Go Nine: Creating Space For Growth

At Welcome Church, our vision is to see Lives Transformed Through Jesus—and our Sunday meetings are a vital part of this. As our church family grows, our 11am meeting is reaching capacity—which is also when most first-time guests join us. To make room for more people to encounter Jesus, we need to take action.

  • We are looking for 150 committed, pioneering individuals to move from the 11am meeting to the 9am meeting on a long-term basis, starting from Sunday 11th May.

  • The big goal is to make room for more people to encounter Jesus. 

    Our 11am meeting is reaching capacity and it often feel full. This can make it harder for visitors to feel comfortable or to find a seat—especially families or groups—discouraging them from returning.

    Although both meetings are growing, growth at the 11am has slowed because of this issue. Yet, 11am remains the best opportunity for reaching new people. By freeing up space at 11am, we believe it will grow again.

  • Simply put, space has become an issue at 11am. 

    We’ve considered options like adding a third meeting or starting a new church. While we may explore these opportunities in the future, right now we believe we should make the best use of the space God has already given us.

What do you want me to do?

If you already attend 9am, please stay there!

If you currently attend the 11am meeting, please pray and consider moving to 9am.

We don’t want anyone to make this decision in isolation—please take time to reflect, pray, and discuss it with those around you, considering any children you may have.

If you currently serve in a Sunday team, we will assume that your serving role will be moving with you to the 9am meeting - this isn’t a time to step back from serving!

If you decide to make this move, please let us know by Easter Sunday (20th April) by completing the form online by clicking here, or by completing and posting the response card in the dedicated ‘Go Nine’ response box on a Sunday or giving it into the church office.

When Does This Start?

If you’re making the move we’d love you to let us know by Easter Sunday (20th April) at the latest, allowing us time to look at the impact on Sunday serving teams, and make adjustments as needed.

Sunday 11th May is moving day!

FAQs

  • Yes, both meetings run the same with the same sermon, worship, youth and kids’ groups

  • No, all of our kids and youth groups run at both meetings

  • That’s fine! If your schedule varies due to serving, work, family, or health, Go Nine may not be for you—but we encourage you to pray and see if God is prompting you.

  • Not at all! We don’t want everyone to move—just enough to create space at 11am. If you have prayed about it and feel that staying at 11am is right for you, there’s no pressure.

    • The 11am meeting is around 110 adults larger than the 9am meeting on an average

    • On any given Sunday, about ⅓ of the church is absent for various reasons.

    • 25% of people are either attending or serving in the children’s or youth work.

    Combining all these statistics means that 150 people moving (including children and youth) will create space for more guests at the 11am meeting each week, while keeping the 11am meeting strong and not overcrowding the 9am meeting.

    Remember: our goal is not to balance the size of the two meetings but to create space at 11am. This number gives us room to grow at both of our meetings.

  • We’ll monitor numbers and adjust as needed—but we don’t expect this to be a problem. To help us with this, if you do feel called to move please let us know as soon as you can.

  • Although we’re asking for a long-term commitment, if it truly doesn’t work for you just speak to us—we’ll work with you!

  • Back in 2017 (It was eight years ago!) our 11am meeting was struggling, and we needed people to move there to help it grow. That decision worked, and 11am became our biggest growth moment! Now, to keep reaching new people, we need to create more space at 11am.

    This isn’t the opposite of what we did before—it’s the same heart behind it: making room for growth.

  • If that happens, we’ll review our next steps—but making space now will help us reach more people now.

  • It’s all about reaching more people and seeing more lives transformed through Jesus. We want to ensure new people can come and feel welcome—and the 11am meeting is where we most need that space.

  • Right now, we don’t have the resources to run three meeting well. Our priority is launching Church Gate, which will help serve our social action, and our children’s and youth ministries. Plus, once Church Gate is complete, the front hall will be free for refreshments, allowing us to add more seating in the chapel for both meetings.

    A third meeting may happen in the future, but only when we’re ready and well-resourced—not while we’re stretched. Also, a third meeting wouldn’t necessarily free up space at 11am unless we also ran a “Go Third Meeting” initiative!

Still have questions?

We’re happy to chat!

A Final Thought

The willingness to be flexible and make personal sacrifices for the sake of the gospel is part of our church’s DNA. If you feel led to be part of this initiative, thank you for making space for others to encounter Jesus.