Sunday Services Times Change - June 1, 2008

Why didn’t we think of this before? After several years of exploring options to open up space in “prime time” for contemporary worship, we realized that our Easter schedule offered a great alternative—as well as an option that spread the change over all Sunday services. Last month our Leadership Council considered this issue and voted to move ahead with a permanent change in service times.

Starting June 1, Sunday services will be:
9:00 (traditional)
10:15 (contemporary)
11:30 (contemporary)

Why change the times?
Church growth experts say that any service will stop growing once it reaches “70 percent full.” That is, if you walk in and the room is full to the point where you can’t easily find a seat, you probably won’t stay—or won’t come back.

Our 11:00 Sunday service has been past 70 percent full for some time. We need to offer another contemporary service during “prime time” (between 9 and noon), but have not been able to come up with a good way to solve the problem.

What options have been considered?
1. Switching the 8:15 and 9:30 services. This idea has been discussed several times, but has not been pursued because it implies that our traditional worshipers are not as important as our contemporary worshipers.

2. Starting a “concurrent” service in the EPICenter. This is still an option, but probably would be targeted to young adults. This would help, but might not significantly alleviate the crowding problem at 11:00 (since it would attract new people). And, it would entail considerable expense for pastoral and worship support. This option would also take time to develop and implement.

Where did the new idea come from?
When we were planning for Easter, since sunrise is later than usual, our options for all of the service times were later than usual. We settled on 9, 10:15 and 11:30… then realized that we might be able to work those times as a permanent schedule.

Every schedule has its issues—and this is no exception; parking and transitions between services will be a challenge. The advantage to this plan is that we are not asking any particular group of people to bear the brunt of the change. Our 8:15 service attendees will have the biggest adjustment to make, but we will ALL have to attend service at a different time than we’re used to. (Except Saturday, of course.)

What will the services look like?
Our traditional service will be at 9:00; the 10:15 and 11:30 services will be contemporary.

How will Sunday school classes and weekend children’s ministry be handled?
Since Mary Freeman, our children’s minister, is leaving at the same time the schedule changes, we are working proactively to handle these dual transitions. For the summer, the tentative plan is to operate on a “Saturday” schedule: kids from age 4 through grade 6 will remain in services until they are dismissed (shortly before the message time). The programming in their classes/children’s church will depend on the number of leaders and volunteers available. Fall plans will be guided by the new children’s minister.

(Youth and adult classes will be free to choose when they will meet, subject to room availability.)

When will the time change become “official”? June 1.