When did evangelical churches in America begin holding multiple services?
Throughout the nineteenth century, American churches traditionally held two distinct Sunday services: one in the morning, one in the evening. On special occasions—like a building dedication—a church may have held two identical services to accommodate more people. For example, on March 25, 1900, First Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles ran the same service twice for an estimated 6,000 worshippers.[1] And, of course, Roman Catholic churches often held identical masses each Sunday. But Protestant churches generally resisted the allure of multiple services. For instance, throughout the 1910s, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City stuck with a single service despite having to turn away thousands each Sunday.[2]
Slowly, however, this began to change. The advent of the automobile, growing urbanization, and the rise of America’s first megachurches all led to the multiple service model becoming the norm.
As far as I can tell, the first Protestant church in America to hold two identical morning services is Temple Baptist Church in Los Angeles, CA. The influential church, pastored by the theological moderate J. Whitcomb Brougher, decided on “two elaborate services in the morning” for Easter 1913. Their preacher that morning
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