Big News At RCC
In the event that you have yet to hear about the good news, I wanted to write up a little summary regarding the announcement we shared last Sunday (8/2/26). I also want to walk you through the decision process so you understand how we came to the conclusion we that we did.
The Main "Problem"
Our church has grown about 19% in the last calendar year. What great news! This wonderful truth has created some issues as our space is ill equipped to accommodate our church and new visitors at the same time. At it's worst, near the tail end of winter and into spring, we were having cars pull in on Sunday morning and then leave because there was no place for them to park. We have also been made aware that our Sunday morning parking situation is an irritant to some of our neighbors. In addition to all this, we have often been exceeding the capacity of our kids zone space on Sunday mornings. This of course makes our kids zone experience overly crowded and can lead to a bit of chaos for our teachers.
First Idea
You may already know that we looked into a solution earlier this year. The solution consisted of building a new parking lot as well as modifying our existing building in order to expand it's potential. This project was designed to balance our three main spaces: the parking lot, the auditorium, and the kids zone. Balance means that, according to all of our historical data, we could fit the most amount of people in our building for worship without exhausting one space before the others are full. This solution was costly at $155,000 conservatively. Plus we knew summer was coming and with it, a dip in attendance.
"Problem" #2
This summer our seasonal attendance dip was less than average in a typical US church. This is great news! You all prioritized worship, fellowship, teaching, and communion this summer, and that fact is extremely encouraging to us. In this you all declared that God, spiritual growth, and community is more important than Sunday sports or a day at the beach. Throughout the summer then, we were nearly maxing out our parking and kids zone capacity week after week. Knowing this, as we look to fall, we need to do something to prepare ourselves for the growth that historically happens in the months of September-December. It is not guaranteed growth, but it is likely growth.
Our Solution:
Starting on September 6th we are going to go back to 2 services in order to open up space for more people to come, worship, learn, grow, and hopefully (for those who have not already) surrender their lives to Jesus. Those services will be:
1st Service 9:00 AM
2nd Service: 10:45 AM
The pros and cons for this change are fairly obvious. Of course, we are well aware of the downsides of two services, and thus we were in no hurry to jump into them. However, it is our sincere belief that at this point the pros outweigh the cons. God's kingdom has infinite more room for people to come to the saving knowledge of Him, and we want to be an active part of His mission to help people find and follow Him no matter what it costs us. We know, after all, that to give us this opportunity, it cost our Lord everything He had to give.
What Does This Mean for You?
First, if you are committed at RCC we want to ask you to step into a role of service if you are not already. Our volunteer base needs to grow rapidly in order to meet the demands of two services.
Second, growth does not happen because I preach a great sermon, Frankie and the cafe team makes a great latte, Caleb and the gang play a complex worship set, or any other single Sunday morning metric. Growth happens when you have an all around healthy church full of people who are living the gospel out in their daily lives. Consider what God has next for you in your spiritual development. What is it time to finally set down, or finally pick up? Whether it is increasing your efforts in your spiritual disciplines, getting your marriage on track, building digital accountability, turning off the TV, anger issues, self image issues, or what have you, it's a good time to level up. Remember, our invitations mean significantly less when we are not living our faith with relative consistency. This does not mean that you ought not invite, or you ought not share your faith if you are struggling. It simply means that your invitations tend to grow in power when you are practicing what the Bible preaches.
If you don't know where to start. We are here to help, and we certainly mean those words. Reach out to RCC and set up an appointment to learn how your church can help you level up in your obedience to our Lord.
Third, and this goes with number two. Invite your family. Invite your friends. Invite your neighbors. The polls consistently show that if you never invite them they will never come! Obviously...In all sincerity though, of the many polls that have been launched on this topic the numbers show that between 50 and 80 percent of people would likely go if they were asked by a family member or friend. That numbers goes up for special events or Christmas time services. So growth is a collective. The church is our home base, you are the front lines. When it's members cease to talk about Jesus with the people in their lives, the church stops growing.
Lastly,
The Main "Problem"
Our church has grown about 19% in the last calendar year. What great news! This wonderful truth has created some issues as our space is ill equipped to accommodate our church and new visitors at the same time. At it's worst, near the tail end of winter and into spring, we were having cars pull in on Sunday morning and then leave because there was no place for them to park. We have also been made aware that our Sunday morning parking situation is an irritant to some of our neighbors. In addition to all this, we have often been exceeding the capacity of our kids zone space on Sunday mornings. This of course makes our kids zone experience overly crowded and can lead to a bit of chaos for our teachers.
First Idea
You may already know that we looked into a solution earlier this year. The solution consisted of building a new parking lot as well as modifying our existing building in order to expand it's potential. This project was designed to balance our three main spaces: the parking lot, the auditorium, and the kids zone. Balance means that, according to all of our historical data, we could fit the most amount of people in our building for worship without exhausting one space before the others are full. This solution was costly at $155,000 conservatively. Plus we knew summer was coming and with it, a dip in attendance.
"Problem" #2
This summer our seasonal attendance dip was less than average in a typical US church. This is great news! You all prioritized worship, fellowship, teaching, and communion this summer, and that fact is extremely encouraging to us. In this you all declared that God, spiritual growth, and community is more important than Sunday sports or a day at the beach. Throughout the summer then, we were nearly maxing out our parking and kids zone capacity week after week. Knowing this, as we look to fall, we need to do something to prepare ourselves for the growth that historically happens in the months of September-December. It is not guaranteed growth, but it is likely growth.
Our Solution:
Starting on September 6th we are going to go back to 2 services in order to open up space for more people to come, worship, learn, grow, and hopefully (for those who have not already) surrender their lives to Jesus. Those services will be:
1st Service 9:00 AM
2nd Service: 10:45 AM
The pros and cons for this change are fairly obvious. Of course, we are well aware of the downsides of two services, and thus we were in no hurry to jump into them. However, it is our sincere belief that at this point the pros outweigh the cons. God's kingdom has infinite more room for people to come to the saving knowledge of Him, and we want to be an active part of His mission to help people find and follow Him no matter what it costs us. We know, after all, that to give us this opportunity, it cost our Lord everything He had to give.
What Does This Mean for You?
First, if you are committed at RCC we want to ask you to step into a role of service if you are not already. Our volunteer base needs to grow rapidly in order to meet the demands of two services.
Second, growth does not happen because I preach a great sermon, Frankie and the cafe team makes a great latte, Caleb and the gang play a complex worship set, or any other single Sunday morning metric. Growth happens when you have an all around healthy church full of people who are living the gospel out in their daily lives. Consider what God has next for you in your spiritual development. What is it time to finally set down, or finally pick up? Whether it is increasing your efforts in your spiritual disciplines, getting your marriage on track, building digital accountability, turning off the TV, anger issues, self image issues, or what have you, it's a good time to level up. Remember, our invitations mean significantly less when we are not living our faith with relative consistency. This does not mean that you ought not invite, or you ought not share your faith if you are struggling. It simply means that your invitations tend to grow in power when you are practicing what the Bible preaches.
If you don't know where to start. We are here to help, and we certainly mean those words. Reach out to RCC and set up an appointment to learn how your church can help you level up in your obedience to our Lord.
Third, and this goes with number two. Invite your family. Invite your friends. Invite your neighbors. The polls consistently show that if you never invite them they will never come! Obviously...In all sincerity though, of the many polls that have been launched on this topic the numbers show that between 50 and 80 percent of people would likely go if they were asked by a family member or friend. That numbers goes up for special events or Christmas time services. So growth is a collective. The church is our home base, you are the front lines. When it's members cease to talk about Jesus with the people in their lives, the church stops growing.
Lastly,