What About Wednesday Night? I am not here to argue whether or not the Scriptures specifically state that a Christian must attend every service provided by the local church. They don’t. But to make such an argument is to ignore the usefulness of such meetings. The same goes for the Sunday morning Bible classes (those who don’t attend the one usually don’t attend the other). These assemblies are not planned to test faith, or to hang bags of rocks around people’s necks, but to help people grow and mature in the faith. Realization of that simple fact will go a long way to help cure the tendency of some who don’t choose to attend these services. Now I’m aware that not everybody can come to the Wednesday night services, so let me get that out of the way quickly. But if you can come on Wednesday night and don’t, please give me a few minutes, OK? I’d like to cite a few things that will perhaps encourage you to attend if you’ve not been doing so. Wednesday night services provide a refreshing oasis in the midst of a parched society. Attending the Wednesday night services is like getting a cool, refreshing drink of water on a miserably hot day. We live in perilous times–times when people are not particularly interested in religion. The Bible aptly describes times of this sort as a “crooked and perverse generation.” The Wednesday night services serve to refreshen our righteousness when we feel like we’ve been trudging along through the desert sands of filth and unrighteousness all week. Being with the people of God, listening to the Scriptures taught, singing spiritual songs, praying to God with those of like faith and hope–what could be more refreshing? If you miss those things, you’ve missed a lot methinks. Wednesday night services help keep our defenses up. If you’re a good Christian, you will inevitably have to defend yourself from attacks by the world. A good defense requires two things, it seems to me: 1) the proper equipment, and 2) a good strategy. We need equipment like that specified in Ephesians 6–truth to gird our loins, righteousness for a breastplate of protection, feet shod with the preparation of the gospel, a shield of faith to ward off the darts of the wicked one, a helmet of salvation, and a sword of the Spirit with which to both protect ourselves and wage our war against evil. The Wednesday night services help to provide us with everyone of these accouterments. Good strategy is invaluable to the Christian. There is no better strategy for Christian defense than a constant contact with the Captain of our salvation. It comes through study and prayer. In some places the Wednesday night services are called Prayer Meetings because prayer is wont to be made there. In the same context of Ephesians 6, Paul finishes the recommendations with “praying always with all prayer and supplication...” Prayer is one of the reasons for the Wednesday night activities. And personal preparation through studying the Bible furnishes us with what we need to show ourselves equipped for the fray. Wednesday night meetings help us keep our guard up. Study prepares us. Wednesday night services keep us within our discipline. Faithful Christians obviously operate within the conduit of the word of God. It is the “oracles of God” we use to plan and execute our lives. The Christian’s discipline is based on “the way, the truth, and the life” and that forms the means by which we conduct ourselves. We are in some ways like little children: we must have constant discipline, constant reminders, constant encouragement, or we’re likely to get off course and stray from the right way. Wednesday night services provide us with mid-week reminders and encouragements to help us when we are being doused in the world with a barrage of evil by the Devil and his forces. It seems a shame to me that some Christians can’t seem to see the connection between these mid-week services and our necessary safety. Wednesday night services are a re-fueling stop on our journey home. The spirit, just like the body, has to be fed periodically to keep up its strength. No person can exist very long without proper nourishment. The services on Wednesday night provide a re-fueling stop, a stop to imbibe of the nourishment to keep us moving along. I don’t know about you, but there have been times when I worked hard all day and thought to myself at the end of the day, “I just don’t think I can make it to services tonight.” But I went on anyway. And suddenly, I found myself rejuvenated, refreshed, re-energized. I was so glad I went. How can such be burdensome when it does so much to nourish your spiritual being? I’ll tell you what’s sad. Some of you who don’t come much on Wednesday nights or to Bible study classes on Sunday, will look at the title of this article and won’t read it. I’m sorry. Because Wednesday night services are a good thing. See James 4:17. Dee Bowman