Multiple meetings 2

Following on from last time - here are some further key numerical principles that have helped us make the decision to go to multiple meetings:

1. We have always worked on the principle that when our auditorium is 80% full – that’s people sitting down during the preaching – we are full.

2. It’s important to work these figures out on your high attendance Sundays - if you are hitting 80% on your ‘high’ Sundays it’s time to extend your building, move to another venue, or go to a second meeting.

3. As we moved towards two meetings, we worked on the principle that we didn’t want a divide or split of more than 60/40 - in other words we didn’t want 300 at the first meeting and 100 at the second. We worked very hard on retaining the integrity of this principle, including changing the time of one meeting at an early stage to move people forward and asking a particular ministry group to move to the other service.

4. Ideally, you never want to be under 50% full in your auditorium’s capacity i.e. 100 people in a 300-seater venue can rattle somewhat!

5. Also ideally, attendance should be no less than 170 – 180 in the smaller of the meetings in order to maintain critical mass (based on a Sunday attendance of 400 or more). This is particularly important in a church context that places a high value on corporate worship. If you have been used to a celebration of 400 then the worship experience with a group of less than 170 feels very different.