Why PCC Is Ready for Change...

We're about to undergo some of the most dramatic change in our church's  six and a half year history.  The 'why' is always about our mission.  If we can do what we do better and more effectively reach people who are far from God and/or outside of other churches, we will do it.   And we can do it even better than we have been.

The data and facts about unchurched people are well documented and the evidence is growing.  Our church, like other churches who have gone before us, is capable of getting stuck.  We were different when we started (we are still different today),  but we must always be in a constant state of adaptation to the needs of unchurched people around us, or we risk becoming irrelevant.   

Here are some facts: 

(when I refer to 'the church', I mean the church at large, not our church)

 

• Only 10% of America's churches are large, but over 50% of churchgoers attend those churches.1

• The church is losing a disproportionate share of young people.  While the church is losing ground on many fronts, it's losing 18-35 year olds at a rapid pace.

• The unchurhed population is growing, with some studies suggesting that as many as 70% of Americans do not ever go to church.  Even where we live, the number of churchgoers is 50% at best.

• Most growing churches are doing so through innovation, replication, and variation, and evaluation

• Today’s 18-35 year old is a multi-sensory learner.

• Growing churches usually have a clearly articulated mission/vision.  They are focused on it and are fanatically passionate about it.  Therefore, churches which are reaching people understand what few things they do and say ‘NO’ to most everything else – even great ideas – that don’t fit their mission.

• Churches that are reaching unchurched people understand the cultural value of excellence and the engagement value of entertainment.

I’m going to spend a few days writing about the reasons for continued change at PCC before I start sharing how we are going to change and what we can expect to see from that change.

Here’s what you can do:  Forget what we were like 5 years ago.  Forget what used to work.  Forget that you know anything.  The world is changing and institutions become dated.  But movements strive ahead. 

Powhatan Community Church is a Movement, not an institution.

1) Duin, Julia.  Quitting Church.  Baker Books, 2008