We had an AWESOME Prospective Members Class on Sunday.
29 adults. Insightful questions. Great interaction.
One of the questions asked was, "Are we going to launch a 3rd service & what time would that service be?" I told them the answer was yes, we were already praying about, brainstorming on it, & planning for it. I also said we believe the Lord’s timing would be:
- After hiring a Fellowship & Discipleship pastor (Lord willing, this spring)
- Then we launch our 3rd service (likely this fall)
- Finally we start taking steps toward the next phase of our facility (a classroom expansion)
I then took a straw poll of the Prospective Members. I asked, "If this decision were yours, what time would you make the 3rd service: Saturday night, Sunday morning, or Sunday night?" Here were the results:
- Saturday Night = 15
- Sunday Morning = 5
- Sunday Night = 6
- (Didn’t Vote) = 3
Interestingly, when I took the same poll among the leaders involved in weekend services (children’s, youth, & adult) back on Sunday December 9, here were the results:
- Saturday Night = 8
- Sunday Morning = 7
- Sunday Night = 1
So…if it was your call, what would you recommend? (P.S. I made the distinction that I wasn’t asking for their preference. I was asking them for their "what’s-best-for-Grace-and-our-mission-field" recommendation.)
I’d say that it would depend on child care. I do see the advantages of either Saturday night or Sunday night.
One caveat about having a 3rd service on Sunday morning… If it was on Sunday morning, I would hope that the “passing period” would not be shortened between services.
Some churches, due to a time crunch on Sunday morning, will whittle down their time in-between services to 15 minutes.
Having only 15 minutes between services would be bad, in these at least these ways:
1.) Parking – how do you get people in and out that quickly?
2.) Fellowship – having more time helps people feel welcome to chat, pray, “coffee-ize” (verb form of “to coffee”) 🙂
3.) Getting kids/parents/teachers to/from class
4.) Ye olde “Sunday Stress” – never happens in our family, of course 🙂
5.) A general feeling of rush, rush, rush – puts off new people
6.) This one’s for you – pastor can’t go overtime, if needed 🙂
As silly as it sounds, that’s my main concern about a 3rd service on Sunday Morning, compared to the other options.
…my 2 cents…
OK…. This is a complicated question.
In a perfect world we would have the service on Sunday Morning. This makes sense for several reasons. 1. The Worship team is in place. 2. The volunteers are in place 3. Gives flexibility for those seeking additional worship times on Sunday AM. and finally 4. It gives us all the chance to fellowship with other Gracers.
Our experience has been that people with families will only switch to a different service if all the children’s programs are up and running. Since you have mentioned that this is the area that you need space relief I would think you would want people with families to attend this 3rd service. It can be difficult to have all programs up and running on a different day i.e.Saturday night.
My other thought is that people are use to attending church on Sunday… even Sunday night. I do not think this would be as much of a stretch for people.
My vote would be a 3rd service some time on Sunday.
I wonder if for the demographic we’re trying to reach, a Saturday evening service might be best? I personally would prefer a 3rd Sunday service but you asked what was best for Grace so I’d have to say a Saturday evening service.
I would love to see either a Sunday night or Saturday night service. I think there are several families that could benefit from that. Maybe some would have their children attend with them at night if there were no childcare. Alot of young adults without kids would come or those who like to sleep in or work late hours or nights, or some adults whose children have left or do not have kids. I think it would be a neat demographic. Personally, I just took a job that I will be working on Sundays during the day and will be unable to attend church if there is not an alternative service time so I would love to see this! I know there are others who have to work on Sundays as well. I think it offers flexibility and will reach out to a totally different demographic! I would prefer the Sunday night service as for my preference. Thanks! Good luck with your decisions.
There are many denominations that meet on Saturday night. I don’t like the idea because we should start our week with God, not fit him in, which is our flesh’s preference… but in terms of putting my own flesh aside and looking at reaching a new group of people, I think you may find those people at at time they find convenient. Saturday night let’s people “get it out of the way” or “sleep in” but while they’re feeding their Saturday night flesh, you will be feeding them the gospel. I think the question might be too broad. I might be “reading into” the demographic you are looking for. Can you be more specific? We changed our name, we changed our bible, we can change when we meet. Be all things to all people. So much of this world thinks nonbelievers should act like believers to become believers. That is such a turn off. If you take the Sunday out of church, you just might get to meet those that may appear at no other time. That’s a lot to support though. Do we have the resources to support it?