Dear Saints of Grace,
The results are in! There were about 130 people who took the survey regarding going to 2 services. Thank you to all who participated and gave your feedback. Here is a brief summary of the survey results:
- 129 people said that they currently attend Sunday worship either in person or online.
- Of those people, 101 responded that they will continue worshiping in the early morning and 28 responded that they will worship in a second service.
- When asking early morning worshipers what time they would prefer, 40 responded to any time, 38 responded to 9:15 am, and 23 responded to 9:00 am.
- When asking late-morning worshipers what time they would prefer, 17 responded to any time, 8 responded to 11:00 am, and 3 responded to 10:45 am.
So, with all of your feedback and information received about 2 services, the Session has prayerfully decided that it is best for the church to go to 2 services, 9:15 am and 11:00 am, beginning Sunday, September 8th.
Of course, as with all changes, going to 2 services has pros and cons. So, why go to 2 services? Ever since the pandemic, our church attendance has steadily increased back to pre-covid numbers. I am sure that you have felt this growth on Sunday mornings, especially in the last year and a half. Before the pandemic, our church’s average weekly attendance was about 250-260 people (minus children in children’s worship and kids korner) across 2 services. Over the last year, our average weekly attendance has been about 205-210 people in person plus 17 online across 1 service. Additionally, we have many more children (almost double!) who participate in our service together before being dismissed to children’s worship. With these numbers in mind and also keeping in mind the 80% rule, that once the sanctuary is 80% full you should go to 2 services, it is only best that we expand to 2 services. This will allow our church to be more welcoming to newcomers and allow for continued growth.
As we go to 2 services, there are many questions that you might have. The following are responses to FAQs about going to 2 services. Other questions may be addressed at our Town Hall Meeting on September 1st.
What about Sunday school? Most of our Sunday school classes will be held during the second service as we did pre-covid. That means Sunday school for all children, youth, and adults at 11 am. We will also offer an adult Sunday school class around 9:45 am for those attending the second service. Although offering Sunday school for everyone in between services is ideal, our church is not currently able to sustain this structure, and we will continue to evaluate each year whether we can make this transition or not.
Will the 2 services be different? No. Both first and second services will be the same in terms of the order of worship. However, APR seating and live stream will only be available during the first service. There will be no children’s worship offered in the second service until we can find enough volunteers. Nursery will be available in both services. Families attending the second service are encouraged not to send their children to Sunday school, since Sunday school is not a worship service. Second service children will be encouraged to worship together with their parents and participate in children’s fellowship during Sunday Funday or Youth Group, which will be offered later in the evening.
Won’t 2 services mean 2 separate congregations? No. It is true that having 2 services will make it so that our congregation will worship at 2 different times. However, that does not mean we will become 2 separate congregations. Just like
it takes initiative and effort to get to know someone in 1 service (after all, there are over 200 people every week) and be a united body, it will take the same effort to be united across 2 services. We should not allow 2 services to become a dividing wall within our church. First service attendees can stay a little extra and fellowship after service while second service attendees can come a little earlier to fellowship before service. You could also go to a different service from time to time. Yes, that means early attendees might need to sacrifice a little more of their morning and later attendees might need to sacrifice some of their sleep and wake up earlier.
Additionally, we are planning to continue our weekly church lunch after Sunday school and the second service, around 12:15 pm. We hope that this will continue to be a time that our church body can come together to practice our vision of unity. We are also planning to have a joint worship service a couple of times a year so that we can all join together in worship.
What about volunteers? Going to 2 services means that we will need some more volunteers for both services. As a growing church, we want to continue to share the work and ministries that the Lord has given to us. If you are not already serving, please consider serving in a ministry such as ushers, greeters, praise team, kids korner, children’s worship, Sunday school, youth group, Sunday Funday, and others.
The decision to go to 2 services has not been easy because of some of the difficulties that it poses. However, we can view this as part of the growing pains of a growing church. Let us use this transition as an opportunity to become a more mature and united church body, and let us praise God for his faithfulness to us as we glorify him with one heart and one mind.
In His Grace,
Joshua Suh, on behalf of the Session