Expert: Bruce Gourley - 4/3/2009

Question
What is the origin of mid-week prayer meetings in many Baptist congregations?

Answer
It is impossible to pinpoint the very first Wednesday night prayer meeting among Baptist congregations. In general, Baptists began slowly transitioning from primarily rural-oriented / small-city congregations toward city churches in the 19th century. As this occurred, it created a situation, in some instances, where members of a given congregation lived close enough to the church location to be able to meet more than once a week (remember, this was still the era of horse and buggy!). This made mid-week meetings (not necessarily Wednesday) possible in some instances. In addition, certain things took place in the 19th century that focused the attention of many Baptists on prayer: the Second Great Awakening in the first half of the century, and the Civil War from 1861-1865.

By the 1870s, if researching local church records, you would find that a number of city churches were by that time holding mid-week meetings, usually on Wednesdays. You would find that some began holding such meetings a decade or two prior, some a decade or two later (or even later). A combination of the factors described in the first paragraph, in a broad sense, created the conditions that were conducive for some Baptist churches in the late nineteenth century to begin holding mid-week meetings.

Bruce Gourley
www.centerforbaptiststudies.org
www.brucegourley.com