Two Services Beginning Feb.1

Imago Dei Community,

Happy New Year! I am writing to you today in response to the work of God in our city, and particularly, the work of God in our local church.

As many of you know and probably feel, our church has been growing! For the past 14 months, our staff and elders have been discerning how to shepherd and steward this growth. Particularly as a staff team, we have been assessing the cost and the benefits of moving our 10am gathering to two services. My letter today is telling you that we have decided to move forward with this.

Beginning February 1st, 2026, Imago Dei will begin hosting two worship services. Instead of worshipping once at 10am, we will worship God together at 9am and 11am.

Why are we doing this? If I had to boil it down to one word, it would be the word “formation.” As we grow, we do not desire large crowds, but a community that can be formed into the likeness of Jesus. Our mission, as you know, is to take the whole gospel, to the whole person, to the whole world. And as God brings more people into our midst, we desire to make room for all of us to receive and grow in all of the gospel’s work. By moving to two services, we are simply able to serve all our people better while we also welcome new people. And so this move will allow us to experience the formation in a few ways:

• Formation of our next generation: for the past three months, we have been regularly turning away kids in some of our fuller classes as early as 7-8 minutes into our worship gathering. Additionally, large class sizes are not ideal for the formation of young people.

• Formation of those currently serving: right now, if you serve in kids ministry, youth ministry, hospitality, or safety/security, you miss all of or some of our worship service. We’re blessed to have livestreaming and podcasting as a supplement, but corporate, embodied worship/praise, interaction with people, collective prayer, and the reception of the Eucharist are all fundamental to Christian formation. We desire to make room for all of us to encounter God in worship.

• Formation of those yet to serve: one of the primary ways we are shaped is by who and how we serve. Adding a second gathering allows all of us to answer the question, “where and how am I serving the church I call home?” We invite you to consider serving in key areas as we grow, particularly in kids ministry and hospitality ministry.

By making the move to two services, we believe we will be taking a significant step that will allow our church to grow in depth and breadth.

You’re probably asking: how can I help? We’re so glad you asked. As you can guess, two services will significantly increase our need for volunteers in a few areas, specifically in Imago Dei Kids and in our Hospitality Ministry. We anticipate we will need 50 people to say “yes” to serving 1-2 times per month in one of these areas. Secondly, we are confident that we can stay within our stated budget for this fiscal year (ending June 2026), but it’s all the more vital that we meet our giving with our projected budget. The two best ways to support your church right now is to say “yes” to serving and giving regularly. You can do so here: