About a year ago our church decided that we would no longer have two worship services on Sunday mornings. We made this decision based on our ecclessiology. We knew that having two worship services had caused a division in our church body and had robbed the body from enjoying the gifts and blessings of all of the members. Furthermore, we worship with the Lord’s Supper every Sunday and it was important for us to do so as one congregation.
So we did away with both our 8:00 am service and our 10:45 am service. We now only have one which starts at 10:15 am. In this one service our congregation is united in worship, Scripture reading, the ordinances, preaching, prayer, giving, and fellowship.
We knew this would cause seating issues and parking issues for us, but the health of our church was more important to us than our size and comfort. Six months later God blessed us with a move to a larger facility so that we could continue to meet as one body. The health and unity of our congregation has increased in ways that only can be understood by those who are in attendance.
I will write more on this subject in the future. But for now, I hope to at least draw the attention of pastors to this important issue of single vs. multiple worship services.
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Jason Robertson is a husband and a father and a pastor. He is dedicated to leading and equipping his the Church with God’s word and biblical theology for life ministry, using a combination of pastoral, church planting and evangelism experience. He holds a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is experienced in church planting, evangelism, missions, and the training of pastors and Bible teachers.
Jason has been preaching the gospel since 1985, serving the first ten years of ministry as a Southern Baptist itinerant evangelist out of Milldale Baptist Church in Zachary, LA which ordained him in 1993. He has preached in hundreds of churches in over 30 States and 4 countries. He planted churches in Siberia, Russia in the summers of 1993 and 1994. He founded Murrieta Valley Church in California, which he planted in cooperation with the SBC NAMB in 2001. He also teaches ministry students at California Baptist University.
You can hear his sermons and read his manuscripts on sermonaudio.com. Just follow the link to "sermons" at the top of this page.
In the past I have been to large, multi-service churches, but now currently am a member of a church that has one service and celebrates the Lord’s Suppoer weekly. It is a huge blessing because we are more of a close knit family and see everyone every week.
Today, many churches are more worried about growing in numbers that they neglect the health of the body. Success is more measured in how many services there are and how many people your sanctuary holds, rather than spritual depth of the flock.
Also, as much as I enjoy John Piper’s teaching, I do not believe that splitting up a congregation over multiple sites is in the best interest of the flock. Watching a sermon on a video screen is no substitute for physically being in the presence of the pastor preaching.