One of the things about our church at PCC is we are called a ‘community church’. In some places, that means the church is an invaluable hub in the neighbourhood, helping meet needs, hosting activities and caring for neighbours. The challenge with being a community church for PCC is that the needs are not as significantly obvious. People in our community generally seem to be self-sufficient. So, what does it mean to be a community church? It means people know who we are, what we believe, and that we care for them. I’m not sure our community, at this point, knows that.
A great question about your church’s impact on its community is, “If your church disappeared, would anyone miss it?” When talking with people new to the church or out in the community, I often hear a comment such as, “I didn’t know there was a church there, and I drive by it every day!” We are not a small building; we are not hidden away, and people don’t know who or what we are. They don’t know what this building is about. Some physical reasons explain this, but the more significant concern is that we, as a church, have little or no relationship with the community around us. People don’t know who we are. They don’t know what is happening in this building. They do not need us. This is not unique to churches or to PCC. To change that takes intentionality and time. There are all sorts of challenges we face in building community. For instance, we build our communities, so we no longer engage with neighbours. Look at how most new houses are where you drive into a garage and never have to step outside and talk to anyone! Look at how busy our schedules are and how hard it is to meet neighbours casually anymore. Building a community takes intentionality. It takes time and can be hard work.
When I arrived at PCC, someone told me we are a community church because we are creating a community where we live, not. Because we’re a community church in our neighbourhood. I thought that was interesting, so let’s ask some questions about your neighbourhood. Do you know your neighbours? Do they know you are a person of faith? Do they know what church you are a part of? Have you invited them to church or encouraged them to attend another church?
The point of these questions is not to create guilt but to raise awareness that we must intentionally connect with people to be a community church around our facility or where we live. But that can be scary and intimidating, and many of us perceive the world as ‘anti-Christian’ or ‘anti-faith’. But statistics have shown people aren’t offended and are even open to being invited to church. I believe that an invitation is welcome when there is a relationship that comes along with the invitation. However, we need to start somewhere –so this Christmas, we’re inviting our community by hand, delivering invites to the neighbourhood around our church, and praying for the homes around us. You can even take some to your neighbourhood. This is simply a starting point. Hopefully, as we start doing this regularly, people will realize who we are and what this building is! I also hope we recognize that building community is something that takes time and can be inconvenient to us. It takes intentional effort. As we begin to build relationships, I hope you will take the risk of investing in them. Invite someone to a church event. Have a conversation about how people view faith and church. Invite someone exploring faith to attend the Alpha course and ask questions. Have a neighbourhood gathering (my wife and I are doing a neighbourhood Christmas party this year!).
My request is simple: How can you help create a community around you and our church? As we build these relationships and this sense of community, trust is created, and doors open to deeper conversations about things that matter—things like faith and God.
I hope you and your family will consider coming out on November 30th between 9 am and 11 am to help invite our neighbours to our church (if that time doesn’t work, sign up after church this Sunday to deliver to an area of the community). Between our desire to invite them and our prayers, we look forward to seeing the fruit of what God is doing through us at PCC. Why are we doing this? To start an intentional practice of inviting people to church and to pray for our community. Hopefully, we can grow this practice in other ways in the future.
If you plan on helping deliver invitations, it would be great to have a sense of who is helping! While not essential, we would love you to sign up at pcomm.ca/delivery
Mike Engbers is the Lead Pastor at Parliament Community Church in Regina, SK, which is located near Harbour Landing. As a church, we offer programs for all ages, from children to youth, young adults to Seniors who are part of our Heritage groups. We are also diverse in cultural backgrounds but share a desire to grow as disciples of Christ together.
