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Multiple Services – Our church has grown, and our one Sunday morning service is getting crowded. I feel like we’re going to start losing people if we don’t start an additional service. We’re praying about what to do, but I’d love to hear from pastors who have added another weekend service. When is the right time to do it? How do I make sure that we’re ready for another service? How do I prepare the people? Are there any pitfalls I need to watch out for, and what do I need to do to make sure that this really benefits our church?
Responses:
Pastor Dave Williams – Lansing, MI
Dr. Elmer Towns once said, “You must be born again, you must be baptized, and you must add another Sunday service.”
In the early years of pastoring Mount Hope Church, I studied all the books I could get my hands on by Lyle Schaller, Robert Logan, C. Peter Wagner (who was at that time almost exclusively a church growth expert), and Win Arn. These men and their research helped us grow from one church to 43 churches in the United States and 380 Mount Hope Churches overseas; from 226 in attendance to over 4000 at the base church in Lansing.
One thing all of then taught me was this: When your worship service reaches 80% capacity, it’s time to add another service. They are right.
We started out with 450 seats in our worship center. When attendance was about 80%, we added another service, then another, then another, until we were having five Sunday services. We noticed an interesting phenomenon: Whenever we would add another service, total attendance would increase.
Later, when we moved into our 3000-seat church and went back to one service, there was a lot of warmth and excitement, but we hit a plateau of around 2800. I had forgotten the multiple service principle. When I realized we had to do something, I remembered the multiple service principle and added an early morning service. Attendance immediately increased by 200 and we were off the plateau. Later I added a later service, which also, like a miracle, took attendance up again.
The right time? 80% capacity. Also, I would recommend going to a second or third service as you are preparing to enter the highest attendance season in your area. You are ready for a second service when:
1. You’re attendance is at 80% capacity
2. You have prepared more laborers
3. You have presented the vision and reasons to your congregation, explaining the benefits (ie: more people involved in using their gifts). Ask the Lord to show you how to prepare the hearts of the people in your church.
4. Beware of the pitfall of treating the new service as a “step child” or “second rate” service not worthy of your best. The worst pitfall is not going to a second service because of fear. If you are at 80% capacity and do not add another service, you will level off and eventually die.
5. Advertise and promote the service consistently, giving plenty of time for people to decide which service they will be attending.
Just a few weeks ago, I was talking with my friend, Pastor Brooks McElhaney, who just added a new service. He was ecstatic. His church grew by nearly 200 people instantly and scores of people who never visited his church started coming. He doesn’t know where they came from.
It seems like Jesus loves filling churches that have the faith to prepare as many “barns” and “vessels” as they possibly can.
Don’t get discouraged. Keep your hand to the plow. Keep upbeat. I had a struggle with one early service until I finally changed the name from “Early Bird Service” to simply “Early Worship.” (Some phrases have certain connotations to people.) God will help you with the details. And remember the words of Elmer Towns:
“You must be born again, you must be baptized, and you must add
another Sunday service.”
Pastor Reggie Scarborough – Lakeland, FL
As to multiple services, I would advise you to move forward, but with caution.
About a year ago, I added a third identical 'morning-type service' on Sunday afternoon and then we did a prayer service in the evening, which resulted in four Sunday services. The reason I had put the identical 'type' service in the afternoon was to spread it out in order not to be so tight during those times the Spirit of the Lord was moving in a special way. And yet also I was concerned with being too tired to respond when that was the case. It worked numerically, but I was exhausted to the point I feel I started losing something spiritually. Like someone once said of a famous violinist, 'I can go for a day without practice and I can tell it; I can go for two days and my family and close friends can tell it; I can go for three days and the whole world knows it'.
All to say, this too can also be a concern with two morning services, much less three. Make sure you can keep the fire in your life with multiple services. If the singers and musicians are tired, the ushers are dragging, and the preacher is worn out, it will eventually erode your services. Just a caution.
The extra pressure it puts on your other volunteers, like kid's ministry, is truly a great concern too. Often many of the same people are doing much of the extra schedule and work. Should we wear these people out and they lose the joy of volunteering, we have shot ourselves in the foot for sure.
Also, there is the initial loss of the full house feeling. Get ready for that adjustment for sure (we preachers like a full house). You will absolutely have to adjust to a downsized feeling at first.
Yes, multiple services are sometimes good for growth numerically and sometimes we have no choice because of being full, but the truth is, make sure you 'have to do it', not just want to.
I've learned to flow with two morning services and an evening prayer service, but any more and I'm fried. I really needed to stay with four services for room and growth; however, just a month ago, I went back to two morning services and a night prayer service, rather than four and I'm so much happier with our services. They are so much fresher. And I personally feel much fresher as well. No, it is certainly not about us particularly, but it does include us. I am getting older for sure [ha], but you will be 'older' too one day and may wish you would have thought some things through that you now have to live with.
The upside is that it is a great problem to have! And, people do like choices. But let's not allow their love of options to cause us to compromise to our detriment spiritually. What is best for us often is best for them. After all, they are the real winners, or losers, as the case may be.
Just a thought from someone who's gone back to three instead of four. The extra crowd will just have to wait for a larger building.
God bless you in your decision.
Pastor Rick Renner – Moscow, Russia
When we saw that our church service was fairly full, we knew it was time to start making room for more people in a second service. Starting a second service takes a lot of preparation and many more volunteers, so we took several months to prepare our volunteer staff for stepping up into this new expansion. However, as I prayed, I realized this was an answer to prayer to provide a way for people to serve in the church. In one service, there simply isn’t enough places for everyone to find a place to serve, but when you move it to multiple services, it increases need for more people in the choir, band, orchestra, children’s ministry, ushers, counselors, and on and on. Every pastor wants to see his congregation mobilized, and I saw that by providing a second service we were able to provide more places for people to get involved. When we finally started the second service, in one week our number of volunteer servants increased from 400 weekly to almost 800 weekly — and the more people are involved, it increases their level of commitment and loyalty. Not only did we increase in size, but we increased in terms of commitment and decision.
The general rule is when you reach 80% capacity, it is time to start a second service, and I have found this to be true in our churches in Moscow and Kiev. Transitioning the church into multiple services was not difficult because we carefully expanded the reason we were doing it — and I reminded our churches our primary goal is to reach souls. If there is no room for more souls, then it is time to make room, and they all knew this was true and were happy to do whatever was necessary to make room for new believers in our church services. We moved slow, steadily, and were consistent in the steps we took, and as a result, moving to multiple services was very easy for us. We experienced no pitfalls because we thought through every step. I urge you to move with caution, with determination, and to make sure your people understand the reason why you are multiplying service schedules.
