Podcast Episode #304
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The post this podcast is based on really caused a stir. Today, we give a little more explanation as to the reasons the 11:00 AM worship service is disappearing and offer tips on changing your service time if needed.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
- When deciding what time to have a worship service, survey the church and the community.
- 11:00 AM is rarely, if ever, the preferred time for a church’s single Sunday morning worship service.
- Too many church leaders want to reach Millennials without changing what they do or how they do it.
- Most members would choose a mid-morning worship service instead of 11:00 AM service if given the option.
- For many Millennials, a single 11:00 AM Sunday worship service doesn’t fit their normal, everyday routine.
- It’s ok to have a single 11:00 AM Sunday worship service if your church has a good reason for it.
- When changing things in a church, begin with the “why.”
The five trends related to the 11:00 AM worship service which we discuss are:
- When a church moved from one service to two, the 11:00 AM slot no longer made sense.
- Churches with one service began to realize the disadvantages of the 11:00 AM service.
- More people choose a mid-morning time if they have a choice.
- Millennials are particularly averse to 11:00 AM services.
- Some people perceive a church with a lone 11:00 AM service to be too traditional and out-of-touch.
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Feedback
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We had a 10:00 service at my previous church. I frequently told the congregation it was at that time so that we could beat the Lutherans to the buffet. Perhaps not the best of rationales, but it resonated with them. 🙂
That’ll work.
It always amazing that when kids have hockey, soccer, dance practices, etc. at odd times, or people need to get their car fixed, nails done, etc., they complain, but they get there. I think it may boil down to the fact that people make time for things that are important to them. Are there stats on whether or not mid-morning services are better attended or is this just an excuse?
Val
Val –
We should have the data shortly, but the subjective information we have thus far points clearly to higher attendance at mid-morning.
Funny we said to beat the baptists
Our church (First Baptist Rockville) has two services (9:30 and 11). We do the “flip flop” approach. We actually have 3 separate times for Bible Studies (8:15, 9:30, 11). We’ve often found that our later service is the one with the highest attendance. We looked at some other options, but have found this meets our needs the best – for now.
Thanks, Joel.
our later service is the most poorly attended and it’s noticeable.
One campus has a lone 11am service and it’s like a ghost town. Whenever we do something on another day of the week, we’re packed out.(except Wed nights)
Thanks, kl.
What is a/the preferred time for the Sunday service ?
If 11:00 am is not a good time for the single Sunday morning service, but some say that more people attend the 11:00 am service, what is the problem? Worship is not about convenient times it is about the worship of our Lord. We need to find some better excuse, other than the service time, to miss church.
What does the research say about Saturday evening service?
What about the one service church who has Sunday School; Where does Sunday School fit in for a 9:00 am service. You mention that an 11 o’clock service is not “Starting the day” but if Sunday School is at 9:30 would that not fit the start of the day? Or, would you recommend a 9 or 9:30 service with Sunday School following the Service?
Why can’t the millennial conform to the church sometime instead of the church always conforming to them?
If they aren’t believers, we should always put others before ourselves.
Church isn’t for the unbeliever. Don’t get me wrong because it is good to invite lost people to church, but church is primarily for the believers to come together to build up the body of Christ through the preaching and teaching of God’s word and the ministering to each other through our spiritual gifts. As the body is built up believers then go out into the world as ambassadors for Christ. When you put the unbeliever first the church has a tendency to become like the world.
I like that comment Craig. It’s always good to be reminded that ‘church’ is not a building and the most important thing is what we do when we, ‘the church’, leave the building. So, in that sense, the building is where we come to support one another, share the Word, worship —- get our marching orders, so to speak — and committed people will make time for that regardless of the time. If people see the Christ in us and follow us back into the ‘building’, if we can make a significant impact, maybe they will too, regardless of what time it is?
AMEN. And to have someone to “build up” they must first be reached…or be an unbeliever…then they come in, become a Christian..etc. It’s a cycle. The church will die out otherwise and there will be no need for it if we are not “reaching the lost” and “making disciples” and bringing them into our churches. Or rather…being the church TO them.
You get it, kl. May your tribe increase!
I agree with that statement. Millennials go to work and attend other functions and events that take place at an established time not a time of their choosing. Therefore, they should not need a change in time of service in order to attend church.
I see points on either side. I think most millenials and younger families are going to view
the weekend as just that, the weekend. And their Sunday morning routine is going to look quite different from their Friday morning routine. That being said, I’m not sure that any of them really get their day started until around noon anyway. Years ago, Biltmore Church in Asheville, NC launched a new Sunday evening service geared toward college age adults and their marketing slogan was “You can sleep in on Sunday!”
Our service is at 10:45AM 🙂
Last fall, our church went from one 10:30 service to two services at 9 and 11. The 11:00 always has more in attendance but that may be because most were previously used to 10:30. Attendance overall increased when we went to two services though so so far so good! We will reach people however we can. In fact, a poll was done to determine which new service times were most convenient.
Without commenting on what is the “best” time for a service, what options are reasonable for a church that has two services and a Sunday school class in the “sandwich” model? It does not seem to me that the first service can start earlier than 8:30 am (about half of our smaller early service is not seated before 8:40), and that means the second service really has to be at 11:00 am. Is there another option?
We had previously had a single 9:30 am service with Sunday school following, and that was an ideal setup. But when we went to two services, we had to introduce an 11:00 am service. Right now that service runs about double the 8:30 service, and gets 90%+ of our visitors.
It seems to me that the tendency to move away from 11 am must either be in a church with one service or no Sunday school, correct?
You are correct, Fred. In your example, the 11 am service makes perfect sense.
One previous church I served on staff made the change to three services all at 11am. Three different look and feel but the same sermon. The change was to grow the church but very little growth happened. Based on your article was the 11am time maybe a bad decision?
In the past year we switched our service from 11:00 AM to 9:30 AM followed by Sunday School at 10:30. This was to encourage those that had given the excuse that their kids had sports practices at around noon time couldn’t come to the 11:00 AM service. What have we seen? Virtually no change at all. Those with the kids still aren’t showing up and those that do come for the 9:30 service we’ve found that most don’t stay for Sunday School after church. It is very disheartning to say the least. We have a wonderful pastor who is a tremendous speaker and knows the Bible well. The bottom line is that most people DO NOT put Christ first in their priorities like our parents and grandparents did prior to I’d say the 1970’s. If the service isn’t one that is more of ‘a show’ you won’t get them. I like contemporary services don’t get me wrong. Our service is blended. We use Powerpoint and have two very good music teams and an absolutely outstanding young pianist. It’s not the church I remember growing up. I can’t even get my millenial children there any more. We need to pray for those (whatever age they are) that do not have the Lord in their hearts . Very troubling times we live in!
The time is irrelevant; it is the content of the event. It makes no difference of the category of the event, if the content is appealing to the possible attendees, they will come regardless of the time.
I would guess that the Alabama football fans would attend the games if they were at midnight. Now, if they began to lose games, I am sure the attendance would drop off drastically at that time.
If the power was in the local assembly (local body of believers), it would draw the masses to it, even if it was for curiosity. Most local assemblies are bringing the world into the church to make it more appealing to the youth. There is no way a little of the world in the church can match the action of the world outside the church for the attention of the youth.
The church must be different, it must be completely centered on all of the Bible and not just some subjects to tickle the ears and make the congregation feel like they have had a good emotional time. The true emotions are those that are involved in worshipping God and his only begotten son in spirit and truth. In spirit does not mean having a good emotional time, but its strength is in everyday faith in God and his promises and our devotion in teaching our children about God and passing this message on to those that are placed in our paths.
We have lost our way in our local assemblies in trying to a better club for our members and collecting the monies to keep dead churches alive. Good churches abound, and they have to produce two and three services on Sunday mornings just to reach all those that want to hear the teachings from scripture.
Yes, these preachers are dynamic and preach all the words including warnings of todays evils (Hell, Islam, Babbling unknown gibberish, Homosexuality, Calvinism, Abortion, etal. They do not try to be politically correct or hold back on any of the teachings and warnings in the Bible. They are full of the Holy Ghost of Christ and it shows in their sermons. Yes, they also spend time at the end of a service to let the Holy Ghost and prayers of the saints have its effect on the lost or those Christians needing repentance.
These preachers do not try to work on the emotions, but truly speak the truth, and any emotions come from those who feel the truth and are influenced by it. Sermons and sermonettes do not work, the preacher must be guided by the spirit of the Word of God.