On Multiple Services in the Local Church

I'm reading a great new book that I highly recommend. It's called The Deliberate Church by Mark Dever and Paul Alexander. In this book, Dever and Alexander argue against scheduling multiple worship services on Sunday mornings. I fully agree.

They rightly say that the church fundamentally is a gathering. It's a time that all the saints of a local church gather together to worship the Lord. The problem today is that worship services are no longer services of worship to the Lord. They are rather religious services offered to people. Men and women come to receive their preaching, hear some music, and take the Lord's Supper. If that is the meaning of Sunday morning, then it makes sense to just open up more slots to allow more people to come for religious goods and services. However, if, by definition, the church is a gathering (ekklesia), then it calls for all the saints of a particular body to come together, sharing their gifts with one another and offering their praises of God together.

What if the church grows? Knock down walls. Better yet, plant another church. I have many good friends that would disagree with me on this. This is nothing that we should divide over. However, I think it is much wiser to bring God's people together on Sundays in unity, rather than splintering the church by creating two or three different churches through multiple services. When I talk about Sunday at Grace Church, I will refer to a worship gathering rather than a worship service.