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As I sat down with a young pastor in our region recently, he shared with me the latest challenge at his church.
It was growing.
I believe growing people grow a church, so I was elated when he shared this news with me. But that wasn’t exactly how this brother was feeling. He was distraught.
Being in his first pastorate, this pastor was happy his church was growing. But he loved the feel and experience of being in one service, and he knew growth in corporate worship would cause his elders to consider adding an additional worship service. He was concerned how adding a second service would affect the unity of the church, as well as the impact multiple worship services would have on recruiting volunteers.
I reminded my pastor friend that unity is driven by consistently declaring the gospel, clarity of vision, and a trust in the Holy Spirit—and not necessarily by having everyone in one room together—and that offering an additional service would not only provide more opportunities for others to serve, but no longer force them to choose between attending the worship service or volunteering.
As we sat there and I considered what this brother was sharing with me, I asked him this: “Do you care more about your preferences for the church or the mission of the church?” My point was that if he wanted to continue to reach more people, he was going to have to create space for more people, and one of the ways to do that was with multiple worship services.
Here are two things to think about when implementing multiple worship services:
Timing matters
Consider when it would be best to add a new worship service. I would suggest choosing a natural break in the church calendar, like the beginning of a school year or the new year. Typically, these are the seasons average attendance increases, which might help you gain momentum to grow each service.
When thinking about the schedule of your services, there are several options to consider. One option is to have two services on Sunday morning with Sunday school or groups meeting during both hours. If your Sunday school program is strong, it might be good to adopt this model so that as your groups grow, you have the appropriate space to accommodate everyone.
Another option is to have two services with Sunday school or groups meeting during the hour in-between. If you have families with young children and want to ensure church members are “seeing” each other, this is wonderful. The constraint will depend upon your facilities, which will over time become an issue, Lord willing!
A third option is to add a second service on a Saturday night or Sunday evening, or at an alternative venue at the same location. This can be a good option if your church is full of commuters or people in need of a variety of options, but it may not work in most settings.
Whatever you choose, don’t forget to consider what is most optimal for guests and what kind of programs need to be offered during each time slot. If you have a strong children’s ministry program, for example, consider scheduling your services when families are most likely to attend. Timing matters, so choose wisely.
Trust the process
When you are making the decision to move to multiple services, go in knowing there will be a significant amount of work, including coordinating with staff, volunteers, stakeholders within the church, and ensuring those outside the church know of the changes. You’ll need to think through all the logistics: times of service, worship service format (different styles, lighting, arrangement), parking, greeters, ushers—the list of things to consider feels endless.
But you need to trust the process. This will be a significant stressor and strain on your resources, staff, volunteers, and even your people. You’ll hear positive and negative about the switch. Therefore, it’s important to have a plan to address these concerns and help each person feel heard. The church must ensure others feel heard so you can maintain unity.
Trusting the process will allow you to absorb the common objection and fear of not knowing everyone anymore. But the reality is, when a church grows beyond 120 people, it is difficult for anyone to know everyone. By trusting the process, you can help church members remember that the mission is the Great Commission—sharing the gospel and making disciples—not keeping the church a small, close-knit community.
Moving from one service to two is a major decision for any church regardless of size. Nobody has it down perfect. It is indeed an exciting time of transition and a great opportunity to reach more people who are far from God to become followers of Jesus.
