Two Services, One Body

A look at how churches handle doing two--or even three--worship services on a Sunday morning.

Steve Dennie

November 1996

It's become fairly common for United Brethren churches to have more than one worship service on Sunday morning. Of the 25 largest UB churches, 19 have at least two services, some three. Many other churches, some with less than 100 people attending, have multiple services. And where you find multiple services, you often find multiple Sunday schools.

Churches choose between two basic formats. One involves an early service and a late service, with Sunday school sandwiched between them. The other, called the concurrent model, involves multiple Sunday schools; during each service, Sunday school classes are also meeting. Both models exist in UB churches.

There is also a choice in styles. Some churches want both services to be similar or even identical. Others intentionally make them different--usually a traditional service and a contemporary service.

I talked to eight pastors about their experience with multiple services. Following is a summary of what they had to say.

Main Street UB Church
Waynesboro, Pa.

9:00. First service and first Sunday school.
10:30--11:40. Second service, full Sunday school.

Main Street UB started a second service in June 1994. "We didn't go to multiple services because we had a tremendous space problem in the one service, but to offer options and attract new people," says Pastor Ron Ramsey. "That was our purpose up front. We did it before we would have had a space problem. If anything, churches wait too long before going to two services. They wait until the service is full."

Why start during the "summer slump"? Because they wanted time to tweak the schedule while the attendance was lower. By fall, they had the bugs worked out.

They chose the concurrent model for several reasons. One, they felt it would be difficult staffing the nursery for three hours every Sunday. Two, it would involve more people in ministry, especially teaching.

Then there was the matter of options. Ideally, everyone attends a worship service and Sunday school every morning, but not everyone is at that point. The concurrent model permits a lot of variation. The whole family can attend worship one hour and Sunday school the next. Or, the adults can worship the first hour while the kids attend Sunday school, and then switch the second hour. Or, an adult can worship the first hour, send kids to Sunday school during that time, and then go home. Or, the family can be all mixed up regarding which service and Sunday school they all attend, depending on their worship or teaching responsibilities, what class they attend that quarter, and other factors.

Ron says. "I know there are negatives to that, but I really think giving people a lot of options and not forcing them into a certain way to structure their Sunday is important."

The services are basically alike. Same sermon. Same special music. Everything built about the same theme--songs, drama, choir numbers, special music, etc. But the first service is more contemporary. They don't use the organ or choir during the first service; instead, they use piano, drums, trumpet, and other instruments. They sing praise choruses, whereas the second service prefers hymns. Words to all songs are projected overhead. There's more clapping, active participation, and spontaneity.

"Most of our growth has come in the earlier service," Ron says. "The second service had always been larger than the first. But we gained a lot of people during the summer, and now the first service runs consistently larger. New people seem to gravitate to it."

The sanctuary comfortably seats 210-225. Pack the place out and fill the choir--you're talking around 300. When Ron came in October 1993, attendance ran about 266. This past September, Main Street averaged 376.

"We couldn't have done that in one service," Ron says. "If we cut back to one service, we would lose 20-25% of the congregation."

Gaines UB Church
Caledonia, Mich..

8:30-9:45. First service
9:45-10. Coffee and fellowship. Children start Sunday school.
10-10:40. Sunday school.
11:00-12:15. Second service

Mark Beers went to Gaines UB in February of 1992. He began presenting the idea of a second worship service to the Music and Worship Commission in the spring of 1993. "They caught the vision and ran with it. I didn't need to present it to the congregation. They took ownership and the responsibility for working out the details," Mark says. The Commission brought in Gary Dilley, pastor of First UB in Blissfield, MI, to share his experience with multiple services, and they received some of the Elmer Towns training on multiple services.

"So when they took it to the whole congregation for support, they knew what they were talking about," Mark says. "We had some resistance, but not much. And people never said, 'We don't like it. Let's go back.' And we're a country church, where people like the idea of seeing everyone."

The Gaines sanctuary seats 250 comfortably, 300 tightly packed. When Mark arrived, they were averaging 220-230.

"Our problem was not seating, but parking. When we had 220 at the same time, there was no place to park cars. We had a couple people get tickets because of where they parked. If you're comfortable in your seating but not in your parking, you're still full. If you can't park 'em, you can't seat 'em.

The second service began in the fall of 1993. The services are pretty much the same, though the second service tends to be more lively. "We talked about it, but people wanted the same service," Mark says. "They like the option of going to one or the other."

The choir sings twice a month. The members will sing and worship in the first service, then sing early in the second service and go home. When the choir sings, the junior church attendance during the first service goes way up. Initially, the choir sang in the first service one week and the second service the next, but the choir members decided they'd rather have a week off.

Neither service fits the "traditional" model. "We were already doing some contemporary things and people didn't want to go back to strictly traditional. Our morning service is more of a praise service, a lot of choruses," Mark says. "Even hymns are put on a screen." The evening service, during which Mark preaches again, is more traditional, with more hymn-singing.

"One of the benefits I've seen is that people can worship in one service and serve in the other." For instance, Mark's wife teaches junior church during the first service and worships in the second (and attends Sunday school in between). "Being in the nursery doesn't mean you miss worship; you just don't worship twice."

So adding a second service has been a good experience at Gaines. "I'd do it again in a second. We picked up new people almost immediately, and now I don't think we could go back, because people like the flexibility."

Otterbein UB Church
Waynesboro, Pa.

9:00--10:10. First service, three adult Sunday school classes.
10:30--11:40. Second service, full Sunday school.

Otterbein UB church went to two services in the mid-1980s: worship, then Sunday school, then worship. They went back to one service for about 18 months, and then, because of a lack of space, tried two services again--this time with a number of changes. It's gone well since then.

During the first service, there's an intermediate worship for children in grades 4-6; they stay in the service until the sermon. Infants through grade three attend toddler church and junior church for the entire service.

The services are identical in format and content. It's felt that this will promote unity in the body, rather than the sense that there are two congregations experiencing different things.

However, the services are different in other respects: the second services is smaller, younger, and draws the greatest number of newcomers.

The sanctuary seats 375 comfortably, 500 packed. The church had pretty well leveled off at the 330 mark, but since going to two services, they've broken through that barrier. In 1995, the church averaged 450.

"I know we would never have grown if we hadn't gone to two services," says Pastor Mike Newman. "I have no doubt about that."

Jerusalem Chapel
Churchville, Va.

8:30. First worship service.
9:45. Sunday school.
11:00. Second worship service.

Each time Jerusalem Chapel has gone to two services, attendance has shot up quickly.

The first time happened in the original building. Upon building a new sanctuary, they went back to one service for a while. But a couple years ago, when they bumped into the 80% capacity mark, a second service was re-added.

In 1996, the church has averaged 350. About two-thirds attend the first service, and one-third attend the second.

The services are identical. They started out with a contemporary and a traditional service, but it didn't work out. The contemporary service was supposed to be the early service, but the majority of people went then, so they went back to identical services.

The praise and worship team does the same music in each service. People commit themselves to the choir, 25-35 people, for three months at a time. They've begun using a guitar and drums, and for a long time the words to songs have been projected via overhead.

Pastor Denny Sites feel strongly that communication is crucial, and that it must be consistent from service to service. There will be a greater sense of togetherness if the people are hearing and experiencing the same things. Any special announcements, skits, presentations, or whatever are done in both services--or not at all.

For the first year, the board members were strongly encouraged to attend both services to show their support and get to know newcomers.

Fowlerville UB
Fowlerville, Mich.

8:00. First service, first Sunday school.
9:30. Second service, second Sunday school.
11:00. Third service, third Sunday school

Fowlerville UB was averaging about 70 people the first time they added a second service, back in the mid-1980s. The early service averaged about 20 people, though Pastor Steve Malson remembers the Sunday only four people showed up.

When they moved out of their small country church building into a new facility in January 1988, they dropped the earliest service...for about three months. Needing room to grow, they quickly resumed two services. In November 1992, they added a second Sunday school and a third worship service.

They rearranged some building space and cut the earliest service for a while. The idea was to encourage people to identify with a particular Sunday school class; they encouraged people to choose a worship service and a Sunday school class, and to stick with it. Then, about a year ago, Fowlerville ran out of room again. So they added a third service and a third Sunday school.

Today, 60-80 people attend the first service, 100-125 people attend the second, and 150-200 attend the 11:00 service. The second and third Sunday schools are packed.

The services are basically the same, but, like everywhere else, they have different personalities. "Eight o'clock is sleepy," Steve says. "There seems to be more freedom as we go through the morning."

The services feature plenty of variety and unpredictability. There are Sundays with a lot of singing, and Sundays with none. Sundays with a long drama, Sundays with no drama. The beginning of the service varies. They might start with a drama, with special music, or even with the sermon. Just depends.

Three complete worship teams rotate--a week on, two weeks off. Each team has its own singers, worship leader, and keyboard player. Words to songs are projected on a screen.

Most churches use the 80% rule of thumb--when 80% of the seats are filled, you'll stop growing. Steve says a small town like Fowlerville needs to think in terms of 60% capacity.

Fowlerville is currently building a new sanctuary, which should be completed next spring or early summer. It'll seat 425. Steve says they'll run two services right away.

Mount Pleasant UB
Chambersburg, Pa.

8:10. First service and Sunday school.
9:30. Second service and Sunday school.
10:50. Third service, no Sunday school

Mount Pleasant was already doing two services when Daryl Elliot arrived as pastor--early and late services, with Sunday school in the middle. His big contribution came in September 1995, when they added both a third service and a second Sunday school.

"We were packed out in Sunday school, and had to increase the number of Sunday school time slots," Daryl says. "The easiest way to do that was to add another Sunday school hour. We thought, while we're doing that, let's add a worship service." Since most of their growth comes through Sunday school, they could count on needing more room in worship.

At the time, the two services were "comfortably full." One was at 80% capacity, and materials Daryl read recommended that if one service hits 70% capacity, you need to add a third service. So it was due.

But that changed the dynamics. "The people were used to a nice, full sanctuary," Daryl says. Now, that attendance is divided three ways. The middle service has been the largest, with about 175 people, while the first service runs about 130 and the third service about 100. The sanctuary holds 300, or 240 at 80% capacity, so no service is really full. "It can look sparse at times."

The choir sings two Sundays a month, a worship team (about six singers and various instruments) once a month, and children's choirs once a month. When there's a fifth Sunday, they do something special.

"Our philosophy," Daryl explains, "is to make each service as identical as possible. So if people in different services meet on the street during the week, they have a common frame of reference. They know that the sermon was the same, the special music was the same. My goal is that it will create more cohesion in the church, as opposed to having multiple styles on top of different times."

College Park UB
Huntington, Ind.

9:00. Worship and Sunday school.
10:15. Fellowship time.
10:30. Worship and Sunday school.

College Park added a second service in September. Brent Birdsall uses Coke terminology to describe the two services. There is Classic College Park, which is what they've always had, and College Park II, which is a more contemporary service and targets a different audience.

In fact, they don't think of it as two options for the same congregation. Rather, they think of it as a new church being planted in their midst.

The two services are roughly the same size, with the contemporary service having a slight edge. That's partly because of Huntington College students. In the past, if they didn't like a traditional service, they would look elsewhere. But this year, "I'm finding that a lot more kids stick around, and we're trying to incorporate them into the worship services."

But the target isn't college students; they're a transient group, and you can't build a church on them. He's aiming at an even younger crowd.

The local Campus Life ministry is booming. One Monday night, Brent says, 70-some kids indicated that they wanted to know more about Jesus. "My goal is to present to the community a place where these YFC converts can get tied in, so after graduation day they have a place to call home.

"My pitch to the board was, 'Where are those 70 high school kids going to go to church? And for those who don't have churches, where are their parents going to go to church?' A lot of kids who aren't from church families are now involved in the youth ministry and worshipping with us, and I've begun to see some moms and dads trailing along behind.

"We've got a lot of new families coming here," Brent says. "I use the terminology that this is designed for the unchurched and the under-churched. A lot of kids had a bad experience in church the first time around. We hope the dynamism of the second service attracts them back in. And there's been some of that."

"A lot of our work is just shepherding unchurched Christians. A whole segment of the population isn't connected to church. If a Gallup poll asked them if they believed in the deity of Jesus, they would say yes, and they would say they're born again. But if asked when they last attended church, they might say, 'Three years ago.' I'm finding quite a number of people who have God in their background, but don't go to church."

The two services different in two major ways. One is music. The first service does everything they've always done--choir, organ, piano, a few hymns and maybe a chorus. The second service is contemporary--choruses only, accompanied by guitar and synthesizer and drums, with the words projected on a screen.

The other difference is communication style. The second service incorporates drama every week, and someone is scheduled to give a personal testimony of God working in their lives. One Sunday, the whole service consisted of Brent interviewing Dr. Clyde Meadows. "Tell us about the time..." he would prompt, and off Dr. Meadows would go. Several people made commitments to Christ as a result of that service.

The high school has its own drama team that will perform once a month. "Those Sundays, we have a host of grandparents who come in from other churches to see their kids up there." To Brent, it's reminiscent of his youth days, when Christian Endeavor and YPMB (Young People's Mission Band) gave kids opportunities to be up front and lead.

People don't dress up as much for College Park II. In fact, Brent removes his jacket and tie before preaching. "We don't want to put up barriers. When you go to funerals and weddings, you realize that a lot of people don't own a suit, or wear it only to weddings and funerals, and they're terribly uncomfortable. Some of these parents of high school kids who are getting saved want their parents to come. We want them to come into an atmosphere where they're not going to say, 'Boy am I dressed improperly.'"

From the start, Brent told the congregation that the service they've known for years would continue. But one major change is that it's now a "grayer" service, since the young kids who used to fill certain pews now attend the second service. There was a sense of emptiness initially, because that whole section was empty, but now people are starting to sit there. Some families, he says, switched back and forth for a while, and finally settled in the service their kids preferred. In other cases, families are split between the services.

Brent describes it as "one of those times when I'm really involved in leadership, and not in managing." There was resistance and some criticism, like all churches experience, but, "Eventually we found that the majority of the people really did want to do this. And they caught the vision that this is for outreach."

Central UB
Montpelier, Ohio.

8:15. First service.
9:30. Sunday school.
10:30. Second service.

The only schedule change Central made was to add the earlier service. "I didn't want to create a situation where everyone needed to make adjustments," says Pastor Dennis Rowe.

The idea wasn't to build an early service, but to create room in the 10:30 service. The sanctuary holds 125 people, but many Sundays last spring they would have 125 or 130 people, even 140 sometimes. Dennis wanted to siphon off 30 people or so to let the 10:30 service grow. And that's about what's happened.

The new schedule began in October, so they're only a couple weeks into it, but Dennis is pleased with the results. They had a good number of visitors both Sundays, and the total attendance was 140 and 130. The early service created much more parking space for the later service.

Dennis feels the church should have gone to two services much earlier. During his seven years at Central, attendance would reach the 110 mark and then drop back down. "I would say there was significant hesitancy," he says. The tide turned when Gary Dilley and Sam Rupp came from First UB in Blissfield, MI, to share their experience. It helped the board buy into the concept.

"The board is committed to the service for a full year," Dennis says. "It's not a 13-week or three-month trial, but a year's commitment to an early service."

The two services are basically the same. Because of its smaller size, the first service is less formal. Other pastors told Dennis that in their experience, using different styles--a contemporary service and a traditional service--created artificial barriers. So the two services are basically the same. A praise band plays in both, doing the prelude and accompanying the hymns and choruses (though they don't necessarily sing the same songs in both services). The sanctuary's design and small size makes it difficult to use drums and other instruments.

Dennis says some leaders attending that service are doing door-to-door canvassing during the second service. "People home at that time probably aren't attending a church somewhere. It's not evangelistic calling, but more of an invitation, giving out a brochure and telling them about the new service and that we'd love to be their church or minister to them."

Interesting, one family attending the early service comes from Indiana--which, when the new schedule began, was in a different time zone. So for them, it was a 7:15 service.

"We've been real clear that the reason for adding the early service is that people are lost and dying and going to hell, and we didn't have any more room for them in our 10:30 service. We either hang a sign on the door saying 'We're full and don't care that you're going to hell,' or we do something about it."