It’s Trinity X2! On July 18th, Lead Pastor Michael Lehmann announced plans for Trinity to move from a single Sunday service to 2 services. This is an exciting transition for us as we continue to welcome more and more people into our community.
We also recognize that a transition like this raises questions ranging from logistical to philosophical. That’s why we’ve put together this FAQ to try to answer some of the most common questions about making the transition to a multi-service format. If after reading this information, you still have additional questions, feel free to email us and let us know.
1. Why 2 Services?
Perhaps the most basic question about our transition is simply “Why?” The answer, however, is really multi-faceted. In his talk on July 18th, Mike mentioned a couple of reasons that the leadership of the church felt like this was the right time to multiply our services.
GROWTH
Trinity has experienced an enormous amount of growth over the past 8-10 months with that growth accelerating in recent months. In that time, we’ve experienced 25-30 percent overall growth with the most rapid growth seen in our kids and youth departments (40% and 55% respectively). To put it simply, we just don’t have enough room for many more people in our building on a Sunday morning. The least crowded space in the building is the auditorium, which has itself reached capacity several times in recent months.
VISION
At Trinity, we believe that we have only just begun to reach out and serve the people of Cypress in the ways that God has planned for us. As we continue to mature in the calling that God has placed on our church, we want to be sure that we always have room for new guests and that we are able to welcome them into a setting that isn’t overwhelming or too crowded for them to be comfortable. To that end, we must not only have a seat for them, but also parking spaces, room for their kids and an expression of genuine desire to have them join in with our community.
STEWARDSHIP
Stewardship is just a big word for using resources wisely. Each weekend, we use our resources to welcome 150-200 people into our community. But here’s the catch: we could welcome twice that number with almost the exact same resources. Buildings, whether leased or owned, are expensive. Ours is no exception. That’s why we have felt all along that the best stewardship decision for our church was to respond to growth not by simply building, buying or leasing a larger facility, but to expand the number of services being held in our existing facility. As we continue to grow, there will likely come a time when we will make a move to a larger building, but we believe we still have a lot of room to grow in our current facility.
ACCESSIBILITY
One advantage of having multiple service options is that people with difficult weekend schedules have more than one choice when trying to attend church. There are many people (including some who are currently part of our community) who have work or other obligations that take them away from church on occasion. By having multiple service times, our hope is that some of those people will be able to attend more often. We realize that having two Sunday services isn’t the ultimate solution for some schedules, but we believe it is a step in the right direction and we look forward to seeing our friends more often!
2. What time will each service begin and end?
Beginning September 12th, our first service will begin at 9:30AM and our second service will begin at 11:15AM. Each service will last about an hour and fifteen minutes with a half hour between services.
3. Will there be kids’ classes at both services?
Absolutely! At Trinity, we place a high value on kids and believe that God empowers kids to do incredible things for Him even at very young ages. That’s why one of the first decisions that was made about a multi-service format (even before we actually made the decision to have multiple services) was that any weekend service we have will have age-appropriate ministries for kids. BLAST will be in full force for both of our services!
4. What about youth?
As we mentioned above, we have experienced incredible growth in our youth program. In order to accommodate that growth as well as providing age-appropriate settings for Jr. High and High Schoolers, we have made the following changes to our youth program:
Both Jr. High and High School students are welcomed to attend either of the two services. However, we will have a separate, age-appropriate teaching and interactive time for Jr. High students in the youth lounge during the second half of the 11:15 service (after our community worship time).
High School students will remain in the auditorium for the entire Sunday morning service and will instead meet on Sunday night in a group specifically designed to address their lives, their struggles, their questions and their friendships.
5. Will both services be identical?
Yes. Our desire is to multiply our current service, complete with everything you’ve come to expect from a Sunday morning at Trinity, rather than to start a new service with a different focus or style. Having two identical services will allow friends, family, neighbors and others we are reaching to show up at any of our weekend services and not have to worry about being at the “right one”.
6. Do you expect a smooth transition from one service to two?
Absolutely not! Even though we’ve been thinking through all of the logistics and what-if scenarios, we know that we will probably encounter issues that we never thought of in the first few weeks of multiple services. But that’s one of the great things about God’s invitation for us to join in His work - He doesn’t mind it if we’re a little messy sometimes. Our primary focus, especially in those first few weeks, will be to continue to try to honor God in all that we do and to make our guests feel welcomed. Some things may need to be revised or addressed as we move through September and into October and we will be very attentive to any changes that need to be made. However, consider this the “Pardon Our Dust” sign for the two service transition. It might get messy, but an adventurous life lived with God often is!
