The Cost of Starting Church Late

It was an honest mistake. You lost track of time. You were talking to someone. The drummer was in the bathroom. For whatever reason, you started a service late. No big deal.
Unless this isn’t this first time.
Churches that habitually start late create a problem that prompt churches rarely encounter: the lost 15 minutes.
When you start late, people come to expect it. They don’t mind running late themselves, because they know they won’t be missing anything. Before you know it, your service time will have shifted 15 minutes, inconveniencing everyone. If you ever need those 15 minutes, you’ll have a hard time getting them back.
If you’d like to break the cycle, your first step needs to be a commitment. Commit to start on time, every time—no exceptions. Communicate this to your worship team, and mean it. Then you’ll need to start front-loading services with important elements. Put the coolest, most interesting, and most important elements very first in the order of service. Know that most people are going to miss these things, but you need them to understand that the first 15 minutes of the service are important.
Have you ever fallen into the late-start rut? Did you escape? Tell us all about it in the comments!

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Proclaim Church Presentation Software lives in the cloud, so you can collaborate with your team from wherever they work best. No more emailing large files or fumbling with USB sticks. Best of all, it connects with many of the tools you already use, like Planning Center Online, CCLI SongSelect, and Graceway Media. Try it for free at ProclaimOnline.com/Download.
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Written by
Ray Deck III

Born in WV, Ray escaped to North Carolina at a young age. He came to Logos after an 8 year stint at a faith-based nonprofit in New York. When he is not assembling sequences of words, he’s probably running, surfing or shooting skeet, but you should probably go look for him. He has a terrible sense of direction and is probably lost.

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Written by Ray Deck III
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