SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT A SECOND SERVICE
Gilford Bisjak, Jr.
October 1, 1987
Our church cabinet's August meeting was hot in more ways than one. I'd read that the question of adding a second worship service is one of the most hotly debated issues in growing churches. Now I was finding out firsthand. At our leaders' retreat, we'd discussed the issue in general terms. I thought a second service was a good idea; my wife did not. The chair of the board of education said yes; the Sunday school superintendent said no. Now the cabinet was sharply divided, and that group represented all areas of the church-from young people to seniors, the women's guild to the Sunday school. The church moderator objected, "A second service might cause chaos in the parking lot as the second group arrives before the first group leaves." This was no idle concern; our lot was small. We were already dependent on an adjacent bank that allowed us to use its lot. "What about the coffee fellowship?" someone else asked. Following worship we host a fellowship time so people can visit with old friends and make new ones. "Would we have one coffee hour or two? If only one, when? If we hosted two, would we have enough volunteers to handle both?" "What makes our church so unique is a family atmosphere, where everyone knows everyone else," said the president of our women's group. "With a second service, we'll become two separate clumps, strangers to each other." Many heads nodded. It looked as if the objectors were winning. But then another perspective appeared. "With our growth taking place primarily among younger families," the chair of the evangelism committee pointed out, "our congregation has already grown more heterogeneous. Perhaps the idea of a small, intimate family is already outmoded. Maybe we need a second service not only to handle ...
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