Lord's Day in the context of "Holiness movement"

A church service (or a worship service) is a formalized period of Christian communal worship, often held in a church building. Most Christian denominations hold church services on the Lord's Day (offering Sunday morning and Sunday evening services); a number of traditions have mid-week services, while some traditions worship on a Saturday. In some Christian denominations, church services are held daily, with these including those in which the seven canonical hours are prayed, as well as the offering of the Mass, among other forms of worship. In addition to this, many Christians attend services on holy days such as Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Ascension Thursday, among others depending on the Christian denomination.

The church service is the gathering together of Christians to be taught the "Word of God" (the Christian Bible) and encouraged in their faith. Technically, the church in "church service" refers to the gathering of the faithful rather than to the physical place in which it takes place. In most Christian traditions services are presided over by clergy wherever possible, but some traditions utilize lay preachers. Styles of service vary greatly, from the Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Reformed (Continental Reformed, Presbyterian and Congregationalist) and Anglican traditions of liturgical worship to informal worship characterized by certain free church traditions, common among Methodists and Baptists, that often combine worship with teaching for the believers, which may also have an evangelistic component appealing to backsliders and the non-Christians in the congregation (cf. altar call). Quakers and some other groups have no formal outline to their services, but allow the worship to develop as the participants present feel moved.

Christian liturgy is a pattern for worship used (whether recommended or prescribed) by a Christian congregation or denomination on a regular basis. The term liturgy comes from Greek and means "public work". Within Christianity, liturgies descending from the same region, denomination, or culture are described as ritual families.

When Christians meet for worship, they perform a liturgy (work), offering service to God together. The majority of Christian denominations hold their principal church service on Sunday, the first day of the week, which is known as the Lord's Day. In some Christian denominations, liturgies are held daily, with these including those in which the canonical hours are prayed, as well as the offering of the Eucharistic liturgies such as Mass, among other forms of worship. In addition to this, many Christians attend services of worship on holy days such as Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Ascension Thursday, among others depending on the Christian denomination.

Church attendance is a central religious practice for many Christians; some Christian denominations require church attendance on the Lord's Day (Sunday).

In addition to being based upon the spirit of the Ten Commandments ("Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy"), the importance of church attendance in Christian theology is delineated in Hebrews 10:25, which implores the believers: "Let us not neglect our church meetings, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near." Certain early Christian saints emphasized the necessity of church attendance for the continuance of the faith, such as John Climacus, who declared that "a sure sign of the deadening of the soul is the avoidance of church services." The Lutheran theologian Balthasar Münter [da] stated that church attendance is the "foundation for the Christian life" as "the Christian Bible and the sacraments provide the framework for the faith"; he also states that it is important for believers because it aids in the prevention of backsliding, as well as offers "the company of other believers". The Catholic Church teaches that on Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are required to attend Mass. The Westminster Confession of Faith held by many Reformed Churches teaches first-day (Sunday) Sabbatarianism and the duty of church attendance on this day. Similarly, Methodist Church also requires attending "the public worship of God".

The Lutheran liturgical calendar is a listing which details the primary annual festivals and events that are celebrated liturgically by various Lutheran churches. The calendars of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) are from the 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship and the calendar of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) use the Lutheran Book of Worship and the 1982 Lutheran Worship. Elements unique to the ELCA have been updated from the Lutheran Book of Worship to reflect changes resulting from the publication of Evangelical Lutheran Worship in 2006. The elements of the calendar unique to the LCMS have also been updated from Lutheran Worship and the Lutheran Book of Worship to reflect the 2006 publication of the Lutheran Service Book.

The basic element to the calendar is the Lord's Day (Sunday), which is a festival of Jesus' resurrection. However, Christian denominations have historically observed other festivals which commemorate events in the life of Jesus or of significant individuals in the history of the Church.

The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the week, devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal weekdays (British English), or workweek (American English), is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most of the world, the workweek is from Monday to Friday and the weekend is Saturday and Sunday. A weekday or workday is any day of the working week. Other institutions often follow this pattern, such as places of education. The constituted weekend has varying definitions, based on determined calendar days, designated period of time, and/or regional definition of the working week (e.g., commencing after 5:00 p.m. on Friday and lasting until 6:00 p.m. on Sunday). Sometimes the term "weekend" is expanded to include the time after work hours on the last workday of the week.Weekdays and workdays can be further detailed in terms of working time, the period of time that an individual spends at paid occupational labor.

In many Christian traditions, Sunday is the "day of rest and worship". The Jewish Shabbat or Biblical Sabbath lasts from sunset on Friday to the fall of full darkness on Saturday; as a result, the weekend in Israel is observed on Friday to Saturday. Some Muslim-majority countries historically instituted a Thursday–Friday weekend. Today, many of these countries, in the interests of furthering business trade and cooperation, have shifted to Friday–Saturday or Saturday–Sunday.

Sunday (Latin: dies solis meaning "day of the sun") is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. Sunday is a day of rest in most Western countries and a part of the weekend. In some Middle Eastern countries, Sunday is a weekday.

For most Christians, Sunday is observed as a day of worship and rest, holding it as the Lord's Day and the day of Christ's resurrection; in the United States, Canada, Japan, as well as in parts of South America, Sunday is the first day of the week. According to the Islamic calendar, Hebrew calendar and traditional calendars (including Christian calendars) Sunday is the first day of the week; Quaker Christians call Sunday the "first day" in accordance with their testimony of simplicity. The International Organization for Standardization ISO 8601, which is based in Switzerland, calls Sunday the seventh day of the week.

Many Christians observe a weekly day set apart for rest and worship called a Sabbath in obedience to God's commandment to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Early Christians, at first mainly Jewish, observed the seventh-day (Saturday) Sabbath with prayer and rest. At the beginning of the second century the Church Father Ignatius of Antioch approved non-observance of the Sabbath. The now majority practice of Christians is to observe the first day of the week (Sunday), called the Lord's Day, when many significant events occurred during the New Testament - notably the Resurrection - rather than the biblical seventh-day Sabbath as a day of rest and worship.