How to Start a New Service: Your Church Can Reach New People [Paperback]

Charles Arn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1997

Why, when, and how to start a new church service, encourage attendance, evaluate the service, and more. Foreword by Leith Anderson.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charles Arn is president of Church Growth, Inc., and editor of The Growth Report. In addition to having written numerous other books, including Catch the Age Wave, he has taught at several seminaries and conducted seminars for churches and pastors across the nation. He is a graduate of Seattle Pacific University and holds a doctorate from the University of Southern California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Baker Books (November 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801090377
• ISBN-13: 978-0801090370
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Charles Arn is president of Church Growth, Inc. (Monrovia, CA), and Visiting Professor of Outreach and Ministry at Wesley Seminary (Marion, IN). Dr. Arn has been involved in the study of church health and growth for over 30 years. He is an internationally respected contributor to the conversation of how churches can be most effective in fulfilling their mission and ministry. He has written ten books and hundreds of articles in this field. For more information, or to contact Dr. Arn, see www.ChurchGrowth.net. or www.HeartbeatMinistries.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb road map for churches considering a new service, November 2, 1998

By 

Eddy Hall "Senior Consultant, Living Stones A... (Goessel, KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Start a New Service: Your Church Can Reach New People (Paperback)

For any church considering, or that should be considering, adding a second (or third) service, this is an invaluable tool. Arn's focus is not on duplicating an existing service, but on designing a new service, one different from the present service, intended to reach a clearly defined target group.

In my chuch consulting work, as I help churches identify and remove barriers to growth, I almost always give this book to churches that are at the point of needing to add a second service. I recommend that they form a Worship Options Task Force that will then use this book as a road map for their work: defining who it is they want to reach with their new service, then making appropriate decisions about time, place, style of music, etc., based on who their target group is. This book can lead such a planning group step by step through this process. It can also help the group with the critical decision of when to add the new service as well as how to gain congregational support for the new service.

Arn estimates that half of all congregations are good candidates for adding a second service. From my work, my observation is that that percentage is on the high side. A church may meet the numerical criteria Arn outlines, yet not be ready to add a second service; there are sometimes other other needs or barriers to growth that need to be addressed before the new service issue is addressed. But even though I might not apply this book's recommendations to 50% of all churches, for those churches where a second (or third) service is needed, this book is a wonderful and practical tool.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Step by step, November 19, 2000

By 

"lnfulton" (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Start a New Service: Your Church Can Reach New People (Paperback)

Dr. Charles Arn presents a step-by-step approach at deciding if, how, when and why to start a new church service. Anyone in church leadership would benefit at the orderly approach and abundance of helpful information presented. May be a liitle dry to those not interested in the area of church growth.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy This Book, May 31, 2008

By 

Mark (TUCSON, AZ, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Start a New Service: Your Church Can Reach New People (Paperback)

I'm a new church start pastor and our service has grown a lot and I was thinking about adding a second service. Another new church start pastor gave me a copy of this book and I love it. I bought a copy of this book for everyone on the committee to determine if we should start it or not.

This book gave wonderful examples of when to start, under what circumstances should we start and where we shouldn't start.

Highly recommended. We are launching our second service before long! Get the book - buy a few extra copies for your worship team!


UPDATE: This book helped so much. We are now a little over a year after starting our second service. If it wasn't for this book, I don't think we would have made it! If you haven't started a 2nd service before, read this book - do what it says, pray to God!