By Joseph Tkach
Some members are troubled by the fact that a few WCG congregations now meet for worship services on Sunday. Let me address a few of the concerns.
1) The primary goal of the church is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is done both individually, as members share the gospel with friends, and collectively, when we meet as a church.
The gospel is proclaimed in our weekly worship services. Obviously, the Bible makes no restriction as to what day the gospel may be preached. In some cultures, the best day to draw a crowd is Friday. In others, it is Saturday, and in some it is Sunday. In some, Saturday and Sunday work equally well.
The vast majority of our congregations continue our tradition of meeting on Saturday. This is usually the day that serves the members best, and in many areas it does not prevent effective evangelism.
In fact, some churches in Sunday-keeping denominations have quit meeting on Sunday and have begun to meet on Saturday. They are not embarrassed or inhibited by the day on which they meet. They are simply responding to local situations. Some of the larger churches try to offer meaningful meetings on all seven days of the week.
However, in some areas, Sunday is distinctly better than Saturday for being able to attract new people to services where they may hear the gospel proclaimed. So a few of our congregations, in an effort to accomplish our primary goal as a church, are offering Sunday worship services. In most cases, traditional Saturday services are still available in the area.
2) Our "Goal, Mission, and Ministries" statement says that one of our ministries is that we offer "worship services on the seventh day (Saturday) and annual festivals, the church's Festival of Tabernacles being the major collective worship event of the year." This is still true, and I think it will continue to be true.
I also wish to point out that the ministries statement is not restrictive--it does not prevent us from offering additional ministries and worship services.
For example, it mentions that one of our ministries includes Christian drama, and no one expects drama to occur in all of our congregations. Throughout the ministries list, the primary goal is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
3) It may also be helpful to point out that there is no reason that Sabbath-keeping Christians cannot meet for worship on Sunday. It is quite possible to do both. Even under the old covenant, God did not require his people to attend worship services on the Sabbath. There was a special assembly at the temple, but only a small fraction of Israelites lived close enough to the temple to be able to attend this assembly, and even for them, attendance was not required.
The biblical focus of Sabbath-keeping was rest, not worship services. In fact, at the temple, worship was offered every day of the week.
4) In mentioning the congregations that have Sunday worship services, we are simply keeping you informed as to what is happening in our denomination. We are not telling anybody to "go thou and do likewise."
In fact, very few of our congregations would be able to add Sunday services without adding rental fees. And most congregations do not have the volunteer workers needed to add another service. But we are happy that some of our congregations are able to do this in an effort to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ more effectively in their areas.
5) The new covenant does not require a specific day of the week (just as it does not require a temple in a specific place). It would be legalistic to require a specific day, or to forbid a specific day, or to teach that one day is spiritually better than another.
Any day of the week is a good day for worship (Acts 2:46). We hope, pray and expect that in the future we will have congregations that have worship meetings on Friday evening and mid-week meetings. The sign of God's people under the new covenant is not a physical sign like a day of the week, but is a spiritual sign--the Holy Spirit living in us.
6) Some independent churches have asked to join our denomination. We do not need to turn them away simply because they meet on Sunday, and we have no biblical reason to force them to disrupt their already established schedule just to become part of our fellowship. A congregation of 75 people in Malawi who meet on Sunday has recently joined the WCG family.
7) Since God lives in his people all the time, and we strive to serve him with all our lives, all our time is holy, set apart for his use. Holy time for a new covenant Christian is 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Nevertheless, it is a good practice (but not a required one) to designate one day a week to set aside the normal routine and to focus on building our relationship with Christ and his people. No matter how spiritually profitable we find this for ourselves, however, the Bible does not give us authority to impose this kind of piety on other believers.
July 22, 1997, WN, page 14
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