I used to be an 80% guy. I used to think that when our auditorium was 80% full we were essentially at capacity and needed to either add services or add seats. Now I’m more of a 105% guy. I think people are attracted to the crowds. I know. Not everyone is. But generally speaking crowds attract crowds. Don’t believe me? Think about the wait at your favorite restaurant or coffee shop or club.
That said, the 80% rule really doesn’t work, in my opinion, because it doesn’t factor in the non-optimal service times that necessarily have to be added when the one at 10:oo am on Sunday morning fills up. In other words, a win at 8:00 am on Sunday or 4:00 pm on Saturday afternoon looks a lot different than a win at 10:00 am on Sunday. You can try as hard as you want with incentives and coaching, but people generally think if they’re going to head to church, especially first-time guests, it should happen on Sunday morning. Maybe that will change over the time. Maybe our DVR generation will usher in a new normal.
In the mean time, I’ve started looking at the ratio of attendance to seats to determine how close we are to capacity. For us, based on our current self-imposed limitations (like service length, no services on Saturdays, etc.), that maximum ratio seems to be right around 3.25. When the total attendance (including kids) divided by seats at any campus equals 3.25 or more, we probably are close to capacity.
That said, I initiated a little survey on my site a few days ago. Here’s a summary of the results:
- 48 church leaders responded
- Average church surveyed had an attendance of 1,635 people and 696 seats available for a 2.35 ratio
- Median ratio was 1.64
- Of the 48 responses, only 9 churches had a ratio higher than 3.25
- Only 2 of those 48 churches had ratios higher than 3.25 while not having any services on Saturdays
- Highest ratio of attendance to seats was 6.3. That church has 6 services on Saturday at 5:00 and 6:30 pm and Sunday at 9:00, 10:30, 11:55 am and 6:30 pm
- Next highest ratio was 4.38. That church has 5 services on Sundays at 9:00 and 10:30 am and 12:00, 5:00 and 6:30 pm
- The highest ratio for a church with only 3 services was 3.38. That church has services on Sundays at 9:00, 10:15 and 11:30
In case you’re curious, our Greenville campus is currently at 1.77 and our Anderson campus is at 3.25. We believe we have room to grow in Greenville (though they’re growing fast), and we need space in Anderson (and it’s coming soon).
What are your thoughts? Questions about the results? I’d love to hear your feedback.
Tony, dead on. As a 33 year broadcast radio guy, our events are always planned for a smaller-than-needed venue. We want people telling their friends how many people attended. And while we on the inside use numbers to tell the story (“there were 2300 in attendance today) people speak in what I call “usage terms.” “Man, there were so many people there, I think people were sitting in the foyer!” Now THAT creates word-of-mouth and excitement.
My experience is that some of this can depend on area of the country you live in. Southern California folk like their elbow room. They’re willing to sit right next to each other at weddings or funerals, but not every Sunday.
I like having a new way to think about capacity. Just a clarification on calculating the ratio. If I have a venue that seats 500; we have 4 services; attendance over the weekend is 1600 in worship, and 400 in kids, would we do the math like this?
(1600+400)/500 = 4.0
or
(1600+400)/500*4 = 1.0
Thanks for the clarification.
Amy
G’Day! – Great post – thanks – I’m thinking through all this at the moment – we have a 150 seat capacity in our auditorium, and have run out of seats a few times lately, and have about 120 to 135 in attendance each Sunday now. (About 200 or so regular attendees – i.e. they come once a month or so – but only 120 to 135 on any given Sunday) SO we’ve hit the 80% – BTW the 150 chairs is a little crowded too – it is much better with only 120 or so seats out.
I buy the idea that full is great and that moving at 80% may not always be wise – BUT my big issue is parking – We are on a very small block with only about 8 to 10 off street car parks – and the street is extremely narrow and we make it so only one car can drive down it (i.e. two cars cannot pass) when we have cars parked on both sides during a Sunday. Also what used to be the vacant lot opposite which we parked on until a couple of years ago is now about to be developed as townhouses, so we will have more traffic and lose some of the street parking we now have.
Is that all compelling enough to have to move? Or am I missing something – I don;t believe multiple Sunday AM services will work as I think people coming and going at the changeover time will make traffic/parking worse, so maybe we could add a Saturday service as an interim, but is a total church size as small as ours big enough to do that viably? What are peoples experiences or advice? A talk I gave last year when we were preparing the congregation to consider some land is at http://www.tcfnet.org.au/future it shows a aerial view of our site – the land we were looking at at that time is now NOT being released for development as the owners plan to sit on it for 5 years hoping values will go up – so we can look elsewhere. I guess I like the ideas I have read on this Blog and others of doing the multi service thing – but wonder if to do that we need to at least get a facility (either our own or rented) that is somewhat self contained offering seating AND parking.
Thanks in advance Chris Rowney