Have you ever had one of those Sundays where it's time to start but no one is in the room yet? You don't want to start before people arrive so you push your service starting time back a little bit further every Sunday until eventually you find that you're starting your service 15 minutes late. What can you do?
Here are 3 ways to combat your church's chronic lateness:
1 | Countdown
One of the most tangible elements you can implement is a countdown. This is a clock that you put up on the screens 5 minutes before your gathering is about to start. A countdown allows people to know for sure when your gathering is going to start. If you don't have a countdown, people have no warning. But a countdown let's them know they have 5 minutes to find a seat and prepare themselves for worship. It creates a sense of urgency. It shows that when the timer reaches zero, something new is going to happen.
2 | Start on time every time
A countdown is useless if it's not implemented consistently. If your gathering starts at 10am, make sure that you start your countdown at 9:55am. The first few times you do this you will get the same results you have been getting - no one will be there. But, over time (about a month), people will start to recognize when your service starts. They'll start to notice that they're arriving late and adjust their habits. Starting on time every time also creates a sense of trust. When you start at a different time every week, people don't actually know when to get there. But when you start when you say you will, you allow people to get into a routine they can trust.
3 | Load the beginning with all the best things
Have you ever wanted to implement a special element early in your gathering but put it later simply because "people aren't there yet?" You are reinforcing their behavior! Load the beginning of your gatherings with the best stuff! If you do this consistently, people won't want to miss out on what's happening and will show up on time to experience it.
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