For years, the conventional wisdom has been that increasing the number of worship services is the best path to go. You rarely heard leaders advocating decreasing the number of services. The concern is that the reduction of choices results in lower overall attendance. So, don’t consider going from three Sunday morning services to two or going from two to one. Increase. Don’t decrease.
There is at least anecdotal evidence, however, that the “more is better” rule does not always hold. In fact, we at Church Answers have worked with a few churches that have actually increased their attendance when they decreased the number of services. What is taking place? Why is the sacrosanct rule subject to exceptions? We see at least five reasons this phenomenon is taking place.
1. Attendance is lower post-COVID. We recently conducted a poll, and the median decrease in worship attendance among the churches polled was 25 percent. The room is more vacant with fewer in attendance. The dynamics have changed significantly.
2. There is a greater challenge in getting volunteers. The more services a church has, the greater the challenge to secure volunteers. In some cases, it might be best to have fewer committed volunteers than more lukewarm volunteers.
3. Horizontal growth is a preferred strategy for many churches. Horizontal growth refers to the addition of worship services other than Sunday morning. Those services may include other venues, ethnic services, and multisite campuses. I am familiar with a church that is considering moving from three Sunday morning services to two. But they also have two other ethnic services and one other multisite service. Most of their horizontal growth has occurred in recent years.
4. There is often a palpable energy when the room is nearly full. We have missed that dynamic in many churches post-pandemic. Some churches have been reluctant to decrease the number of services because of their concern that a level of social distancing is still preferred. According to the last football game I attended, we are mostly past that concern.
5. For many contexts, the preferred worship attendance time is somewhere between 9:30 am and 10:30 am. It can be a challenge to fill the other worship service time slots around the preferred time.
To be clear, I am not advocating that the decrease in the number of Sunday morning services is best for all churches. But I am suggesting that it might indeed be the best option for a number of churches whose leaders have been reluctant to move in this direction.
Let me hear from you. What do you think of this development? Are you considering something similar in your church?
