Making the Midweek Service Significant -- By: John Vernon McGee

Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 111:443 (Jul 1954)
Article: Making the Midweek Service Significant
Author: John Vernon McGee


Making the Midweek Service Significant

J. Vernon McGee

[Editor’s Note: Dr. McGee serves as pastor of the Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles. He is a member of the visiting faculty of the Bible Exposition department at Dallas Theological Seminary.]

It would be a compelling argument indeed to present Biblical authority for the midweek service. However, it would be difficult to sustain the thesis that the midweek service has Scriptural sanction.

There is ample evidence that the apostolic church came together on the first day of the week. In fact, the first day of the week was the birthday of the Church. “Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord” (Lev 23:16). It was on the Day of Pentecost that the disciples were assembled together, and on that day they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. The first group of believers was placed in the body of Christ on the first day of the week. Paul urged the Corinthians to make a collection on the first day of the week. “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come” (1 Cor 16:2).

Practice of Apostolic Church

The midweek service has no such Scriptural approval. Many believe that the apostolic church met daily. This was the practice of the church in Berea. “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). Obviously the church in Thessalonica did not maintain any such high standard. The church in Berea searched

the Scriptures daily, but the church in Thessalonica did not. Is the church in Berea or the church in Thessalonica the representative of the apostolic church?

The church in Jerusalem had a daily ministration. “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration” (Acts 6:1). Again, it is highly speculative to maintain that this means a daily service where the church came together for prayer and study of the Scriptures.

There were four visible marks of identification of the early church. They are given in Acts 2:42, “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrin...

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