"On the first day of the week, very early in the morning...they found the stone rolled away...but, they did not find the body...'He is not here; he has risen!'."  From that moment on Christians began to meet in the morning on the first day of the week in honor of Christ having risen from the dead. They would meet together and worship God thanking him for salvation and the hope of everlasting life because of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. In the early days of Christianity many would still honor the Old Testament Law of keeping the seventh day Holy as commemorative of God creating the earth in six days and resting on the seventh. This was written into the Jewish law as keeping the Sabbath holy. So, many would honor the Sabbath, but meet together as Christians on the first day of the week (Sunday) in honor of Jesus' resurrection. As time passed, and the early church was persecuted, Christ followers would meet secretly either early in the morning or later in the evening on Sundays. This is how the church began to meet on Sunday mornings and then add Sunday evenings as a time of worship.

     History tells us that as the church became more established and the persecutions subsided Christians would begin to buy land, own their own buildings and hold regularly established worship on Sundays. It is interesting as to how things evolve into becoming sacred. In this case, Sundays became sacred to Christ followers and Saturdays kind of became a day of not having to work...hello weekends! As Christ followers we now follow in that established tradition. We meet in the mornings on Sundays and have Sunday evening gatherings as well.

     As Christianity spread throughout the known world, the Catholic church took center stage as the established core of Christianity. However, many resolved believers would set out on their own to reform some of the corruption they discovered within that core of Catholicism. The Great Reformation of the Church took place and many branches and denominations would arise during this time period. It was also during this time that many would meet at other times of the week, rather than Sundays, so as to avoid unfair taxation and persecution from the Catholic powers. Wednesday evening vespers or prayer meetings began to become a popular way to avoid the legal haggling of the officers of church and state. They were not considered formal Mass or worship services because the Bishop or Presbyter would not officiate a service or preach a sermon. It was just Christians meeting for prayer and there was no law against that.

     Today, many Evangelical Christian churches have established worship services on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings and Wednesday mid-week prayer meetings due to how history has shaped us. We forget that these are not biblically based mandates as much as they were cultural and historical outcomes that became blessed and sacredly confirmed by the church. We meet on Sundays and Wednesdays because that is what the church has done for centuries. The Apostle Paul had to address this worship day issue with the believers in church at Rome. The church in Rome was a mixture of Jewish believers and Gentile believers. Remember that the Jews held Saturday the Sabbath as holy while the Gentiles held to Sunday as the only holy day. Paul wrote them, "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord." It is in Paul's words that we find a biblical solution to the day of worship. In essence scriptures teach us to commit in our hearts a sacred day/time to honor the Lord. That is why many contemporary churches in larger urban areas can be free to hold multiple services at many times throughout the week. Friday and Saturday evening services have become very popular due to the work and lifestyle of large cities and the masses of people that work weekends and swing shifts. 

     We now find ourselves in the same type of situation. Times have changed and the culture in our area has shifted the lifestyles and work hours of many of our people. This is why we want to introduce a new worship service on Wednesday nights. We realize that many of the good people in our area now have to work weekends. We also are aware that with the popularity of sports and traveling ball clubs that weekends are the only time for families to get to enjoy that season of life together. We want to help! Scripture and church history are clear that we, as followers of Christ, are to meet together to worship God. We know that many can't make Sunday mornings due to these other things, so we want to provide another time for you to come and worship the Lord with us. We are now having a regular Sunday morning type worship service on Wednesday evenings from 7 - 8 PM.  The neat thing about this service is that we already have nursery care provided, elementary, middle school, and high school programs going, and we have opened up our Wednesday evening meal service to include whole families.

     So imagine this....It's Wednesday evening and you've had a hard day of work. You haven't been able to make church on Sundays for awhile due to the many ball tournaments you've been in. You've got to pick up the kids and think up something to cook for dinner. Then you remember...I can go to the church, eat with my kids and attend a worship service. You get the kids, come to church, eat a meal together - with many other families already doing the same thing. You finish a meal (that you didn't have to prepare) and then drop the kids off at programs where they are loved and are learning about God. You enjoy a cup of coffee and then make your way into the Sanctuary. As you enter you will find the lights are dim so as to create a peaceful atmosphere. You can sit down anywhere you like, take your shoes off,  if you please ( because nobody can see) and rest and worship God. The worship team sings, then the pastor shares a message from the Bible and the worship team sings some more worship songs allowing time to take communion or visit the prayer table. You will find pencils and paper at the prayer table to write down prayer requests or you can just pray for other requests available for you to read. There are no announcements, no sales pitches, no offering plates being passed, just you the Lord and other weary souls trying to manage a very busy existence, all in just one hour.  But there is the presence of the Lord, the word of God is being preached, worship and communion and prayer being offered unto the Lord  and people who love you are there and available to care for you, pray with you and help you and your kids make it through. It becomes a sacred time and now a new day for you unto the Lord!

     Come join us on Wednesday evenings for a "New Community" of worship. "New Community" is church on Sundays now being available on Wednesday evenings. The meals are from 6:15 - 7:00 PM and the children programs and adult worship service is from 7:00 - 8:00 PM. 

     Our theme verse is Psalm 96:1,2...

                 "Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.

                   Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day."