Finances and Attendance

One of the questions that came from our CORE meeting last Sunday had to do with our Thematic Goal and our church's finances. For the next few months, PCC's staff and other leaders are working on positioning our church so that we are ready for an average Sunday to have 1,500 people attending at our two locations. This goal is not about getting 1,500 people, but rather is about being ready for them. That many people have already come, but we didn't have some of the things in place that we needed for them. Our children's area was very crowded when we opened our building and we don't have a full children's program at the Westchester Campus. We don't have a clear connection pathway to help assimilate people into the church. Our facility at the Powhatan Campus wasn't complete. We don't have a systemic leadership pipeline.

So, we're working on these things because we believe (and the data obviously shows) that these folks are coming, we just need to be ready for them.

One of the questions raised was about finances. When we get to 1,500 in average attendance, giving obviously increases. This is not the goal, but it is a byproduct and helps relax some of the burden we feel now to more fairly compensate our staff and pay down the debt on the building as well as fund ministries. I do not think that we'll have excess money or that we'll not feel some pressure financially. That's a reality for us. But I do think that it will ease up a little as attendance rises and giving goes up.

By the way, the 2011 budget looks much better than 2010 did...which isn't saying a whole lot, but we'll take any relief we can get!

You can see more about PCC's finances through our website or by clicking here.