Adding a worship service

When’s the right time for a church plant to add a worship service? Hosts Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee share what they’ve learned over the years, including what did and didn’t work and the best ways to announce the change to your church.

1:25 Danny says he was surprised that the launch team and the other people in his church didn’t share his excitement about adding another service.


4:05 Lee shares that the last two churches he planted started with two services.


5:35 Lee says when you hit 80 percent capacity in one service, it’s time to add a second service.


7:15 Danny talks about one of the biggest fears for a planter when adding a service: losing momentum.


9:00 Danny says it’s important to change the time of both services when adding a service so that everyone has to change.


11:00 Danny and Lee talk about how they let people in their church know they were adding a service. Danny says it’s important to give people time to process the news and explain why you’re doing it. Lee recommends sharing with key leaders before you announce the news to the congregation so that they become spokesmen for the change.


13:00 Lee says children’s ministry leaders need to be brought into the loop far in advance because they will be affected more than any other ministry of the church.


13:30 Four to six weeks before adding a new service, Lee encourages pastors to ask the congregation to volunteer to attend the new service. “Say ‘I need 50 of you right now to commit to going to the 9:30 service,’ and have them raise a hand.”


14:50 Danny warns about giving people “the leftovers” when adding a new service.


16:20 Lee shares how he gave people an incentive to come to the Saturday night service.


16:35 Danny discusses what he loves and hates about Saturday night services as a pastor.