This week, I want to write a follow up article because many of you have asked about
"Launching a Saturday Night Service."
At Next Level Church, we do 2 Saturday Night services each week and they are both attended very well and have tremendous momentum. But that didn't happen by accident.
Here are some Thoughts:
1. Seek God Big Time!
Saturday night services are not easy and, like good marriage vows, "should not be entered into lightly or irreverently..." We did this. Our church was close to 1,000 people in average weekend attendance and 9 years old before we made the jump to Saturday nights. Even though... we had a lot of people asking us for it for several years.
Pastors and Leadership Teams need to be certain God has led them to this. In fact, I have often recommended launching a 3rd Sunday Morning, rather than starting a Saturday night for many churches. Pursue Saturday Nights with Prayerful Caution.
2. You must be ALL IN!
One of THE big things we did right was committed to Saturday Nights 150,000%!!! We knew we needed our entire staff to be ALL IN, if it was ever going to work. I talk to many pastors who can't seem to gain traction on Saturday night and you hear in their voice, "Well, we didn't really know if it would work..." or "You know, my staff isn't really in love with it..."
That will not work! Either you go all in or you will never see the results you're hoping for. This is what you're doing! You are now a multi-day church, which means you work on Saturdays. That means your College Football watching will be inhibited, your family time will have to look different, etc. Everyone has to buy into that.
3. DO NOT: Make it different or boutique-y.
Your Saturday night service must be an IDENTICAL service of your Sunday morning or people will feel like they're getting a lessor or different "product" and won't commit to it. For us, we knew our Saturday night services could not be, "Practice" or "Warm Up." It had to be full on from day 1 so our people didn't feel slighted and revert back.
4. We launched it around a major cultural shifting time.
I believe we launched our Saturday night services at the right time. We began it the very first week we moved into our new facility and out of the High School we had been in for 5 years. One piece of logic for us was that we were downsizing our seating capacity in the auditorium from 900 seats at the High School to 600 seats in our new facility. So in many ways, it was a necessity.
But it was also a strategic move for us because we knew that in order for our church to serve 2,000 people in our facility we would HAVE to have a Saturday night option.
5. We cast vision to it like crazy in the summer.
Let me talk this one through. We moved in and began a Saturday night service in April 2011. We had about 300 people who settled in at that service. Then Sarah and I took a 40 day Sabbatical through the month of June. When we got back in July, we launched our "Big Summer Series" (which we do every year) we also launched our "Try Saturday Night" campaign internally.
We asked everyone who called Next Level Church their home to "Try Saturday Night" at least one time during the 6 weeks of the summer series. Then halfway through the series, we started saying, "Stay Saturday Night." Now that you're here, we need you to stay. The most missional thing you can do is give up your seat on Sunday mornings for an unchurched person."
Our people got it! During that first summer our Saturday night service grew from 300 to 650. It became the biggest attended service of our entire weekend. Which is what we needed it to be, so we could split it in October and go to 2 services on Saturday night.
SIDENOTE: One difficult thing about only having 1 service on Saturday night is that it messes up the "Attend One, Serve One" Culture you've created with 2 services on Sundays. This was probably the hardest part! Seriously. Our Volunteer teams thanked us when we finally launched our 2nd Saturday night because it took so much pressure off of them.
(By the way, we launched Saturday night at 5:30pm, and then went to a 4:30 & 6:30pm start time when we split in October 2011.)
6. We built a brand around it.
Once we added the 2nd Saturday night, our attendance settled in at 650-700 until summer 2012. Each service had a good feel and critical mass but they still had plenty of room for growth.
So, during our "Big Summer Series" this year (2012) we created a brand around Saturday Night (We got this idea from Potential Church in Miami, FL. Thanks Troy and Stephanie!!!) called "The Night Shift."
For 6 straight weeks, we built awareness and cast vision around "The Night Shift" and our people again, rose to the occasion. We would do fun things on Saturday nights but nothing expensive or difficult. They were little things that went along with our "Seeing Red" series like give away packs of Big Red gum.
We have never bought into the whole, "Serve pizza or a meal every week," because its not sustainable long term and people don't care that much about food. They care about options and vision. Give them that.
During the 6 week series, our Saturday nights grew by another 400 people. In fact, 2 of the 6 weeks, we actually had more people on Saturday night then we did on Sunday mornings! It was truly amazing!
To this day, our attendance breakdown is very close to 50/50%. Sundays are sometimes bigger, but not by more than 100 people.
Saturday nights can be done effectively, no matter where you live.
Personal Practicals:
As I mentioned, adding a Saturday night is a Big Deal and will mess with your rhythm personally and the rhythm of your team as well. Here are some Personal Practicals to think through...
- Think through schedules and rhythms for your team.
I would say this is something we didn't do very well when we first started Saturday nights. The reason why is because our staff was so excited to be apart of something that was growing so fast and had so much momentum that we didn't want to miss it!
We should have forced our team to think through who needs to be there on what days, etc. Some of your team will have to be there all weekend, but others, maybe not. These are conversations that have to be had.
- I had to shift my schedule.
My personal preaching rhythm used to be 1 in 6. In other words, every 6 weeks, I needed 1 weekend off. Once we added Saturday night, that rhythm went down to 1 in 4. Now, the most I will do is 4 weekends in a row. The burden and weight of carrying a weekend's worth of services and ministry to people cannot be underestimated. And for me, by the 4th weekend, I'm out. I can feel my enthusiasm and energy wane. I need to not be up there after 4 weeks in a row.
- Think through your Speaking Team.
- Think through your Family Nights and Date Nights.
Once we launched Saturday night services, we had to change that up. We moved our family night to Friday night which then meant Date Night with the wife had to move to Thursday nights. Today, my kids don't think a thing about it. They love it! From the time we pick them up after school on Friday, we party, hang out, and have fun being family together.
- Fight through the Guilt.
- You have to Fight for your Day Off like crazy!!!
Additionally, I would say that as a family, we have started taking more time off for ourselves to recharge as a family as well. We use all the vacation we get every year and we are very strategic when the kids have breaks from school to be together and recharge together.
I never want my kids to feel like they were slighted by the ministry. I don't think they have to, we just have to work hard to be intentional about it.
In conclusion, Saturday nights are an incredible way to offer more opportunities to serve people. And when done effectively, can catalyze the growth of your church.
? What experience do you have with Saturday night church? I'd love to hear your thoughts...
#AddingValue
@MatthewKeller
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