Why We Don't Have A Saturday Worship Service

Through the years I have been asked why I don't cave in to the pressure and give in to the "cultural swing" to have a Saturday worship service.

Well....first....from a pragmatic point of view.....no one has ever been able to answer this question for me.....By what logic does someone conclude.....if people cannot make time for the Lord on the "Lord's Day'......what makes you think they will make time on one of the biggest party days of the week....i.e., Saturday?

If someone will share their answer to that question with me....I would truly be appreciative. However, answer to that question not withstanding.....it does not change this fact for me. Namely....there is absolutely no evidence at all that the early church met on Saturday night at 6 PM (or any other time on Saturday for that matter). Here are some of the weaknesses of that position.

First.....the early church never operated by the Jewish time schedule. From the beginning, they operated on Roman time. It was a Roman world....and Roman culture. Therefore, the writers of the gospels made it clear concerning the Resurrection....."On the morning of the first day of the week."

Second....those who argue for Saturday worship make the inaccurate claim that Sunday began at 6 PM on Saturday for the early church. This is simply WRONG! Sunday for the Jews would have begun at SUNDOWN....not necessarily.....6 PM. So for a church to be consistent.....they would have to adjust their start times on Saturday nights to accommodate Daylight Savings Time. That would mean for instance, in the summer.....in order for them to follow their position consistently.....they would have to wait till around 10 PM to start worship. Yuck! That's rough on an old man like me that goes to bed around 9 PM. And...what about those folks in Alaska who have darkness six months a year?

Third.....the early church fathers (eg. Eusebius/Tertullian)....were very clear in describing the worship of the church for the first 300 years. The routine of the "Lord's Day" was as follows....they met before daylight on Sunday morning to sing and to pray before going to work (since the majority of them were slaves). Then, at the end of the day, they met for a fellowship meal (called the "Agape Feast"....discussed in 1 Cor. 10-11). During this time they had the Lord's Supper and teaching. You see an example of this in Act 20 where Paul extended his message into midnight.

Fourth....the purpose of meeting on Sunday, i.e., the First Day of the Week, by the early church was to commemorate the empty tomb and what it represented which was discovered on "the morning of the first day of the week."

Fifth....there is not one single shred of extra-biblical evidence for Saturday worship. It is one thing to be "un-traditional." It is another thing to stray from apostolic precedent.

Sixth...since the purpose of our early Restoration Movement fathers (eg. Campbell/Stone/Smith) was to restore the faith and practices of the early New Testament Church....here is a question to ponder....Why is there not one single suggestion in all of their writings to suggest moving worship to Saturday night? For men whose intelligence level was far above mine.....for them to "miss this".....seems, at the least, baffling to me.

Until someone can offer some serious answers to these objections, I feel obligated to maintain Sunday as the designated day of collective worship for the saints.