Asking the Right Questions

During the upcoming year I will be spending a great deal of time engaged in the Congregational Transformation Process through our partnership with Rev. Dr. Don Nations and his consulting firm, DNA Coaching, Inc. My hope is to learn all that I can from him and his associates so that I can help the Church Council lead our congregation into a brighter future. Rev. Nations and I have already begun to dialog about beginning a second worship service here at University, but we still have several questions to wrestle with before moving forward.

As I asked him about what would be necessary to begin an alternative worship service he asked me if I could answer the "why" question – "why do we want to do this?" The answer to that question begins to determine the direction that the new service will take. There are two possible answers to the "why" question that are helpful:

1. Because a current service is approaching 80% capacity
   
2. Because we want to reach out to an new segment of our community who is not currently being reached by our current worship service
   

If #1 is our answer, then we need to replicate our current service at another time (either on Sunday morning or at another time that makes sense for our audience). If #2 is our answer, then we need to design an alternative worship experience that meets the needs of the people we would like to see included in our congregation, but are not currently attending or participating.

I believe that #2 is our answer to the "why" question Rev. Nations posed. To that end I did some research through the Percept Group to find out about the demographics of the community immediately surrounding University UMC. The information I found out about the community within a 3-mile radius of our church was startling, eye-opening, challenging, and encouraging. Here are some of the highlights that might impact our decision to begin a second worship experience:

Current Population: 55,839

Households with No Faith Involvement: 29%

Average Age: 38.0 years

Overall Church Style Preference (Trad. vs. Cont.): Both

Preference for "Historic Christian" Tradition: 83%

Overall Faith Receptivity: Somewhat High

Overall Church Program Preference Category: Spiritual Development

This data (along with about 10 more pages worth of data) gives me a good indication that with the right team in place to launch a new worship experience here at University, we could double worship attendance (or more) within the next year.

If you would like to serve on the team that will strategize about this new worship experience, please send me an email (pastor@uumcwf.org) indicating your interest before January 31, 2010. I am looking for 15-20 people to serve on this team.

Thank you for your generosity in our second offering Sunday morning! With your generous gifts, we will be able to help the United Methodist Committee on Relief continue its post-earthquake efforts in Haiti.