7 Trends in Worship Service Times

  1. Churches with multiple Sunday morning services will soon be in the majority. This trend, once more common with larger churches, is now taking hold in congregations of all sizes.
  2. The 11:00 am worship service is no longer the designated time for a majority of churches. The so-called sacred hour of worship is not sacred in most churches. This change started slowly, but it is pervasive now.
  3. Earlier Sunday morning services are gaining in popularity. Worship services with start times from 7:00 am to 8:30 am are growing in many churches. This trend seems to be related to the growth of empty-nest boomers.
  4. The growth in the number of non-Sunday primary services is steady but slow. There has not been a huge upsurge in the number of primary services on a day other than Sunday. The steady growth, however, is an indication that this approach will soon be common in many churches.
  5. The number of churches with concurrent worship service times is small, but will continue to increase. Concurrent services require either a video feed or different preaching/teaching pastors. As the trend in multi-site churches continues to grow, so will these service times.
  6. The most popular worship times start between 9:30 am to 10:30 am. This mid-morning worship time attracts attendees in churches with both single and multiple worship services. As I noted in number three above, I anticipate a shift in popularity to even earlier services.
  7. Worship wars over service times will continue to wane. Though the worship wars have largely been about music style, there have been many wars over worship times as well. We will see fewer of these battles as more churches adopt varieties of worship times.

Comments 8

  • 11:00 am worship service is no longer the designated time for a majority of churches. The so-called sacred hour of worship is not sacred in most churches. This change started slowly, but it is pervasive now.

  • the future of Pentecostal churches, unsaved youth, socialise friday and saturday nights in club environments. Jesus went where the crowds were, any day of the week. Jesus, living inside us, is the same yesterday and today, so we should open new churches where the youth are. Pentecostal C3 churches do this in cities around the world.

    • dont most of these trends come out of AUZ?

    • C3 Phil Pringle was Kiwi who started C3 in Sydney; but ‘trend’ started with Jesus.

    • RichardAnna Boyce I know Phil well He goes to no bars Are you saying JESUS socialised friday and saturday nights in club environments.?

    • Matthew 16:13-18
      16:13. This incident took place in Caesarea Phillipi, where the most demonic temple was. They worshipped goats and had sex with goats outside the temple, near the crack in the rock where the gates of hell were considered to be. This is where Jesus would build HIS church. (16:18-27)
      A significant aspect of Jesus’ program for the future centers on building His church (ekkl¢sia, lit., “a called-out assembly”). The Church, He said, will be a victorious and indestructible community, even though “the gates of Hades” (i.e., the realm of death) would be arrayed against it. Suggested here are the two expected activities of the Church: building and battling. But in the end the Church will triumph (cf. Heb 2:14).

    • RichardAnna Boyce how does your copy paste relates to C3/Hillsong and other AUZ churches?

    • Troy Day JESUS socialised in club environments of his day and was comfortable with society’s outcasts and sinners, where they met in their time; unlike the so-called sacred hour of worship in most churches.

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