1. Why are we offering a second service?

Put simply, our building doesn’t have enough available seating for new people to visit us on Sundays. Rather than turn people away, we want to increase the availability of seating, which we can do by offering a second service. 

2. But why now?

If you were part of our church in 2018 when we first moved to our current building, you might remember that we filled the room then. So why have we waited until now to offer a second service?

We believe this is a decisive moment in the life of our church — a moment to lean into growth.

Since planting in 2015, our church has seen consistent, upward growth. Our biggest increase came in 2018 when we moved to this location, and we’ve remained steady and full ever since. However, ‘steady and full’ is not our mission. Our mission is to make disciples — our vision is to plant churches — but we believe that our current seating situation is holding us back from a new chapter of ministry.

Granted, we’ve not always felt the constraints as acutely as we do now as we wrap up our tenth year as a church and grapple with data that shows we’re falling short of our calling to be welcoming witnesses.

In our Spiritual Growth Assessment conducted for our covenant members in 2019, 2021, and 2024, we asked if we as members invite our non-Christian friends to our Sunday morning services. On a sliding scale — Rarely true (0), Sometimes true (50), and Often true (100) — in 2019, barely a year after moving into our building, we rated ourselves at a 53. In the following years, that number has plummeted to 33 in 2021 and 35 in 2024. In other words, by our own admission, our church consistently rarely invites non-Christians (or others?) to join us on Sundays.

There are certainly multiple factors at play, and we want to thoughtfully address all of them (including some evangelistic training), but might one keystone factor be our space?

The pastors are concerned that we are less inclined to invite others to our services because, at least logistically, we don’t have anywhere for them to sit — but also, when we look around in a full room, we don’t feel the need to see more people come.

The absence of space for newcomers and outsiders can, over time, shape a church culture in detrimental ways, making us ingrown — steady, full, and maybe a little too cozy … even as Hell-bound lost people surround us in these cities.

We’re at a turning point. We have to ask: Are we a cruise ship or a lifeboat?

A cruise ship maintains comfort. A lifeboat heads into the crashing waves to rescue as many as it can. The pastors believe Jesus is renewing our call to be a lifeboat — to truly be welcoming witnesses. Without a doubt, a single service is ideal — and certainly our preference — but we want to endure this less-than-ideal change for the greater good of welcoming more people to our church.

3. When and how will we pull this off logistically?

Offering a second service will stretch us, but it’s a good stretch. The pastors have done some planning, and our staff will work hard to prepare, but ultimately, pulling this off won’t depend on clever scheduling or perfect systems. It will depend on God’s help and all of our shared commitment to the mission.

We’re asking everyone who calls Cities Church home to step in and serve. If you’ve been waiting for the right time to volunteer, this is it! And at the same time, we’re doing all we can to make this a sustainable transition — avoiding burnout, building strong teams, and keeping Sundays joyful and life-giving.

The pastors intend for our first two-service Sunday to be January 18, 2026, with services beginning at 8:30am and 10:30am. Over the next few months, we hope to hammer out the details, including a discussion at our membership meeting on Sunday, October 26.

Ultimately, every logistical detail is about something bigger: making space for more people to meet Jesus.

4. Are there other ways to increase seating?

Yes and no. Technically, we could seat another 180 more people in the Chapel by offering a streamed version of the service. That would bring our total adult capacity to nearly 700 on site. However, we’ve tried this before, and it hasn’t ‘caught on’ — and understandably so. Most people deeply value the experience of worshiping together in our beautiful sanctuary. A second service would allow more people to do just that.

We also explored the possibility of building a balcony in the sanctuary, but the cost was prohibitive and not a strategic use of resources.

5. Could we move to a new location?

We explored that option. Back in 2019, we worked with a commercial realtor to find a building in the city that could seat 600–800 people. Every available option was far outside the city and/or prohibitively expensive. The best space, by far, was the one we were already renting: 1524 Summit Avenue. That discovery led us to purchase the building in January 2020 — by God’s grace.

We haven’t restarted a formal search since, but as far as we know, no better option has emerged. Hypothetically, if a 1,000-seat auditorium became available within a few blocks of our current address, we’d consider it. But as it stands, we believe this building is a gift from God, and we’re committed to stewarding it well. That includes adapting to and preparing for growth with a second service.

6. Could we just plant a church?

Our vision has always been to plant more churches like ours in the Twin Cities — for the purpose of advancing the gospel, not managing our own growth. We believe that offering a second service actually supports that planting vision — not hinders it.

Church planting depends on discipleship: we need more disciples (increased numbers), and we need deeper disciples (increased maturity). When either of these stagnates, multiplication is hindered.

Right now, our limited seating restricts numerical growth, which translates into diminishing opportunities to plant. Offering a second service gives us room to grow — and as we continue to train and equip potential leaders, that growth will fuel future church plants.

For example, Will Stueve, our planting resident, is currently building a founding team to launch a new church in Roseville, close to the University of Northwestern. Ideally, this founding team would consist of at least 30 individuals from Cities, but given our current size, this ‘hive’ approach can only sustain one plant every three years. If we can grow, however, we believe we can sustainably accelerate our planting to one plant every 12–18 months.

In sum, we embrace a “both/and” position — we want to make room for more people to meet Jesus by offering a second service and by planting churches, and we believe the former will fuel the latter.

7. What if I’m opposed to two services on principle?

We understand that some Christians hold a principled conviction that a local church should gather in one assembly on the Lord’s Day. While we agree that gathering as one assembly is a beautiful ideal, we do not believe Scripture prohibits multiple services.

Our conviction here is not grounded in how unpersuasive the one-assembly arguments may be, but in the advancing nature of the gospel message. Christianity is inherently a “missionary faith.” Just as the Scriptures are translatable into every language at all times, the local church is not bound by rigid forms on third-order matters like service times or formats. The New Testament gives us flexibility — not to drift from faithfulness, but to apply it wisely in a variety of contexts, including seasons of persecution, pandemics, or growth.

In our current moment, we believe offering a second service is a faithful and strategic step to better fulfill our mission.

If you hold to a one-service conviction, we want you to know we respect your position. And if you believe that conviction places you out of step with the direction of our church, we’d be honored to help you connect with one of the church plants we’ve sent — or hope to send — that may align more closely with your view.

8. Is our financial situation a factor in the decision to start a second service?

From the beginning of our discussions, our pastors have been clear: the primary reason for adding a second service is missional. We want more men, women, boys, and girls in the Twin Cities to know Jesus — and if our church can play a role in that, it will involve numerical growth, which will require creating more room.

At the same time, we’re realistic about the financial dynamics. Many churches do add services to increase giving, since capped attendance often means capped resources. And it’s true that our building is expensive and stretches our current number of givers.

But even if someone gave us the $4.25 million tomorrow to pay off our mortgage and complete all deferred maintenance, we’d still need more space. The core issue isn’t funding, it’s capacity … for mission.

More funding may come as a result of growth, but it is not the reason we’re adding a second service.

9. What has been the pastoral team’s process in coming to this decision?

At the end of 2023, the pastors began a focused effort to refresh our church’s mission and vision. Over the next seven months, we took a deep dive into the core questions: What does the Bible say about the church’s calling? What does it mean to be a disciple? And how might God be leading us in this new season of our church’s life?

That process led to a renewed, clarified articulation of our mission — not entirely new, but freshly expressed. We now describe a disciple as a Jesus worshiper, joyful servant, generous discipler, and welcoming witness (previously: worshiper, servant, and missionary). In Fall 2024, we preached a six-part sermon series on the fruit of that work, called “We Are Cities Church.”

By the end of that season, as we continued applying this refreshed vision, we began to discern the need — and opportunity — for further growth. In January 2025, we entered into intentional discussions about offering a second service. After months of reading, meeting, planning, and prayer, the pastors reached a unified decision to move forward with a second service as a faithful next step in living out our mission.

10. Does this decision require a congregational vote?

No. According to our bylaws, a congregational vote is required for matters related to finances, property, and church offices (like pastors and deacons), but not for ministry decisions like offering a second service.

That said, this wasn’t a quick or casual decision. The pastors have taken it seriously — with months of prayer, study, discussion, and input. We’re confident this step aligns with our mission and vision, and we remain accountable to the congregation as we seek to lead us forward. But, clearly stated, the pastors are attempting to lead.

In keeping with the office to which our members have appointed us — and ultimately under the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28) — we are striving to “shepherd the flock of God” (1 Peter 5:1–4) with sincerity and faithfulness. We look forward to discussing this topic further, and answering your questions, at our membership meeting on Sunday, October 26.

11. Where do we stop? If we add a second service, why not a third? Or a fourth?

That’s a great and important question. Our answer comes down to mission: Does it support or inhibit our calling to make disciples?

We believe offering a second service serves that mission by making room for more people to encounter Jesus and grow in community. But beyond two, the trade-offs increase dramatically. A third service would begin to strain our discipleship structures and weaken our sense of unity and relational connection.

We’ve considered our current pathways to be scalable, up to about double our present size. For example, we believe we can double the number of Community Groups and train enough leaders to sustain that growth. But tripling or quadrupling our size would stretch those systems beyond their healthy limits.

So what happens if, within a year, both services are full? That’s the kind of problem we want to have — because it would mean we’re ready to send. Our long-term strategy is not endless expansion but sustainable multiplication: we want to plant churches, not pile up services. If we’re regularly filling two services, our goal would be to send a new church plant every 12–18 months.

In short, we’re drawing a strategic line at two services, and beyond that, we want to multiply, not centralize.

12. Will this harm our sense of community?

We know this is one of the biggest concerns — and we understand it. Many of us have cherished the closeness that comes with gathering at one time, in one place, as one body. So yes, we expect this shift will feel different.

But we should ask ourselves: Are we seeking a kind of closeness shaped more by the therapeutic ideal of comfort, or by the biblical pattern of sacrificial, Spirit-filled fellowship? How do we hold together our desire for the sense of close-knit church and the reality of hell and exclusivity of Jesus for salvation? These are things we need to keep considering.

At the same time, we believe Cities Church is well-positioned to maintain deep, meaningful relationships. Here’s why:

• Our Community Groups remain at the heart of how we live out fellowship — and they’re not affected by this change.

• We’re still one church, with one pastoral team, one mission, and one shared Sunday liturgy across both services.

• We are committed to overlap and unity through all-church events, leader relationships, and shared service teams.

In fact, if we stay committed to our discipleship pathways, we believe this shift could actually expand our community — not dilute it. A second service will make more room for more people to join the family, and that’s a good thing.

13. Is Cities Church becoming “all about numbers” now?

Not at all. For over a decade, we’ve intentionally not emphasized numbers. We’ve never even tracked total attendance on Sundays. That’s not how we measure success.

We know that growth, by itself, isn’t a mark of health. It’s possible to chase numbers for all the wrong reasons — to impress, to build a brand, or to feel successful. If that were our aim, we’d have a real problem. But that’s not what’s happening here.

We care about growth because we care about people. And people — eternal souls — are what numbers represent. Our goal isn’t to build a big church. It’s to see more people know and follow Jesus. That means making room for those who come, and discipling them well.

We’re not driven by metrics. We’re driven by mission. And we believe that healthy growth — both in number and in depth — is part of faithfulness to Jesus.

14. How will we evaluate the success of doing a second service?

We’ll measure the success of a second service using a matrix of factors: numerical growth, discipleship health, and multiplication. Success isn’t determined by numbers alone — whether attendance or finances. We’ll track those to be wise stewards, but our deepest concern is faithfulness: Are we maturing as a body? Are we helping more people know and follow Jesus? Are we still living out our mission with clarity? Are we growing and multiplying for the glory of God?

In the end, the success of this initiative won’t be measured in short-term convenience but in long-term mission faithfulness. Our goal isn’t just to manage growth — it’s to make disciples who are Jesus worshipers, joyful servants, generous disciplers, and welcoming witnesses.