Going to Additional Services in
Your New Church Plant
Doubling, Tripling or
Quadrupling Your New
Church’s Potential
By
Tom Cheyney
Adding Multiple Services
• It is always critical when and how a
new church adds additional services.
• Questions that should be addressed:
*Why are we adding additional services?
*How will we add additional services?
*When will we begin additional services?
Seeking Clarity
• A lot of terms are used to
refer to multiple worship
hours.
• Here are some of the most
popular:
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–
–
–
–
–
–
Second Service
Multiple Worship Hours
First Service
Early Worship
Weekend Services
Friday Night Live
Thursday Night Thunder
Still Seeking Clarity
• Another set of terms
that are popular today
are:
–
–
–
–
–
Overflow Rooms
Mirrored Services
Video Venues
Segmented Services
Flavored Services
• We will look at each
one of these later as
we move forward!
What is missing?
• “Perhaps the missing ingredient in adding
additional services not the lack of new
people but the lack of compelling drive to
reach an enlarged harvest, the lack of
vision in how to raise enough lay talent to
staff additional services, and the lack of
effective leadership that can do the
political maneuvering necessary to rally
the church in support of such new
outreach.”
Carl George, Break Specific Growth
Barriers, pg 178.
Times Have Changed!
• The diminishing attraction of the Sunday
morning-only church has caused the
creation and emergence of the
multiple-days-a-week church.
• Those of us born after the early to mid1950s have pushed the edges of church
work desiring options for attendees
outside the traditional worship service.
Times Have Changed!
• The resulting alternatives have been to either
adapt or to quietly grow older and smaller.
• This has been the choice of many churches,
thus creating the need for thousands of new
churches as a result.
• Remaining the same is less demanding and a
whole lot cheaper! It never stirs the stagnant
waters of tradition or the waves of the status
quo.
• It is always the “road most traveled,” sadly!
Times Have Changed!
• The alternative is far more challenging
and far more time-consuming.
• It is expansive and often expensive, but
the outcome equals kingdom riches and
additional brothers in eternity.
• The road less traveled is filled with
change. It is a path that moves your work
towards becoming younger and larger by
offering options rather than short trips to
nostalgias of bygone eras.
Times Have Changed!
• The majority of churches during the last 30
years of the past century had chosen the road
most traveled and experienced the path of
growing older and smaller.
• We have moved from 1955 to 2005. What is
happening now will be reported as fact in 2005.
Most multiple-days-a-week churches have been
planted after 1985 and thus never had to battle
that tradition of pouring the majority of its
resources into the stalled Sunday morning
schedule.
“Adding additional services
is the most effective means
for increasing worship
attendance!”
Lyle Schaller
Choices for Churches, p 87.
Challenging the
Mid-Morning Worship Hour
• In the majority of existing churches
the Sunday morning mid-morning
worship service is the mainstay or
focal platform of that church.
• When new churches meet in
traditional time frames they can
easily slide into the challenges that
most churches face when seeking to
implement another worship hour.
Challenging the
Mid-Morning Worship Hour
• Existing churches 7 years or older
face the addition of a new worship
hour as a challenge to what is
familiar and comfortable!
• These churches look at those who
desire the creation of a new worship
hour as rebels.
Challenging the
Mid-Morning Worship Hour
• If you handle the creation of a new
worship service or services poorly,
the planter’s leadership will be in
question and his dependability as
well.
• If you handle it properly, it could do
so much more to solidify the
planter’s leadership than any other
single decision.
What Keeps Us from
Adding New Worship
Services?
• Fear towards change
• Disruptions to the
momentum
• Damaging existing
worship hour
• Loss of members
• Hurting church image
• Fear that laity won’t
follow the new
direction
• Hurting planter’s
image
• Church could fire me!
• The unknown
What Keeps Us from Adding
New Worship Services?
• The members will
opt for earlier
hours for leisure
times later on the
weekend.
• No one will show
up and it will be
empty!
According to John Vaughn,
85% of growing churches
are in what can be called the
multi-service model!
What Kind of People Should
You Look for and Pray for in
Starting an Additional
Service in Your New
Church?
• Let’s take a look:
What Kind of People Should You Look
for and Pray for in Starting an
Additional Service in Your New
Church?
• People with an outward focus.
• People that are always positive.
• People who want to do something really great
for God.
• People who are emotionally healthy.
• People who own and are committed to the
church’s vision.
• People who resemble pioneers as compared
to those who are settlers.
What are the Positive Steps That
Result from Following These Time
Tested Ideas?
• Your lay leaders will know how to assist
you in developing an additional service.
• What they are up on they won’t be down
on.
• They will know how to get involved.
• They will present the new service to
attendees in a positive light.
• Your key leaders will know how they fit in
and what they need to do to help the new
services succeed!
For every 150 active
attendees, you have
enough talent to develop
additional praise teams or
choirs!
The majority of resistance
towards adding additional
services comes from
members who do not feel
there is a need or are not
willing to sacrifice their
comfort in order to help it
succeed.
So Why Should You Start an
Additional Service or Services?
• To continue growing when you face the
temptation to stall.
• To further reach your target area by
providing solutions for various family
schedules.
• To continue to carry out the Great
Commission – teach, baptize, preach
An Answer to Adding
Additional Services:
• First, everyone who desires to serve can be
involved.
• Second, laborers will be raised out of the
harvest to step into critical areas instead of
sitting, and watching the show.
• Third, you will see the Great Commission
carried out with real-life experiences.
So Why Should You Start an
Additional Service or Services?
(continued)
• To keep your church from becoming
strangled by no room to grow.
So Why Should You Start an
Additional Service or Services?
(continued)
• You allow the Lord through the Holy
Spirit to determine how great a harvest
your new church can reach.
• You and your church will position for
growth. This is especially true if you
off-load the better attendees to a lessattended service.
It was Elmer Towns
• Back in the early to mid 1980’s Elmer
Towns said regarding this issue that
it is a “sociological strangulation”
that becomes a disease in a church
when its facilities are not sufficient
for continual growth.
What Does a
Multi-Congregational Church
Look Like?
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What Happens when Facilities
are Full Every Sunday?
• First-time visitors do not usually return.
• Parking becomes a huge problem.
• Staff discontinue outreach and replace it
with business.
• Church members become passive towards
inviting friends and prospects.
• A full church says, “We don’t need you or
want you!” Why is that?
What Happens When Facilities
are Full Every Sunday?
• Because if the church did not feel
this way, they would add additional
services quickly before they stalled
their growth momentum.
Have you reached 80%
capacity yet?
• Church building architects tell us that
when you reach 80% capacity you will
begin to strangle any chances for future
growth unless you either add new
facilities for additional services with
additional days of the week. Remember,
extra space will not cause your new
church to grow, but without it you could
keep from growing.
DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU
ARE TOTALLY FULL TO
ADD EXTRA SERVICES!
Warning, Will Robinson!
Six Ways to Provide Needed
Space
1. Reassign or relocate space.
2. Clean out or discard “stuff” from
space used as storage.
3. Renovate!
4. Make rooms multi-purpose.
5. Use space multiple times.
6. Borrow, lease, or rent additional
space.
LifeWay Christian Resources
Architects (SBC) Tell Us:
• We travel to church in a car that holds 2.5
people (parking challenges towards growth)
• We sit (unless we have theater chairs) 18
inches apart.
• We usually put a Bible and our “extra” stuff
on the chair next to us.
• Front-row seats are used only after
everything else is full
• Usually on any given week you have about
20 to 32 percent of your people away from
church due to work or leisure.
What We Can Learn from
these Issues:
• People do not visit churches more than once,
if at all, that don’t have room for them.
• Cramped parking is an initial danger sign for
strangulation. (Share CBC story)
• Have your lay leadership count empty seats to
estimate growth capacity without adding days
or services.
• Also do the same for empty parking spaces.
( X 2.5= _______ realistic growth estimate)
What You will Learn:
• Adding extra services or extra days
of worship will allow your church to
grow without building expensive
facilities.
(Become a five-days-a-week
church or more! Option. Options.
Options!)
Some Suggestions:
• Move a specific number
of key leaders into the
new service or services.
• Seed the additional
services with laity that
are energized.
• New services allow
growth by reaching
those who need
alternatives to regular
hours of worship
• New services first grow
by transfer growth from
existing services before
they grow from new
growth
• Then the other services
will have room to become
feeder services into the
fellowship.
Things I Have Discovered from
Having Multiple Services
• Few visitors attend the early “first
watch” service (8:00 AM)
• The usual amount of visitors attend
the middle service (9:15 – 9:30ish)
• The largest amount of growth on the
Sunday format will continue to be
during the last morning worship hour
(10:30 – 11:00ish)
Things I have Discovered from
Having Multiple Services on
Saturday Night:
• Few visitors attend the earlier of two
Saturday evening services unless brought
by a friend who attends that hour.
(5:30ish)
• Most churches start two Saturday services
instead of one so you can serve in one
hour and worship in the next hour.
• If you start only one it becomes a drain on
existing servants instead of developing
new ones.
• The church then wears itself out!
Things I Have Discovered from
Having an Extra Service on
Thursday or Friday Nights:
• These services are target-specific
audiences such as:
– Dinner & The Bible
– Thursday Night Thunder
– Post-Modern
– Twenty-Somethings
– IMPACTS
– Explosions
Realize One Strategic Point:
The entire body of the church
must become smaller in order to
become larger!
If you keep the original worship
service together instead of dividing it,
you will downsize the body and
eventually destroy the momentum!
(Example: CBC’s New Pastor)
Once You Stop Dividing,
You Strangle the Body and
Disease the Church
This is why we start new
churches: because existing
ones ceased to fertilize the
cell and new bodies are
needed to continue the task
of evangelization!
How to Continue to Grow:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Add Bible study classes
Begin small groups
Add additional services
Add additional days
Begin additional bible study hours
Add new ministries
Another Good Reason for
Adding New Services and
Days:
We are practicing good
stewardship by using
facilities on multiple days.
Some Hindrances to Starting
New Services or Days
• Space used by novelty ministry (we
store our equipment in this room or
building).
• Landowner mentality permeates
members (it’s our space)!
• We use this area as a lounge for our
workers.
• People do not want to let go of “small
family” feel.
A Few Things Starting a New
Service or Services Will Do
• New specialists will flow out of the harvest.
• Extra opportunities to worship also
provide additional resources and funds for
growth and expansion.
(Average giving today = $20 per week .
So 100 new worshippers could give an
additional $2,000 per week or $104,000
per year.)
• Evangelism continues.
• Church continues to grow.
• Church debt reduced more quickly.
• Attracts new members.
Moving Forward
(How Do You Do It?)
• Answer this question: “What are the benefits of
creating a new service?”
• Answer this question: “What are the drawbacks
to creating a new service?”
• Have you sought the advice of others who have
done what you are trying to do?
• Begin with the lay leadership and announce
that you are thinking and praying about going
to an additional service or services. Ask for
their input but don’t relinquish leadership by
making it a public opinion poll. (Take a survey,
not a political poll.)
Moving Forward
(How Do You Do It?)
• Talk openly about the fears and
discomfort of creating new services.
Remind everyone that God would desire
to continue to provide for others a way to
attend worship and receive Jesus. Keep
the congregation informed. Don’t dump
it on them. Move them with you.
Moving Forward
(How Do You Do It?)
• Remind the congregation often of the Great
Commission (Matthew 28:19-20)
• If you are starting a new hour of worship on the
same day, seek 50 people to make the shift
from each of your existing services. This
should give you 100 people to spark the new
service hour.
• Remind the congregation that you are creating
a new service for outreach reasons, not just for
overcrowding. Real reasons: evangelism,
outreach, and soul-winning.
Moving Forward
(How Do You Do It?)
• Research whether or not you need to develop a
new format or style to worship (music,
preaching, length, senses).
• It will take faith, courage, and investment by the
church to begin something new.
• Remind them of the 80% full factor. “We need to
go to additional services even if we are not
totally full yet.” (Expand ministry)
• Review what the church leaders are doing so that
fear of innovation does not set in.
Moving Forward
(How Do You Do It?)
• Answer as many excuses for not adding a
new service as you can ahead of time to
eliminate “vision killers” that can multiply
and destroy growth opportunities.
Leadership Builds
Character!
But Ministry Maintains
Continual Growth!
Moving Forward
(How Do You Do It?)
• Ask leadership to help identify members
who are most likely to attend the new
service.
– Here is what we know: older adults attend
early Sunday morning worship
– Singles like Saturday night if it is energized.
– Couples with teenagers are interested in
Saturday services if Bible study is part of the
package.
Moving Forward
(How Do You Do It?)
• Recruit church members to seed the new
service.
• Build commitment among seed families.
• Send out a special newsletter to them only.
• Remind them of the benefits.
• Tell them about the victories that resulted
from their commitment to be part of this
ministry.
• Develop future staff from seed members
for the new service or services.
Moving Forward
(How Do You Do It?)
• Launch the new service with a
commissioning and commitment service.
• Write out the list of workers you will need
for the new service. Don’t forget workers
such as: parking lot workers, welcome
greeters, music leaders, singers, ushers,
Technical workers, etc. (The result: 50%+
servant expansion)
• Promote the new service or services to
your fringe members and prospects.
Moving Forward
(How Do You Do It?)
• Launch the new service or services the
second week of September (right after
Labor Day weekend) or March (beginning
of spring in most areas).
– Timing is everything! Elmer Towns called this
the “Law of the Two-Humped Camel.”
– Stay away from things such as vacations,
possible weather issues, etc.
Cycles of the Seasons
Moving Forward
(How Do You Do It?)
• Launch the new service in a small, more
intimate setting and not the large worship
facility. Use a mid size youth center or
Sunday School room.
• Announce plans for going to a new service
or additional service days at least seven
weeks before. Do a weekly countdown to
the big event in order to maintain
excitement and continue enlistment.
What Does a Seven-Week
Countdown Look Like?
Let’s take a look.
Week Seven
• Begin drawing attention to the need for
developing new service formats, being
sure not to limit them to Sunday only
as you speak broadly.
• Offer ideas you and the key lay
leadership are praying through.
• Ask members to pray for new services’
success and growth.
Week Six
• Have a “Questions and Answers”
fact sheet available for a worship
insert that answers most positive
and negative questions ahead of time
in a positive way.
• Begin talking privately to individuals
from whom you would want early
commitments.
Week Five
• Ask laity to begin praying about their
commitment to and involvement in
the new service or services.
• Be clear as to the style and format of
the new services.
• Point people to the need for targeted
services if you are going that way.
• Continue making countdown
announcements.
Week Four
• Have elders and deacon members share
testimonies and support of the new
service or services.
• Seek commitments from half of those
leaders to attend and contribute
leadership for that new service.
• Continue to enlist attendees and ministry
leaders. Hand out commitment cards.
• Call all of these seed members.
• Continue making countdown
announcements.
Week Three
• Have key lay leaders share their commitment to
the new service.
• Share the names of key leaders making the
commitment to attend the new service.
• Have someone in the church who has visited
another church with multiple services to share
his or her experiences. Have their testimony
include why they are planning on attending the
new service.
• Mail out an announcement letter to fringe
members and prospects.
• Collect commitment cards from members in all
existing services.
• Continue making countdown announcements.
Week Two
• Pastors, share benefits and vision with
congregation via a visual presentation
clarifying the new service format and
style.
• Have the new band lead worship this week
for practice and recruitment purposes.
• Meet with seed members for a luncheon
and worker enlistment time. (Hand out
token gift: coffee mug, key chain, etc.)
• Ask for continual prayer and commitment.
Week Two
• Follow up with fringe members and
prospects by phone.
• Place ad in newspapers.
• Put lawn signs out all over target area.
• Additionally, every attendee ought to
place one (lawn sign) on their home lawn
or outside their subdivision.
• Invite the press to write a feature on your
new service launch.
• Continue making countdown
announcements.
Week One
• Share the number of seed members who have
volunteered.
• Hold a commissioning service and have them
come forward for the church to pray over them.
• Build the excitement towards the new service
as if you were commissioning missionaries for
the field.
• Send reminder cards to all enlisted members
and fringe members or prospects.
• Continue making countdown announcements.
Launch Day!
Preach the same message
you preached or will preach
at the other services.
Launch Day!
Don’t talk about the similarities of
all services.
Speak about their differences and
magnify them!
Things That Could be
Magnified:
•
•
•
•
•
Music
Dress
Style
Niche
Energy
•
•
•
•
Energy
Volume
Expression
Singing
Don’t Forget the Preschool!
• Remember that a nursery is a
necessity in new services unless you
do a Singles service on a Friday
night or Saturday.
• Start small and grow with the growth.
• Provide full preschool once the
service grows to full size.
At the 120 Day mark, begin
your analysis of the new
service or services.
Improve what needs
improving and continue to
develop your worship format!
Six Key Questions to Ask in Analyzing
Your Results:
1. Did the total attendance of the church go up
with the addition of the new service or
services? (Compare this to the past two
years at the same time.)
2. How do your people feel about the church
now?
3. What about your seed workers? Have they
grown in Christ?
4. Have new people been added and reached for
Christ in all services that might not have
been reached?
5. Is there any difference in the church’s
income? fringe members?
6. Would people miss the extra service?
What other churches are doing
in this field:
Sunday formats
• 7:00 AM Break of Day (The Cafe)
• 8:00 AM First Watch (Traditions or Classic)
• 9:15 AM Contemporary (CBC Live)
• 10:45 AM Blended
• 12:30PM Blended
• 7:00 PM Niche Targets
What Other Churches are Doing
in This Field:
Other Day Formats:
Saturday Evening
• 5:30 PM Contemporary
• 6:45 PM Revved up with Intense Music
• 6;45 PM Jazz Format
• 6:45 PM Country Music Church
Friday Night
• 6:30 PM Dinner and the Bible
• 7:45 PM Re-charged Singles Service and Coffee
House
Thursday Night
• 7:30 Thursday Night Thunder (Edge music)
Additional Helps
Congregation Prayer Card
• We realize that every great undertaking for God
must be faithfully undergirded with fervent prayer.
We therefore commit to pray faithfully for the
success of our church’s new worship services.
• Couple’s name:__________________
• Address:_______________________
• _______________________________
• Phone:_______________
“Pray without ceasing” 1 Thessalonians 5:17, KJV).
Some Issues to Be Considered
in Moving to Multiple Services
• How will multiple services enable you to further
reach your target area?
• What are your plans for future worship service
expansion?
• Have you thought through the issue of
maintaining the rhythm of expanding and
enlarging as compared to expanding and
daughtering.
• Have you faced the parking challenges for
adding extra services?
Some Issues to Be Considered
in Moving to Multiple Services
• Have you considered a video-linked overflow
room for worship?
• Have you developed a rationale for adding two
Saturday night worship services?
• How will any new services be staffed? Are you
adding business or adding workers?
• Who could serve as additional band members
or additional praise team members?
• How can you effectively minister to the children
during additional worship services?
Some Issues to Be Considered
in Moving to Multiple Services
• Have you looked at large-group
children’s ministry as a viable tool
during Saturday services? This is what is
called “theater for children and by
children.”
• Who are the key opinion leaders that can
help you with this change?
• Have you asked the question: “What
would our preferred future look like if we
Some Issues to Be Considered
in Moving to Multiple Services
• Have you asked, “What should we be
doing and not doing?”
• What is a realistic time line for bringing
this into reality?
• What are you going to do with 100%
growth in people?
Others to be Added Shortly
Thank you,
Tom Cheyney