3ABC is different than most traditional SBC churches and from many contemporary evangelical churches in how we view the Lord’s Day. First of all, some of us like to call it the Lord’s Day. Beyond that though, we view this day as a day set apart for our spiritual edification and worship of the triune God. We begin the day with traditional teaching times (we avoid the term Sunday School) followed by a traditional corporate gathering of the church for worship. Our mornings are like most churches’ mornings.

Where 3ABC is distinct is that we actually come back to church in the evening to end the day in a similar way. It’s fast becoming a relic for a church to have any Sunday evening activity. I would not say that it is required for a church to be considered faithful, but it is beneficial. We find that it has been very helpful for the spiritual nurture of the church and for our worship to gather again on Sunday evenings. What do we do? We gather to sing, to pray for needs of the church and beyond, and to hear again from God’s Word. The evening text we meditate on is usually from the opposite testament than the one we studied in the morning - e.g. NT in the a.m. means we would hear from the O.T. at night — but both texts are always on a similar theological theme.

We prioritize this evening service in our corporate life over other options like one-on-one discipleship, home groups, etc., because we believe that the corporate identity of the church needs to be prioritized and nurtured. As you can see, we value those things (home groups, etc.) too, but the purpose of the corporate life of the church isn’t first to make those other things possible. Those other benefits grow from a healthy and vibrant corporate church life. You’re not part of a family so you can have one close brother or sister — the gift of family life, biological or spiritual, is so much more than that one close relationship.

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