For many people, church and Sunday morning are almost inseparable. Sunday morning is a meaningful tradition with deep roots in Christian history—but it is not the only faithful time for Christians to gather.
For us, what started as a practical decision became a rhythm our people love. We needed money, so we moved our service to the evening so we could rent our building on Sunday morning. When we moved to Battle Ground, we intended to go back to the morning time, and tried it for a short while. Our people really missed the evening rhythm and meal, so we opted to go back to the evenings.
But there are other things to consider when thinking about what time a church service should be.
A Biblical Rhythm
The New Testament does not command Christians to gather at a particular hour. In fact, two of its most memorable pictures of believers gathering on the first day of the week happen in the evening.
On the day Jesus rose from the dead, His disciples were together that evening behind locked doors. This would be the first time the disciples would see Jesus after His resurrection. Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” (John 20:19). This was not necessarily a planned church service, but it gives us a beautiful picture of the risen Jesus meeting His gathered followers on Sunday evening.
Acts gives us an even clearer example. In Acts 20, the church in Troas gathered on the first day of the week to break bread. Paul taught them in an upstairs room filled with lamps and continued speaking until midnight. It was an evening gathering centered around teaching, fellowship, and a shared table, although we promise to let everyone go home before anyone falls out of a window.
These passages do not prove that Sunday evening is the only biblical time to worship. They show something more important: Scripture emphasizes the people gathering around Jesus, not a sacred hour on the clock.
An Ancient Christian Practice
The earliest Christians also gathered at different times depending on their circumstances.
The Didache, one of the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament, tells believers to gather on the Lord’s Day, break bread, give thanks, confess their sins, and reconcile with one another. It never specifies what time they should meet.
Around AD 112, the Roman governor Pliny the Younger reported that Christians met on a fixed day before sunrise. Then they would gather later in the day for a meal. Sunday was still an ordinary workday, so many believers likely gathered before beginning their daily labor, then ate after their shift.
Later in the second century, Justin Martyr described Christians gathering on Sunday to hear Scripture, receive teaching, pray, share Communion, and give to people in need. By the third century, Sunday-morning worship had become well established, with Christian leaders connecting the morning with the resurrection of Jesus.
Sunday-morning worship, therefore, is not a modern invention. It is an ancient and meaningful Christian tradition. But Christians have also gathered before dawn, during the day, in the evening, in homes, around tables, and wherever circumstances made gathering possible.
The day mattered. The community mattered. Jesus mattered. The precise hour did not.
A Church That Gives Your Weekend Back
We meet on Sunday evening partly because it creates breathing room.
For many families, weekends are already filled with work, children’s activities, travel, household responsibilities, and the need for rest. Sunday-morning church can easily become one more place everyone has to rush toward.
Meeting in the evening leaves room for people to sleep, rest, spend time with family, enjoy the outdoors, take a day trip, or simply move more slowly. Then, as the weekend draws to a close and we are getting ready for another busy week, we gather to center ourselves on Jesus and begin the coming week together.
This is not about making church less important. It is about creating a rhythm in which people can gather without beginning the day hurried, exhausted, or stressed.
The Kind of Church We Want to Be
Sunday evening also fits the kind of church SixEight is becoming.
We want our gatherings to be relational, participatory, and unhurried. We worship, open Scripture, share food, have conversations, ask questions, and make room for people to know and be known.
Church is not simply an event we attend. It is a community learning to follow Jesus together.
Sunday evening is not a lesser version of church, nor do we believe it is the only faithful time to gather. It is simply the rhythm we have chosen because it helps us live out our values of community, discipleship, rest, hospitality, and life together.
The church did not begin as a time slot. It began as people gathered around Jesus.
Whether that happens before sunrise, on Sunday morning, or as the weekend draws to a close, Jesus remains at the center.