My Church Is Canceling Sunday Service This Sunday

[LadyKay]

I wasn't going to post this because I do not want to be critical of my church. I believe they are following God's calling on them. But they are canceling next Sunday's service to fulfill this calling. Let me explain. They have been encouraging us to go out into the community and serve others. They want the church to go out into the community to serve others. They have projects line up to do this. I do feel like this is what the church is suppose to be doing. But I do not like missing Sunday service and I am wondering why they have to do these projects on a Sunday instead of perhaps a Saturday. They are making up the lost of Sunday service on Wednesday night. But the people who only get weekend's off won't be able to attend. It just seems strange to me that they would cancel a Sunday service. But again I do not wish to criticize for who am I to criticize? Maybe because it is a new ideal and new ideals seem kind of strange sometimes. But I am not sure how I feel about missing Sunday church service.

 

 

I am also unclear about what projects I should be helping with. So I am thinking about that as well.

[The_Patriot21]

well, theyre goal probably, is to get the most people possible to show up-most people, dont work sundays are more likely to show up on a sunday night, as opposed to any other night of the week, including saturdays. Thats probably their line of logic. as far as what individual activity, thats something you should take before God.

[Ezra]

But again I do not wish to criticize for who am I to criticize? Maybe because it is a new ideal and new ideals seem kind of strange sometimes. But I am not sure how I feel about missing Sunday church service.

 

LadyKay,

Had you substituted "the Lord's Day" for "Sunday" you would have hit the nail on the head.  Christian's have adopted the world's terminology (which is Sunday) instead of the Holy Spirit's terminology (which is the Lord's Day, as per Rev 1:10).

 

Why is it called the Lord's Day?  Because the Lord established His Lordship over sin, Hell, death, Hades, and Satan (as well as the Sabbath) by rising again from the dead on the Lord's Day (the first day of the week). It is also the day to remember the Lord's great sacrifice in the Lord's Supper, and give thanks for it.

 

Did God institute the Lord's Day (being the first day of the week) to be the day of Christian worship and rest?  The answer is in Scripture, which calls the Lord's Supper "the breaking of bread" (Acts 20:6-11):

⁶ And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.

⁷And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

⁸ And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.

⁹ And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.

¹⁰ And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.

¹¹ When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.

 

Please note carefully that Paul remained in Troas for a full seven days in order to join the believers for worship on THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, at which time he also preached to them.  This is not the only reference to Christian worship on the first day of the week, so please consult your Concordance for additional Scriptures. Meditate on what happened on the day of resurrection also (as shown in the Gospels).  Also read what Justin Martyr wrote about the Lord's Day and how Christians worshipped on that day in accordance with Scripture.

 

The point I am trying to make is that no Bible-believing church has the right or the authority to cancel worship on the Lord's Day in order to engage its members in any other activity.  That is not according to the Holy Spirit, but it is according to the flesh and humanistic thinking.  In other words, you have a right to be concerned about this, and you do have a right to criticize if you are a member of this church.

 

If you feel that this is not the direction in which your church should be going, you are more than welcome to print my response and send it to the pastor and elders of your church, and let them mull it over.  It is about time that Christians start speaking out when their churches start going off the rails.

[ayin jade]

If it bothers you, I think you should talk to the pastor and say that you want the time to worship and couldnt this be done on a saturday or sunday after church instead. That its important to you to have the worship time. You can express yourself to them about your needs without it being complaining. 

[other one]

I agree with ayin, in that you should talk to your pastor.   Apparently he thinks this is super important...  maybe you need to understand why he thinks this way.

[KPaulG]

I agree with ayin too that LadyKay should consult her pastor about it.

 

God Bless you.

 

Your brother in Christ,

KPaulG.

[xyluz]

 

 

 

The point I am trying to make is that no Bible-believing church has the right or the authority to cancel worship on the Lord's Day in order to engage its members in any other activity.  That is not according to the Holy Spirit, but it is according to the flesh and humanistic thinking.  In other words, you have a right to be concerned about this, and you do have a right to criticize if you are a member of this church.

 

If you feel that this is not the direction in which your church should be going, you are more than welcome to print my response and send it to the pastor and elders of your church, and let them mull it over.  It is about time that Christians start speaking out when their churches start going off the rails.

 

 

I agree. If you feel that this is not the direction in which your church should go, then by all means talk to your pastor about it, like ayin said... he must have a reason for taking such action.

 

On the other hand Ezra, i don't think we have a right to say that his actions (the pastor's action) is based on the flesh and not the spirit of God.

 

And i think the word "criticize" is a bit out of place. Yes, we are encouraged to test all spirit, and though i don't have a specific scripture reference for this, i believe we can inquire of our leaders why they take certain decision.

 

[The_Patriot21]

So, ministering to others isn't worshipping God Ezra? I'm sorry but that's being extremely legalistic. It's exactly the same as the Pharisees telling Jesus He couldn't heal on the Sabbath. And it's not like they're cancelling Sunday morning service. There's nowhere in the bible that says you must attend church twic on Sunday.

[Floatingaxe]

This is definitely a test of one's level of religiosity.

[Guest shiloh357]

I hope their list of projects includes things that people can do who have lots of health problems.   I have people at my church who suffers from acute neuropathy in their feet and hands and cannot stand on their feet very long.  Others have heart problems.   Even low impact, light duty projects can be challenging and near impossible for those with advanced health problems.

 

People like that sometimes don't figure into  "church projects"   because the people planning are younger and have more energy and forget about those who are disabled or in failing health.

 

If those people choose to stay home rather than participate, I hope the legalism doesn't go the other direction and people start accusing them of not wanting to do the Lord's work.  I have learned that legalism and religion cut both ways and those who think they are on the "front lines"  for Jesus condemn others who don't feel that same calling.