Creating the Future

From our two-year consultation with Dr. Carl George, one of America’s leading church consultants, it became apparent that one of the barriers to growth our church had to overcome was what Dr. George called “capacity issues.” Among his recommendations, Dr. George made the following observations:

…City Church has quality ministries and engages in “best practices” in regard to worship, leadership, and general church programs.

…City Church has an abundance of square-footage of building space and is capable of growing to a much larger congregation if this space is utilized more efficiently and effectively in outreach and scheduling.

…City Church has a capacity issue in regard to parking. This must be addressed if worship attendance can grow.  

…City Church has a capacity issue with its Sunday morning programming and schedule. Our early service needs to be at a time that will enable it to grow and not simply be an “overflow” service. 8:30 am is not the optimum time for it to attract new attendees, especially families with young children, which Dr. George pointed out will be the source of our future growth.

These recommendations prompted the forming of the Design Build Team and our entering the “construction zone” on June 1, 2008. The Design Build Team was given the task to develop a new “program schedule” that would enable us to “remove the current cap” that was holding back our potential growth.

The team took this responsibility very seriously, meeting ten times, with the last meeting being held on Sunday, October 26. We carefully studied a variety of options and evaluated each option’s impact and outcome possibilities. It was often a very frustrating and difficult task, but the team felt that it brought a very positive, visionary, and growth-oriented report to the Elders.

At the November 10 meeting of the Eldership of our church, the report and recommendation of the Design Build Team was presented, discussed and approved by the Elders.  

This is the first of three Construction Zone Reports that will be sent to the City Church Family. Each report will give different details of the new programming.


Seven Evaluation Criteria
(How the Team Evaluated all Ideas and Options)

1.    Must connect to our mission statement.

It must help us be effective in making disciples who make a difference by creating environments and opportunities for people to experience God’s presence, feel God’s love, hear God’s voice, and join God’s mission.

2.    Must facilitate future growth for Sunday morning worship attendance.

It must allow for multiple worship opportunities that will facilitate over 1,000 in attendance without new construction.

3.    Must be family friendly and family targeted.

The schedule must be conducive to family involvement (particularly young families with children). This applies to the time of the programming and the length of the program itself.

4.    Must foster community.

The schedule must provide optimal opportunity for people to be involved in community, where long-term relationships can be built and where care and support is provided to adult members of the church. By this is meant that the schedule should be such that at least 400 adults would be inclined to be involved in Community Groups or small groups.

5.    Must provide opportunities for volunteers to attend worship.

The programming should allow opportunities for those who volunteer (particularly in Generational Ministries) to be involved in one of the worship services each week.

6.    Must minimize competing environments.

This particularly has to do with volunteer recruitment. For example, the need for volunteers in children’s ministry often conflicts with a person’s desire to be in a Community Group or in one of the worship services. The new schedule should lessen this conflicting situation.

7.    Must be realistic and simple.

The programming must be “do-able” and not difficult to be explained and understood by the congregation. It must be a schedule in which people can reasonably participate.

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Pray
Be Patient
Participate
Be Positive

You have done that. I expected no less from you. Thank you so much. What a great church!

I know that for some of you, your patience was tested.  The construction zone lasted longer than we thought it would. Hum, sounds like a highway construction zone.

Many people from both the Central Auditorium and from Ethos have commented how great the worship services have been during the “construction zone.” We should not be surprised, because unity always brings the blessings of God. It is this kind of unity that will enable City Church to create the future.
The New Future – Part One
The Sunday Morning Worship Schedule

New Schedule Details

On February 1, 2009, we will launch our new Sunday morning worship schedule. There will be two worship services in the Central Auditorium. The first will be at 9:15 – 10:30 am. The second will be at 11:00 am – 12:15 pm. Ethos will continue to meet at 11:00 am in the East Auditorium.

The two services in Central will be identical worship experiences. Maybe the better terminology should be “similar worship experiences” since worship is a dynamic environment and no two services are exactly alike.  However, as we plan the service, the order of and the elements will be the same in both services. Excellent children’s programming (nursery, preschool, and elementary) will be offered concurrently with both services.

Moving the first service to 9:15 (rather than 8:30 as we had previously done) will make this service more attractive—especially to younger families. It will give us room to grow in the Central Auditorium in both services.

So, beginning February 1, you will have two options and two locations to be a part of the City Church worship experience – 9:15 or 11:00 am in Central and 11:00 am in East.

Thanks for your patience and support.
Mike Chapman