Jason Tucker, head pastor of Tower Hill Presbyterian, brought a thought-provoking message to the elders of FUPC in a workshop on how to grow our church to meet the needs of our community in 2030.
2030 will be our 200th anniversary. If we want to be a vibrant church in 2030, we will need to grow our congregation. That growth needs to include young people and young families so we will be able to hand our traditions on to the next generation. This has been a goal of ours, as it is a goal for so many churches now.
Hearing that our church wants to bring in more young people, he started off with some sobering statistics:
- 67% of churches now have fewer than 100 members.
- PCUSA has never shown year-over-year-growth.
- Fewer than 30% of Millennials and younger attend church even once a month.
At the same time, he reminded us that people across the nation are searching for meaning, facing higher levels of anxiety and stress, and yearning for community. These are all problems that churches can help with.
“The message is the same,” Tucker told us, “but the method is always changing.”
He shared 5 Ministry Keys for 2030:
- Engaging multi-generational Sunday experiences
- Compelling, engaging, and safe environments online and in person
- Clear and robust discipleship
- Outward-facing evangelism
- Flexible systems
Over the coming months, we’ll learn more about those five keys. As we work toward a stronger church, we need to keep in mind, as Paster Jam reminded us on Monday, that we can’t keep doing the same things and expect different outcomes.
“Speak he wonders of God,” Tucker said, “in the language of the people.”
Are you ready for exciting change?