Watch Night - New Year's Eve

I have been going to Watch Night Services since I became a Christian in the early 1990's. When Big Daddy was appointed to his first church and we were planning our first Watch Night service as a ministry couple, I found this article on the history of such services to be very interesting. After all, I grew up Roman Catholic, in the Northeast and then later moved to the West Coast, and I had never heard of this kind of service before. The article I linked is an essay by Charyn D. Sutton. The churches where I spent my early Christian years and discipleship were predominantly Caucasian, so I was particularly fascinated by the article. Watch Night Services are strongly rooted in the African-American church tradition, and are not unheard of within the Pentecostal Community overall.


We are within the Church of God (Cleveland, TN) denomination, and the practice seems common here in the Southeastern US. Our denomination was founded by several Methodists, among others. It seems that John Wesley had established this practice among the Methodists early on. Our sister denomination, The Assemblies of God, began with the Azuza Street Pentecostal Outpouring. That event was diverse, ethnically and socially, from the very beginning. I also add to those factors that Florida is near the Bahamas and Caribbean, with many immigrants from those areas. Some of those cultural influences have strong Christian practices and history. I was very interested to find that the The Moravian Church missionaries were the first to go in many parts of the world, including the Caribbean in the 1730's. The Moravian Church seems to be the first to hold Watch Night Services.

I also checked snopes.com, and they are skeptical about the portion of the first article I linked in regards African-American slaves being sold on New Years Day, as well as any other type of debt or financial transactions occurring on that day. Snopes had an email forward version of Sutton’s essay. However, the version they had was not completely the same and not even attributed to Sutton. So, you can do the research yourself if you like, and draw your own conclusions. It’s indisputable, though, that Watch Night became tied to the African-American community because of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.


Wikipedia says this:

“Many religious communities have a tradition of New Year's Eve being known as "Watch Night". The faithful of the community congregate in worship services commencing New Year's Eve night and continuing past midnight into the New Year. The Watch Night is a time for giving thanks for the blessings of the outgoing year and praying for divine favor during the upcoming year. Though held by some to have begun in the African American community, watch night can actually be traced back to a sect of Christians known as the Moravians who held the first Watch night Service in Herrnhut, Saxony, in 1732. The practice was later adopted by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Watch Night did take on special significance to African Americans on New Year's Eve 1862, however, as slaves eagerly awaited the arrival of January 1, 1863—the effective date of the Emancipation Proclamation. This particular New Year's Eve became known as "Freedom's Eve."”

Along with the prayers of thanksgiving and reflection, we do some other things in our service. We celebrate by taking Communion, and following Jesus’ humble example and washing each other’s feet, see here.

I pray that whatever you do this New Year’s Eve, you will take a moment to reflect on the past and the future and on the One who holds your life in His hands. Just as the slaves gathered in churches to pray for and await the news of their freedom, realize God has given us all a freedom in Christ.

Be safe and enjoy yourself.
Happy New Year!



Edited to add this link to Michael Benjamin's blog and a good piece he wrote about Watch Night, which contains Charyn Sutton's article now that the link in the first paragraph is no longer available.