According to All Christian News on Thursday, April 27, 2017, some church officials have noticed more empty pews during their main worship service than in the past. They are exploring the idea of changing their main worship day from Sunday to Wednesday in hopes of filling the empty pews. Some think the new Sunday could be Wednesday. Leaders of many churches are noticing that people have stopped attending church services on Sunday like they once did. Sunday has become such a busy day for families that other days are being considered. A long time ago when people worked on the farm all week, they looked forward to dressing up and going to church on Sundays.
Not only was it a day for families to get together to worship, it was also a time for fellowship with others. Today, that is not the case.
How churches are fixing the problem
Some churches are experimenting to find a fix for the problem of empty pews on Sunday. One Minnesota church is trying to accommodate people who have busy schedules on Sunday by having a Wednesday evening service. This new trend is taking place in churches in Minnesota, and some families are finding that the Wednesday services work better for them. The Latzke family who attends the Transfiguration Lutheran Church in Bloomington acknowledged that the Wednesday evening schedule works for the entire family because of their busy weekend schedules.
Scott Thumma, Director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, said this adjustment shouldn't be hard to make because most churches already have Wednesday evening educational services. This will not work in all churches, but Thumma suggested that leaders should give it a try. Some church leaders shared that their Wednesday night religious education decreased because of sports and other school activities, and helping children with homework.
Wednesday evening worship
Wednesday evening worship might work in some communities but not in others. Rev. Deb Stehlin, Director for Evangelical Mission at the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, pointed out that evening and night services in the summer have even smaller crowds than the Sunday morning services.
In that case, churches will be exchanging one problem for another.
Reasons why Wednesday could be a bad move
It is extremely difficult to get older people to want to change from Sunday to Wednesday because of tradition and the belief that going to a worship service should be reserved for Sundays. Rev. Dawn Alitz, Director of Lifelong Learning Programs at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, says the problem is so serious that her seminary has taken notice and is offering a session called, “Rethinking Sunday Morning.” Hopefully this session will shed light on the problem and will introduce some worthwhile solutions.
