Why I’m excited about three services (and you should be too)!

If you haven’t heard the news, Community Bible Church is starting THREE SERVICES on August 28th! They will be on Sunday mornings at 8:15am, 9:45am, 11:15am.
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If you have been coming for any length of time you know CBC has been growing like crazy! This time 2 years ago we still only had one service, which means in the last two years we have over doubled in size! Which also means we need to keep making room.

Whenever there is a change, people have questions. One of the questions that I occasionally get is “are you ready for this?” they ask with trepidation. Not only am I ready, but I am EXCITED and here are a few reasons why.

1. Having a third service will make our bigger church feel smaller.

After a church reaches a certain size it can feel easy to be lost in a crowd. You can slip in and out for weeks and no one knows you. Yet, this isn’t how church is supposed to be. As we add an additional service it will make all our services smaller. This will allow you to get to know others much better because you will begin to see the same people each week. No longer will you be lost in the crowd but you will get to see the same people in the same service each week and establish a meaningful friendship with them. You might be thinking, but what about those people that go to a different service than me, I will never see them. I understand the concern, but the good news is: there will still be plenty of opportunities to meet and fellowship with other church members including Bible studies, Sunday schools, and community groups. Furthermore, studies show we really only know 40 or so people in the church. Our goal as we grow larger is not that you know everyone, but rather that you know someone really well. We want to make sure that everyone feels known and loved by others in the church. Going to smaller services will help us accomplish this as it gives you a chance to know and fellowship with others.

2. It will allow more flexibility for you to be involved.

Unfortunately, Sundays are a busy day for many of us. It is not unusual anymore for people to be scheduled to work on Sundays, for our kids to have soccer games, or any number of other things that require us to be present. Which makes being at church all the more difficult. Don’t misunderstand me: you should schedule your life around being at church, not schedule church attendance around the rest of the “more important” things in your life. With that being said, adding an additional service will give flexibility to those who legitimately need it. So if you must be at work in Tampa at 11:00am on Sunday, you can come to the 8:15am service. Or if you are one of our truck drivers who will frequently drive very late on Saturday night to make it to church the next day, the 11:15 service will be perfect for them. Adding this extra service will help us make sure we can continue connecting people to the church, regardless of their circumstance.

3. It will make sure we always have an open seat for those who need it.

This is the most important reason. When our services get too full it is easy to feel unwelcomed and unwanted. It makes you feel that you are too late to the party and there is no place for you. As long as there are still people in Hernando County that need Jesus and aren’t involved in a church then we want to make sure there is always a seat ready for them. Statistically, it is often thought that once a church reaches 70-80% capacity the church will stop growing. Which means we will stop reaching the people that God has called us to reach. We are starting this service to make sure everyone knows they matter to Jesus and they matter to us.

Which means if you are a member or regular attender at CBC, please consider attending either the 8:15 service, or if you aren’t an early morning person than the 11:15am service. We expect the 9:45am service to be the most full, and practical and simple way for you to serve the church and love others. Give them the seat that you wanted.

We hope that you too aren’t just ready for three services but excited for what God is doing here!

​Pastor Joel