*Note: This series has been developed from a manuscript that was used to preach a sermon on May 10, 2026, at Emmanuel Reformed Baptist Church (SeaTac, WA). The title of that sermon was “A Case for AM and PM Sabbath Day Worship Services,” and it can be accessed here. Click here to read each part of this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
In my pastoral ministry experience, there have been few times when I have felt as burdened about a subject as the one that we’ll be covering in this series of articles. When we survey the landscape of American Evangelicalism—and even the landscape of confessional Christianity in our nation—we quickly discover that we live in an era where worship services are being increasingly less prioritized.
According to a 2023 article entitled Morning & Evening in the PCA, just 12.3% of PCA congregations were reported to self-advertise a Sunday morning and Sunday evening worship service.[1] At the time of that study, the Presbyterian Church in America was the largest confessionally Reformed denomination in North America, yet only 238 of its 1930 congregations offered some sort of AM and PM worship service combination on the Sabbath Day.
My intention for sharing these details is not to denigrate every church that doesn’t offer a PM service, nor is it to speak to their rationale for failing to do so. If anything, this series of articles is nothing more than my feeble attempt to make the case for a practice that fewer and fewer churches are featuring in our day, all the while recognizing that there appears to be even fewer people who’ve been willing to teach on this subject.
In my personal studies on the warrant for AM and PM Sabbath Day worship services, I’ve found very few resources that even address this topic, and I’ve found even fewer resources that seek to address this topic from a theological lens. Most of what I’ve encountered is primarily focused on the practical value—or the practical wisdom—that’s associated with AM and PM worship services, yet not so much with the biblical and theological justification for doing so.[2] It’s with an awareness of these trends that I present a positive case for AM and PM Sabbath Day worship services.
As we anticipate developing this case in subsequent articles, allow me to first define some of the key terms that we’ll be taking for granted.
“AM and PM.”
I have intentionally chosen to use this label with mindfulness for churches who have multiple worship services on the Sabbath, but do not necessarily meet anywhere near the same time. As many readers know from experience, churches will often begin their AM service anywhere between 7:00-11:30, and churches will often begin their PM service anywhere between 1:00 and 7:00. The point of this series is not to argue for the time that a local church should gather for an AM or PM worship service, but rather to simply make the case for why local churches should prayerfully consider gathering in the AM and PM for worship services. In the pastorally sensitive words of Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley:
[While] Reformed churches have traditionally held worship services in the morning and the evening—with time in between for a meal, fellowship, and rest—having a second service in the afternoon rather than the evening might be wise for a congregation with many farmers who need to care for livestock in the evening, or with people who travel long distances to attend services.[3]
The insights disclosed by Beeke and Smalley organically lead to the next key term that I want to define at the outset of this series.
“Worship Service.”
When I use the phrase “worship service,” I am specifically referring to “a public and stated gathering to worship the living God, in which every prescribed element of worship can potentially be exercised, but never exceeded.”[4] This definition of a worship service is not only broad enough to apply to every worship service that could occur within any given redemptive-historical context, but this definition is also narrow enough to account for how worship services are bound by the regulative principle. As underscored by Albert Martin:
The regulative principle of worship is the assertion that when [a group] gathers for worship, [they] are to do nothing more and nothing other than what God has revealed that He desires to receive in worship.[5]
The regulative principle of worship flows out of passages like Deuteronomy 12:1, 31-32 and 1 Timothy 3:15, which come within the immediate context of instructions that were given to regulate public and stated gatherings for worship under both the Old and New Covenants. Prior to entering the Promised Land and prior to receiving an overview of acceptable public worship in verses 2-14, the people of Israel were told “these are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth” (Deut. 12:1).[6] The chapter is then brought to a conclusion by reminding Israel to abstain from the false worship expressions of the surrounding nations: You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it” (Deut. 12:31-32).
Moreover, on the heels of providing Timothy with particular instructions for corporate prayer (1 Tim. 2:1-4, 8), for proper male and female church member relations (1 Tim. 2:9-14), and the qualifications for church officers (1 Tim. 3:1-13), Paul says “I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). Just as Israel was differentiated from the pagan nations as God’s unique dwelling place (Ex. 29:45-46), so also does the Church stand apart as the unique dwelling place (i.e., house) of God. Thus, the unique identity of Israel—and the unique identity of the Church—requires a unique regulation of conduct, and especially the conduct that is displayed in formal times of worship. Hence the grounds for my proposal that we ought to define a worship service as “a public and stated gathering to worship the living God, in which every prescribed element of worship can potentially be exercised, but never exceeded.”
With an awareness of the connection between the regulative principle of worship and the worship that’s rendered to God on the Sabbath Day, the bold half of this definition enables us to differentiate Sabbath Day worship services from:
- The worship that individual Christians render to God in every facet of life (e.g., 1 Cor. 10:31).
- The worship that a group of Christians renders to God within informal or private gatherings (e.g., Matt. 6:5-6).
- The worship that a local church gathering can publicly render to God, even when gathering on occasions that are not intended to be confined to the prescribed elements of worship under the New Covenant (e.g., in Sunday School classes or a fellowship meal).
Individually and privately speaking, it’s immensely important for a Believer to worship God in their home, in their vocation, in their relationships, etc (i.e., doing all things to the glory of God). Yet as important as it is to maximize one’s stewardship of such categories of life as expressions of worship to God, they are distinct from what transpires in a worship service, and they often introduce elements that exceed what Scripture prescribes for such a context under the New Covenant. The broader consensus amongst confessionally Reformed Christians is that the prescribed elements for New Covenant worship are: the reading of Scripture (1 Timothy 4:13); the preaching of Scripture (2 Timothy 4:2); the singing of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs (Ephesians 5:18; Colossians 3:16); the observance of the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:17-34); prayer (1 Timothy 2:1-4, 8); baptism (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:41); financial giving (1 Corinthians 16:1-2).[7]
Despite God’s ability to receive glory through our individual efforts to wash dishes, cook dinner, do laundry, and faithfully steward our vocational responsibilities, none of those activities are prescribed elements of New Covenant worship, and none of those activities would ever take place in a worship service. On the other hand, we could rightly say that from a corporate and public standpoint, it’s immensely important for Believers to attend Sunday School, to attend prayer meetings, to attend discipleship-focused gatherings, and to attend fellowship gatherings. Yet as important as those things are to do as expressions of worship to God, a distinction can still be made between those occasions and what would constitute a formal worship service. Even though the previously mentioned contexts are tremendously profitable for our souls—and may feature certain elements of what God has prescribed for New Covenant worship—they often include additional non-prescribed elements as well. A few examples of additional, non-prescribed elements that come to mind are:
- Budget analysis.
- Group discussions.
- The review of missionary reports.
- The sharing of prayer requests.
- Question-and-answer exchanges.
- Role-playing in an effort to practice sharing our faith with others, or to practice defending our faith against objections.
While all of the aforementioned activities can be edifying—and can even be necessary for satisfying the purpose of certain meetings that a church offers on a regular basis—they are not the kind of activities that should occur in a formal worship service that’s bound by the regulative principle of worship. C.R. Vaughn provides helpful commentary along these lines:
In considering the [corporate] worship of God and the surest means of benefit from it, it is necessary to recognize outward ordinances—[or prescribed elements]—as the only authorized method of our approaching [God], and the only means by which we may expect [God’s] favor in benefit to ourselves. This dictates due care to have the outward ordinances as exactly conformed to the requirements of the [Word] as it is possible to secure them… There can be no acceptable worship except in the use of those ordinances and actions in employing them which God Himself has appointed. No man, no organized body of men, has a right to invent any action for the worship of God, and to challenge His blessing on the use of it… [God’s] ordinances must be observed as nearly as possible, according to His own prescriptions.[8]
It’s with a shared concern for Vaughn’s perspective—and it’s with a desire to clarify precisely what I’m seeking to present in this series of articles—that I have set forth a narrow definition of a “worship service.” And if God would be pleased to bless the forthcoming articles, it’s my objective that readers will have examined a compelling case for the following conviction:
Local churches should feature stated gatherings in the AM and PM of the weekly Sabbath Day to worship the living God, in which every prescribed element of worship can be potentially exercised, but never exceeded.
In the articles to come, we will strive to develop this thesis through the employment of three lines of argumentation.
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[1] Matthew Lee, “Morning & Evening in the PCA,” Presbyterian Polity, August 22, 2023, https://pcapolity.com/2023/08/22/morning-evening-in-the-pca/.
[2] Some helpful articles on the practical value of Sunday evening services are Paul H. Alexander, “Let’s Keep Our Sunday Evening Worship,” The Orthodox Presbyterian Church, February 1996, https://opc.org/new_horizons/evening_service.html.; Harrison Perkins, “A Rationale for Evening Services,” Modern Reformation, February 17, 2021, https://www.modernreformation.org/resources/articles/a-rationale-for-evening-services.; Kevin DeYoung, “Why I Love the Evening Service (and You Can Too),” Clearly Reformed, July 21, 2017, https://clearlyreformed.org/why-i-love-the-evening-service-and-you-can-too/.
[3] Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley, Reformed Systematic Theology: Church and Last Things, vol. 4 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024), 411.
[4] This proposed definition of a “worship service” is original to me (i.e., Dewey Dovel).
[5] Albert N. Martin, Pastoral Theology: The Man of God: His Shepherding, Evangelizing, and Counseling Labors (Montville, NJ: Trinity Pulpit Press, 2018), 276.
[6] Unless otherwise noted, all in-text citations from Scripture are derived from the New King James Version.
[7] Each of the prescribed elements of New Covenant worship are further expounded by Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley on pages 420-422 of Reformed Systematic Theology: Church and Last Things.
[8] This quote from C.R. Vaughn is extracted from Martin, Pastoral Theology: The Man of God: His Shepherding, Evangelizing, and Counseling Labors, 281-282.
Dewey Dovel is a pastor of Emmanuel Reformed Baptist Church in SeaTac, Washington. He also serves as a co-host of The Covenant Podcast, a fellow of Savoring the Savior Books, and a visiting lecturer at multiple theological institutions. Above all, Dewey is blessed to be a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband, and the father of two daughters.
