If your church is already at capacity (your Worship Center attendance is averaging 80% or more of seating capacity  and your parking lot is 90% full during services), what can you do immediately to keep growing? It is rarely possible to immediately increase the available seating area in a Worship Center. New or expanded worship centers require significant time to plan and construct. But even if an expanded Worship Center is a part of your plan, it is important to continue to grow until such time as the increased seating is available. So in the interim, here are some things you can consider:
1.      If parking is your problem, consider running shuttle busses from a remote location, but specifically for leaders and committed members within the church. Cast a vision that helps them understand that by making this small sacrifice they are making room for more visitors to come. If leaders alone would not free up sufficient spaces, then incentives may be offered for regular attendees to use remote parking with the shuttle, such as providing coffee and donuts for all those on the shuttle. As far as the “shuttle lot” is concerned, there may be nearby businesses that do not use their parking on a Sunday that may be glad to make some available. Nearby public schools, ball fields or commuter lots may also provide an opportunity. Although the temptation may be there to simply spread gravel to create an overflow parking area, check with the local municipal government first, as many zoning and planning ordinances specifically prohibit doing this without formal approval.
2.      Additional worship services can be started if your seating is already beyond the 80% mark. Although earlier or later time slots may not be as desirable for the present membership, it can be an opportunity for them to make a small sacrifice as a form of outreach. Some ministries provide as many as five or six services on the weekend. In order to go to multiple services (beyond two), it may be necessary to have a couple of praise teams and perhaps even different pastors preaching at different services. It is important, however, to have a long-term plan that would provide for increased capacity during the most desirable hours on a Sunday morning in order to have the most effective outreach and growth.
3.      Multiply services using video venues. This is done by utilizing other spaces within the building (such as a gymnasium or youth center) and feeding the pastor’s teaching from another service over to a video screen. A different live worship band can be used at each of the locations, perhaps styled according to the crowd you hope to draw in each space. A pioneer in this approach is North Coast Church in Vista, CA. For more information see the article on “Going to the Tape”.
4.      Relocate the worship service within your facility, if you have a larger space available. Many churches have a gymnasium or Family Life Center that has a greater capacity than their sanctuary. By relocating the service, additional seating will immediately be made available. Since the spaces tend to be more “box-like,” there will be acoustic issues that need to be addressed, meaning this relocation will not be without some expense. Additionally, since these spaces are multi-use, there will be set-up issues and more volunteers will be needed.  However, with appropriate treatment these spaces can be used successfully for several years.
Relocate, temporarily to rented facilities.  This may be the local high school auditorium or, perhaps, a local cinema.  Regal Cinemas have a program specifically for churches to provide for the use of their facilities on Sunday mornings.  For more information, see Regal Cinemedia or call 1-866-meet2day.  Relocating to a rented facility does not necessarily mean that all of the church activities have to occur at this alternate site.  Certainly throughout the week the capacity of the church’s facility may be sufficient for the ministry needs.  On the weekends, if the church is relatively close to the rental facility, functions such as Sunday school, children’s church, or youth classes may still be able to be held at the church.  To accomplish this, your people will need to be flexible and accept the additional work load it will create, transporting sound systems, musical equipment, and equipment for a make-shift nursery. (The youngest children will need to remain in close proximity to their parents, so expect to incorporate a nursery and childcare up through at least kindergarten at the rented facility.)

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