At a time when many struggle to make sense of our faith in the modern world, Watchnight and Covenant services are fitting opportunities to take stock of all the ways your faith has moved you to make a difference in the world and in your community. If you don’t like what you see when you reflect, then it is the perfect time to set an intention to live out your faith differently in the coming year.
Watchnight is a worship service that allows us to center ourselves, take stock of our faith, lives and priorities, and to be thankful that through it all we have made it this far because of our faith.
Just as God has held us this year, God will hold us for all our years to come.
The origins of Watchnight
While end-of-year services have long been a time for reflection, worship and looking ahead, the sordid history of America gives this day a particular weight for some of us. In 1862, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. On paper, it freed all slaves in the Confederate states that were in rebellion. The order went into effect on January 1, 1863.
Across the country, enslaved people worshipped and waited for the new year, watching for freedom…but the waiting did not end there. As the war continued, enslaved people continued to be freed as the Union Army made it to them, all the way until Juneteenth when the last of us were freed in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865.
God can make good out of anything, and Watchnight services in the Black tradition are evidence of that. Still today, in African and African American churches, many people will gather to bring in the new year. We worship the Lord, reflect on the year past, look forward to the future, and remember our ancestors who waited that night in 1863 for freedom to come.
Historically, the church has served as an escape and safe place for Black people. This is why we carry the stereotype of being in church “all day” on Sundays. On Watchnight, that is true. When I was pastor at Brooklyn United Methodist Church, the Watchnight service lasted from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.
While Watchnight services may look different for different communities, they all underscore the importance of observing this time. Beautiful things can come from difficult circumstances. As my grandmother would say, “Why not start your year with God?”
Many people are unaware of the history and weight of Watchnight in the American context, but it is important that we remember this history and honor those who lived it. Part of our yearly reflection should include thinking about how we got to where we are and what was endured to get us here.
A tradition for John Wesley
Watchnight is a storied practice in the Black church, but it has long since spread beyond those bounds. End-of-year services are very common in almost every Christian tradition in some format. My ancestors did not invent this practice, they just built on it. While the history of Watchnight is deeply rooted in the history of slavery, anyone can benefit from a time of reflection as we bring in a new year.
John Welsey held what he called Covenant services at the end of the year as far back as 1755, before there was ever an official Methodist church in the Americas. In fact, Wesley went to his first such service in 1738 with the Moravians. Like much of his time with them, it was deeply influential.
It has long been part of the Wesleyan tradition to observe this period of reflection with worship and prayer. For Welsey in particular, this was also a good time for people to renew their faith and reaffirm their covenant with God. For many years, American Methodists used end-of-year services as time to read and renew the Baptismal Covenant. Though this is not as common today, gathering to welcome the new year in worship can be deeply beneficial.
There’s no better place to be to start a new year
As a kid, my grandmother always told us that there is no better place to bring in the year than with God. In fact, if we got in any trouble, we were often forced to attend Watchnight so that we might reflect on our behavior. As a young person, I always enjoyed this service because although it is a service of reflection, it was always vibrant and celebratory.
Despite the state of the world, we continue to have so much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to. In some sense, Watchnight services are a celebration of survival and endurance. No matter what the world has thrown at you during the year, you have still made it to the next one. For that alone we should rejoice. Thanks be to God.
Laquaan Malachi is a licensed local pastor in the Minnesota Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. He has a passion for people and justice, and is also an author, poet and spoken word artist whose work often includes themes surrounding justice and/or mental health.
This article was published on December 8, 2025. The contact is Laura Buchanan.
