Two Time Slots is All People Have Time For

When it comes to involvement in church-related activities during the week, MOST PEOPLE have a LIMITED AMOUNT of time they can DONATE. As a rule of thumb, most people will participate in ONLY TWO TIME SLOTS A WEEK. No matter what that third or fourth meeting is for or when it takes place, it’s hard to get anyone to show up.

Of course, there are exceptions. Every church has some ministry animals who show up whenever the doors are open. In addition, there are others who serve in key positions who give more than a couple of time slots. But the pattern holds true for most people – it’s TWO TIME SLOTS, with an occasional extra meeting or special event thrown in.

At PCC, we have chosen to tailor our ministry to this reality. If most people have only two time slots they are able to donate each week, we want it to be the WEEKEND SERVICES and SMALL GROUPS. Most churches have way too many activities, programs, and events on the schedule. In a two time-slot world, that can be a huge drain on the family, and additionally, it creates excessive competition within the church for limited resources.

To ensure that the most important and productive ministries thrive, it is necessary for us to periodically prune the programs and ministries that are least effective or most draining upon people’s time and limited church resources. In other words, we find ways to cut competing systems or programs from the church docket. We have made some tough decisions in the past about certain programs and ministries because they were a drain; decisions that were very unpopular at the time. We have had to SAY NO to a great many ideas that would have broadened our ministry but blunted our impact.

For instance, from the beginning we decided not to provide choirs, mid-week church services, Sunday night worship services, Easter cantatas, Christmas specials, and a host of other good but potentially competitive programs. There is nothing wrong with any of these programs or ministries. But for us, we can’t do everything that comes along. It wears people out.

WEEKEND SERVICES & SMALL GROUPS are what we do for a two time-slot world.