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Are too many night church meetings a good idea?

Acts-perienced Poster Posts: 11849 **7/27/17 12:57 pm**

I went to a Pentecostal church once that had a lot of meetings. They had a Sunday morning, mid-week Bible study, a Monday night training for Sunday school teachers, one night for those wanting to be ordained as deacons or preachers, a Friday night prayer meeting, a Saturday morning men's prayer meeting, and various other ad-hoc meetings.

I didn't go to every single one of these things, but I went to a lot of them. The Sunday school training was short-term, but it did go on for a while. Before I started going there, I had pretty much nightly family devotions with the kids. When I went there, they'd basically baby sit the kids with some light activity (Christian cartoon, hopefully Christian) at night. So I felt like church activities were taking up my time and the net effect was taking more from my kids than I was getting out of it spiritually. And sometimes we'd get the kids home late.

A lot of times, I'd be in church, not really learning something new, and not having a chance to minister to others in that meeting. I began to think some of my time might be better spent with my kids at home.

Also, some Christians, to be salt and light, get involved in things like PTA and the school board, social clubs, and possibly even political activities. If you go to church four or five nights a week, how can you have time to actually get to know unbelievers to evangelize? Churches with lots of meetings can become very inward focus.

I see a couple of potential issues that could make this problem worse:

1. Pastors whose life is pastoring and whose lives center around church activities.
2. The same pastors making people feel guilty for not being in church 'every time the church doors are open.'

Can too many church activities, or the attitude of church leadership toward those who do not participate in all of them, hurt the impact of the church in the local community and the social and spiritual well-being of the kids in the church?
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Friendly Face Posts: 253 **7/27/17 1:01 pm**

The more meetings you have, the more offerings you can take.

Re: Are too many night church meetings a good idea?

Acts-dicted Posts: 9027 **7/27/17 2:05 pm**

Huh?

Golf Cart Mafia Underboss Posts: 3638 **7/27/17 2:15 pm**

By saying "too many" you are saying it's not good. It's not enough or adequate or optimal - it's too many. You should rephrase the question.

It's nice to have so many opportunities...but

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6042 **7/27/17 2:19 pm**

While it is nice to have worthwhile meetings available, if you are expected to attend them all, or are pressured to do so, RUN!

Busyness is not effectiveness. But some people think so.

If a pastor is worn out from all the meetings he is supposed to attend, it is bad for the church. Same for members.

Again, it's nice to have something available each night, but to be expected to attend more than 2 or 3 times a week (which has typically been standard in the Church of God) is asking for exhaustion and trouble.

Acts-perienced Poster Posts: 11849 **7/28/17 1:00 pm**

I don't see a problem with churches having a lot of activities if they don't expect everyone (or even a certain leader) to be at all of them. But I can see a problem with a family going to too many of them if it makes their life out of balance.

And I see a problem with guilting people who don't go to all the events.
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Re: Are too many night church meetings a good idea?

01000001 01100011 01110100 01110011 Posts: 24285 **7/28/17 8:50 pm**