c. 1999 Religion News Service

STUART, Fla. _ Tom Bridges never used to go to church. His weekends were so busy he barely had time for chores and his family, never mind God.

Sundays, the traditional Sabbath for Christians, had become too busy, too rushed. Bridges said he preferred to spend time with his family on the only day of the week he didn’t have to work or have other commitments.

Then he found out about Saturday evening church services at the Community Bible Chapel, also known as the Grace Place.

Now every Saturday night he can be found at the Grace Place worshipping and singing with about 200 others.”On Saturdays I have so many errands and jobs and work that I like to end the day by focusing on church,”said Bridges, 58.”And it leaves me one complete day for family and relaxing.” As churches struggle to stay relevant and compete with the busy schedules of their parishioners, many are finding that moving worship services to Saturday is one way to keep the pews full. And ironically, the boom in Saturday night services comes as Sunday night services struggle to survive.”Church can be done on Saturday evening just as effectively as it is done on Sunday morning,”said the Rev. Rick Addison, pastor of the Grace Place.”I would look at it and say we need to do what we must to connect with as many people as we can to communicate the gospel.” Addison started the Saturday services six months ago for a number of reasons. One was that two Sunday morning services were just getting too crowded. But more importantly, Addison said the Saturday services are one more way the 20-year-old church can meet people’s needs.

In the three identical weekend services, the church attracts about 700 people, Addison said. The Saturday alternative has become so popular the church is considering adding a fourth service just to accommodate the crowds.

People like Bridges who regularly attend the Saturday night service say the new worship time has been, well, a God-send. It’s meant people who work on Sunday mornings don’t have to miss church, and people who want a full day of rest can still have it.”It’s really filling a need,”said Deanna Schierer of Palm City, who usually works at Walgreen’s pharmacy on Sunday.”There’s no other way to go when you work every Sunday. The service is the same, only the people are different.” The people who flock to church on Saturday nights say they’re not missing anything they would get on Sunday morning. What’s more, they say, God probably isn’t concerned when they go to church, just as long as they go.”When you come to worship God, you get what you’re supposed to get,”said Joan Collins of Stuart.”This is the Sabbath, too, because this is the day the Lord has made.” Roman Catholic churches have long offered Saturday Mass, as much to offer convenient alternatives to Sunday as to give parishioners a chance for daily Mass. But church on Saturdays in Protestant churches is a ’90s phenomenon.

Church leaders have mixed opinions about whether making church a matter of convenience is a good or bad idea. Addison says the church needs to be pragmatic about meeting people’s needs however they can.”The flip side is if we don’t have a Saturday night alternative, are (these people) going to have a worship experience in their lives?”he said.”I doubt it.” As more and more churches experiment with the Saturday model, others are still struggling to keep traditional Sunday evening services alive.

Once as well-attended as Sunday mornings, Sunday evening services were an informal time of singing and fellowship. Most mainline Protestant churches have dropped Sunday nights although a few evangelical churches still hang on to the practice.

Experts say Sunday nights developed when America was a rural agrarian society with nothing better to do on Sunday nights besides going to church. When society changed, churches were soon to follow. “Simply having much more mobile, scattered, diverse lives means that Sunday isn’t the kind of day it was 100 years ago,”said Nancy Ammerman, professor of sociology of religion at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Conn.”Sunday night services becomes a different type of animal. It means people have to interrupt other activities.” Churches that have kept with Sunday nights say they’re trying to find ways to keep programs interesting and relevant. The Rev. A. Douglas Watterson, pastor of North Stuart Baptist Church, said his church has changed Sunday night services into a time for lessons in church history, doctrine and discipleship.

Sunday nights at Watterson’s church are frequented mostly by older parishioners. When they’re gone, Watterson said he fears Sunday night services might die off as well.”I’m sometimes frustrated that this generation doesn’t see it in the same light, but I temper that when I remember … it’s a different world than it used to be,”he said.

The gradual withering-away of Sunday night services is more of a cultural phenomenon than a sign that the church is in critical condition, church experts say.

In addition, the decline of one service and the growth of another are not necessarily related but instead reflect different aspects of a changing church climate across the country, said Carol Childress with the Leadership Network, a Dallas-based church consulting group.”(Sunday nights) became a tradition that many people took for granted as the proper way to”do church,'”Childress said.”The cultural changes of the past 50 years and especially the past 20 years have made Sunday evening services less effective and lots of churches have dropped it.” DEA END ECKSTROM