In most churches thirty years old or older, the original worship service looked much like the one last Sunday. The songs, message, schedule, and style are predictable and comfortable. These services provide genuine spiritual nourishment for regular attenders. If they were dissatisfied, they wouldn’t keep coming back.
At the same time, many churches older than thirty years are struggling to reach unchurched people in their community. The worship attendance in 83 percent of all such churches in America is plateaued or in decline. Half of the 242,000 churches that fall into this category did not add one new member last year through conversion. And research consistently tells us that the majority of people not active in a church regard traditional church services as boring and irrelevant.
That’s why I believe most churches in North America should be offering at least two different worship services and styles every Sunday.
3 ADVANTAGES OF 2 SERVICES
Adding a second service gives you several advantages.
- You can reach new groups of people. The worship service is still the primary way for new people to become involved in most churches. People usually decide to regularly attend a church based on their experience in worship. It’s important to know who is attracted by your present service, because not everyone will find it attractive. A target audience will fall into one of six groups (See box on next page). Most of today’s churches target either the top center or top right box. The important insight for pastors and worship leaders is that one style of service will not effectively reach more than one group. If you desire to increase attendance in your existing service, focus on people in your community who are already part of your target audience. But if you desire to reach new groups of people, you will need a new style of service.
- You can give people choices. Americans want choices. Churches with one service, one style, one time of day, one day of the week, are saying, “This is the way we do church—take it or leave it.” (Given those two choices, we know which one most will take.) Eighty percent of congregations that add a second worship experience find their overall attendance jumps at least 10 percent. Options include a Saturday service for the 27 percent of working Americans who cannot attend every Sunday. Others find Thursday evening to be an effective time to reach baby boomers, who take frequent weekend “mini-vacations.” Whether the new service is for those who prefer contemporary music or for parents who want to worship with their children in a family service, the more options you provide, the more people you will reach.
- You can retain familiar traditions. If you desire to broaden your church’s outreach to new target groups, you have three choices. One is to completely redesign your present service. You’ll reach new people, but you will lose those who are unhappy with the change. A second option is to try a compromise, providing something for everyone. You will more likely create a service where everyone finds something he or she doesn’t like. A far more effective—and less painful—approach is change through addition, not substitution. The third option is to provide an additional service, offering a clear choice of styles. This doubles your outreach potential.
A SECOND-SERVICE SUCCESS
I’ve watched a number of churches add a new service and from their experiences, here are six guidelines to consider.
Identify your target audience.
As the chart above suggests, churches are most successful in adding a new style of service when they target a group one step horizontally or one step vertically from their present service.
If your present service is geared toward “senior Christians,” focus your new service on either “boomer Christians” or “senior seekers.”
A “boomer Christian” church has three options: a “buster Christian” service, a “boomer seeker” service, or a “senior Christian” service.
One effective means of gathering information on your target audience is through “focus groups.” Gather eight to twelve individuals representing the target audience; then spend an hour asking about their feelings about church.
Agree on a purpose statement.
By writing a specific purpose statement for your new service, you can evaluate every aspect for effectiveness. If a song, sermon, or other activity in the service can’t be justified by the purpose statement, it should be omitted.
Design the service.
Before you plan your service, visit churches that are successfully reaching the people in your target group. Meet the worship coordinator and other leaders. Find out what they have learned about ministry to this target group. What would they do differently if they had it to do over again?
The box on page 55 shows ingredients that contribute to an effective service. Music is a key ingredient in contemporary services. That may mean paying musicians to maintain the necessary quality.
Many growing churches meet in schools, hotels, or restaurants—facilities less threatening to people who don’t regularly attend church. Consider whether the message of your building complements or contradicts the message you wish to communicate through your new service.
Ask your focus groups: “If everything else were equal, when would be the most convenient time for you to attend a service?” Unless you hear a predominant answer otherwise, it appears that the best time for new people is 10:30 on Sunday morning. That means you will likely have to face the question: Do we use “prime time” for our service, or their service?
A United Methodist Church in Texas offers two concurrent services in the same facility: one in the chapel and one in the sanctuary. The staff shuttles back and forth, and the arrangement has proven effective.
Communicate with your target audience.
The more personal the invitation, the higher the response rate. Thus, the most successful communication campaign you can devise is based on the social and relational networks of your present members. One of three unchurched people say they would attend church if asked by a friend. The average church member has six to eight unchurched friends or relatives. Print a nice descriptive flier about the new service and give ten copies to each member to distribute.
Also, the more often you communicate, the more likely you will be heard. Make at least five contacts with your target audience. Direct-mail fliers will yield a 1/2 percent to 1 percent response rate. The same percentage generally holds for telemarketing.
One widely read section of the paper is the “Personals” section in the classified ads. Put a creative ad there about your service.
Follow up visitors.
A successful new service will increase your visitor flow. The North Anderson (Indiana) Church of God, for example, began a “seeker service” in 1991 and found it surpassed the previous year’s visitor numbers in less than six months.
The goal of your contact should be to encourage the visitor to return the following week. Initiate contact with newcomers within forty-eight hours, since return rates drop off after the first two days. Sometimes a phone call is more appropriate than a home visit.
Approximately 10 percent of first-time visitors eventually join that church. The rate jumps to 25-28 percent for second-time visitors, and third-time visitors join at a rate of 40-45 percent. Getting newcomers back next week doubles the chance of their becoming regular attenders.
Evaluate.
Gather your worship team each week to identify the good, the bad, and the ugly. You might videotape the first four to six services. Or enclose an evaluation form in the bulletin. Invite a friend to come, take notes, and give suggestions based on what it’s like being a newcomer.
Congregations that realize our culture is different than it was forty years ago are successfully adapting to reach their community in new ways. Beginning a second service may begin a new period of growth and health for your congregation.
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W. Charles (“Chip”) Arn is president of Church Growth, Inc., in Monrovia, California.
Originally appeared in Worship Leader (Nov-Dec/1994).
1996 Christianity Today/LEADERSHIP Journal
