First Christian Church Duncanville (Disciples of Christ)

Dear Friends,

Gayle left a packet in my inbox in the office which contained a previous church study done for our church back in 2000 while Eldon was here. The assessment is like the one we did in 2019/2020. I found some of the data thought provoking comparing then to now.

The 2000 study indicated that our Church is not visibly recognized as a Church building when people pass by. The Fellowship Hall/Gym is the most prominent structure seen on Main Street and does not bear any markings as being a church building. The Sanctuary steeple is recessed back atop the sanctuary and is hidden in the trees. And two other churches within two blocks have much more prominent and visible white steeples.

Our signage on occasion is hidden also. The big Main Street sign is only visible if there are no cars parked in the three adjacent parking spaces from the south and if there are no cars stopped at the stop sign at Freeman and Main. Our second sign at the other end of the parking lot is only visible from Santa Fe when headed south. Santa Fe and Main Street are the two busiest streets bracketing the Church. So overall our visibility is not optimum to those passing by.

The other piece that caught my attention was the financial report from then until now. In 2000 the total membership was listed as 774 people and the total giving was $392, 190.00. Today we are half that membership total but only a third down in total giving. While that may not be what any of us would like it to be, I think it does again point to the faithfulness of our congregation who are committed to supporting the ministry we share!

Also, positive news, we are in the beginning stages of replacing the big blue sign on Main Street with a programable LED sign. While doing so we have the opportunity to possibly raise the sign so it would be visible above any parked cars. This sign will allow us to communicate with the public in a way we never have before. Our Advent and Easter schedules, special events and daily or weekly words of encouragement will all be possible for us with the new sign. We could obviously do some interesting signage for the 4th of July parade and the Christmas parade and potentially other community events as well. There are all kinds of possibilities for using this sign to become one of the key signs people look to for Duncanville information.

Our evangelism work will be aided by the new sign, but it will still need us doing all we can to share Good News with our community. While the sign may attract folks to us, we will still need to develop committed stewards to help share the journey of ministry together.

Next week I will share some of the information gathered from the most recent assessment. It provided some of the same type of data but added information about the neighborhoods surrounding our church. Make this a great week!

In the risen Christ’s service together wherever He leads,
David