfully report that it was always worth the effort. I saw people in the evenings I often did not see in the mornings. I had conversations that would not have happened following the morning service. Evening worship had a looser and more laid-back feeling than was the case in the mornings. The preaching was from a different book than we preached from in the mornings, as well. In some ways evening worship felt like a very different experience than morning worship. It may take effort to come, but I feel very confident that participants will find this rhythm and pattern to be restful, and not wearying.

What is Expected of Members?

The Session believes it is important to say that attendance at evening worship is not mandatory. The Evergreen Session is not convinced that it is biblically required for God’s people to worship both morning and evening. We are convinced that it would be a blessing for the participants, but we believe the word of God does not give us the authority to require participation. There are some denominations in which members are expected to be at evening worship. This is not the case with evening worship at Evergreen. The session views this evening worship as a good thing and as another way of blessing those of God’s people who are able to come, and who have a desire to hear from God’s word again at the close of the Lord’s Day.

We also are not introducing this service in order to create new divisions in the church. No one who comes to this evening worship should by any means despise someone who does not come to evening worship. There is no hierarchy in church membership. There will likely be times where even the families of elders will not make it, and in no case will anyone be judged or thought less of because they don’t come to evening worship. We see this service in purely positive terms as a blessing and an opportunity, not as an obligation, a burden, or a chance to perform. When we come to worship, we should do so in humility and need, not in pride.