On January 18th Church of the Suncoast will be going to two identical services on Sunday mornings. Right now we meet in a cafetorium that basically serves as our lobby, info area, cafe, & auditorium. The only thing not in the room is our stage. The stage connects to one end so all of that stuff is up off the ground and not taking up space. We put out about 150 + seats each Sunday and that is about all the space we have. Over the past 6 weeks we have been violating the 70% rule.
(The 70% rule is basically after a room reaches 70% capacity people stop inviting and the church stops growing. It feels too full. People like space!)
Even though our attendance numbers are averaging 127 and most people will tell you wait until 400 to start a second service we just don't have that luxury within a 15 drive of where we meet. We can either try to fit another 25 people in our room and stop growing -OR- we can roll the dice, cast some vision that we need another service and WE NEED TO FILL THEM, and see how God blesses our faith effort. Obviously, you can guess what I thought we should do!
BUT, now the fun part. How do you pull it off. The staff meets tomorrow night to talk time line. We threw out all the things that need to get done and now we need to put deadlines to them. Some promotion will be needed, and lots of new volunteers. But confession from the pastor... I don't know how all this is going to work out and we are making it up as we go along. Don't tell anyone OK!!!
So, if you are a church planter that started with one service and then went to two services I would love to hear how you did it. What you would do different. What not to try. What times work and what ones don't... If you send me a comment here on the blog or e-mail me at brian@canthisbechurch.com I will send you a gift for taking the time to share what you have learned along the way!
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