Nightshift workers, like the deaf and disabled, are marginalized by the church. 10-11 AM on Sunday morning, for a nightshift worker, is like 3 AM for ordinary people. When I worked the night shift in a hospital ER, most of my colleagues who were believers never went to church just because of the service time. Many of them were able, willing, and eager to worship weekly but just did not have the stamina to turn around their biological clocks. If there had been a service at a nightshift-decent hour, it would have been easy to fill it with both believers and seekers.

Recently I heard of a church that polled the local hospitals and factories to determine a decent hour for worship, then conducted a worship service at an acceptable hour--early morning, I believe it was. Uniforms were acceptable attire. Coffee would help.

Good, bad, or indifferent idea?

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Mary Vanderkooi
Kale Heywott Church (KHC)
Soddo, Ethiopia

On base in the military we had a 730am service and this fit hospital workers getting off a Saturday night-Sunday morning shift very well. Since it occurred at this time of morning and was on a base casual dress or uniforms were okay.

I think it is a good idea.

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

I think this makes very good sense.
There is an entire population of people out there that don't work the standard 9 to 5.

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Richard H. King
Providence PCA
Lubbock, Texas
"No matter how far a man goes, he eventually finds out God's already there." John Wayne - the last line in "Chisum"

This is an especially good idea if the church is in a community where a lot of the members are working crazy shifts. An evening service say at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday would also be an option. In the church I attended as a teenager, the night shift folks came to church in the evening.

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J Baldwin
Keowee Presbyterian Church, PCA
Pickens, SC
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

Check Out My Blog: http://reflectjoy.blogspot.com/

As a member of the "night working" community, I must say that it is really difficult to do my job and go to an 11am worship service. My church has a 9am worship service but it is Contemporary... Not my particular cup of tea, so I rough it, and then I work with the youth group at 5pm then it is usually off to work after that... I think it would be an amazing IDEA to have a 7:30am church service...

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Joshua Morrison
- Facebook - - The North American Reformed Seminary - - Memoirs of a Jungle Servant -

My church tries to do this. On Sunday we have 8:00, 10:00, 12:00 and 2:00 (Korean) services. Then there are the different youth services (Korean/ English) and children services (Korean / English). During the week there is service every morning (6:00 AM) if people want to worship and have a sermon and pray before work. Also, there is a Wednesday night service and every Friday night they have a communion service. Basically, you have no excuses for missing church at my church! Well, unless your English and then there are only 2 different services on Sunday, one for children, and one for everyone else.

Personally, I think it is an awesome idea to have a service really early in the morning or late at night so as to minister to those whose work schedule's don't necessarily coincide with us standard folk. They don't have to be as hardcore as my church is, but an extra early service or late service on a Sunday can go a long way to reaching some people!

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Mark Maney
Kwanglim Korean Methodist Church - 1689'er Baptist Pastor (read profile for more info)
Master of Theological Studies emphasis Biblical Studies
Trinity Western University, ACTS Seminaries
Surrey, BC. (Vancouver), Canada

It's a good idea, however I worked third shift from 10 PM to 7:00 AM. I either attended or supply preached at 10:30 or 10:45 AM services all the time (most churches I supply preached were at least 45 minutes away). I was usually asleep by 1:30 PM or 2:00 PM. It was never a problem for me. I did that for two years.

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Ivan Schoen, Pastor * Maranatha Baptist Church, Poplar Grove, IL * http://maranatha-sbc.org/

"I want to assist churches and to assist pastors in training pastors. But, after fourteen years of service in this capacity, I am absolutely certain that the finest theological seminary on earth is absolutely incompetent at replicating the actual life of a Gospel congregation. I want to train a generation of pastors who will train pastors, and I want to help them in that task." --- Dr. R. Albert Mohler, President of THE Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY

A local church here started a Sat. evening service at 6 pm. I think that is a nice time for people who have to work at night or in the daytime on Sunday.

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Janis
Christ Church ARP, NC
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." Eph. 1:3-6 ESV

I'm with Perg. There's plenty of time for a nap during the day.

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Tim Vaughan, 48 years old, member Redeemer OPC, Santa Maria CA.