Worshiping on Weekdays
Churches and saints must have a correct understanding of Sunday. Because it is the basis and foundation of our faith. I have been watching and researching the reasons for the stagnation of the Korean church with great interest. As a result, I reached several conclusions. Although I acknowledge demographic decline, postmodernism, church corruption, or the decline of community spirit to some extent, my own conclusions are as follows.
First, it is because the concept of Sunday observance has weakened. In other words, the Korean church is stagnant because churches and saints neglect Sunday worship and fail to keep the mission of the church. Second is the weakening of district small groups. In the past, saints took good care of districts or small groups. As the social structure changed and the lives of saints became complicated, the number of people who do not gather in districts or small groups like before has increased. This eventually led to weakening of faith and church stagnation. Third, there are almost no families offering family worship. Even if they do, many families offer it formally once on the weekend. In the past, there was a tradition where the head of the household led at home and prayed for the family members, but such a beautiful tradition has become hard to find now. Fourth is the weakening of fellowship among saints. There are many saints who leave through the parking lot immediately after worship. Since there are many saints who just offer Sunday worship without informing the ministers and without any fellowship with the members of the parish, the church loses its strength.
So, to prevent this, I made a book and emphasized the 'Table Movement'. It is to gather on Sundays and also gather during the week to fellowship with the Word at the table or workplace. We started family worship, and many saints responded and are offering family worship. On Sundays, before the sermon, we read the 'Family Worship' word of the day and shared it, emphasizing family worship so that all saints have a sense of one family. We placed the family worship word calendar on the pulpit at all times so that anyone could see it and recognize family worship. Just like that, if we want revival and re-growth of the Korean church, we must emphasize Sunday worship again. However, unfortunately, the number of churches worshiping on weekdays will increase in the future church. Now we worship two or three times on Sundays and weekdays, but after some time passes, churches that worship only on weekdays will also emerge.
From the early church, the Christian community has offered worship on Sunday. Worship held repeatedly at a set time has naturally come down to today through church history. Although it is not easy for modern people living busy daily lives to gather and worship at a certain time on Sunday, numerous churches and saints have still kept coming to God and worshiping on Sunday as a tradition. Looking at the calendar, just as Sunday comes first, saints offer worship and start the week. On the other hand, many modern people understand Sunday as a concept of the weekend and spend it as a day off. As a result, the number of saints who spend Sunday outside following the trend is also increasing.
According to a 2013 Pew Research Center report, 70.6% of Americans responded that they are Christians. Among them, 37% attend church every week, 33% attend worship a few times a year, and 29% call themselves Christians but do not attend church at all. The trend is that the number of Christians who do not attend worship is increasing as time goes by. This is a 4% increase compared to 2003. Among Korean church saints, the number of saints keeping Sunday has decreased compared to the past. According to the "Korean Church Future Report," Christians who keep every Sunday reach 66.3%, and those who keep Sunday 2-3 times a month reach 15.4%. In particular, it is also true that the concept of Sunday has weakened as online worship is offered at home due to the extension of COVID-19. Now, the task facing the church in the era of coexistence with Corona is that the number of people living a life of faith with a rhythm of life is decreasing as time goes by, and especially the fact that this appearance appears more in the younger generation can approach as a crisis for the Korean church.
Importance of Sunday
The Bible teaches the importance of the Sabbath. It can be discovered through four events. First is the Garden of Eden event. God rested on the seventh day after six days of creation activity. And He set that Sabbath apart as holy (Genesis 2:1-3). Adam and Eve would have served God every day in the Garden of Eden. Especially on the Sabbath, they would have rested from all work and worshiped only God. Just as God rested, they did nothing but fellowship with God while resting themselves. The rest of the Sabbath is not resting for humans but rest toward God. The purpose of the Sabbath is not inactivity. That was only the view of the Pharisees, and resting from vocational activities on that day is to dedicate it to worshiping God publicly or privately.
The second event appears in giving the Ten Commandments. The fact that God made the Sabbath holy means that He set that day apart for distinction. Therefore, what is distinguished must be used for worship. In the Ten Commandments, the fourth commandment commanded to keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath was not made for man to rest, but the Sabbath is a day God appointed to worship.
The third event is the event of sending down manna. Manna was emergency food sent down to a limited place called the wilderness, not grain harvested by human hands on this earth, but sent down from heaven. So it is called ' 하늘 양식’(시 78:23-24)이라고 부른다. 만나를 거두는 양은 하루에 한 사람당 한 오멜(2.34kg)이었으며, 안식일 전날인 제 6일에는 평일보다 두 배를 거뒀다(출16:16-18, 22). 제 7일은 안식일인즉 그 날에는 없으리라 하였으나, 백성 중 더러 제 7일에 거두러 나갔다가 얻지 못했다(출16:26-27). 우리의 삶도 이와 같다. 하나님의 말씀에 순종하여 안식일을 온전히 지키면 참된 자유를 누리고 모든 생활이 건강할 수 있다.
The third event is the event of sending down manna. Manna was emergency food sent down to a limited place called the wilderness, not grain harvested by human hands on this earth, but sent down from heaven. So it is called 'heavenly food' (Psalm 78:23-24). The amount of manna gathered was one omer (2.34kg) per person per day, and on the sixth day, the day before the Sabbath, they gathered twice as much as on weekdays (Exodus 16:16-18, 22). It was said that there would be none on the seventh day, the Sabbath, but some of the people went out to gather on the seventh day and found none (Exodus 16:26-27). Our lives are like this too. If we obey God's word and keep the Sabbath fully, we can enjoy true freedom and all our lives can be healthy.
The fourth event is the event commemorating the resurrection. In the New Testament, the saints gathered on the first day of the week, and Paul preached to them (Acts 20:7-9). The day when relief money was collected for poor saints was also the first day of every week, that is, Sunday (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). Looking at these biblical events, we can see that the Sabbath was given to us for worship.