Park Avenue Baptist Church

Frequently Asked Questions

How Will This Change Help Us Become Unified?
We absolutely believe it will unite us more. The vision of having us all on the church campus on the same morning, interacting with each other between the services, going to the same Bible study classes together, and doing church fellowship activities together is very exciting and encouraging.

What Will Sunday Look Like?
1st Service – This service will look and feel much like our current Sunday morning service and will maintain a blended worship style.

Community Hour – This time will include education, fellowship, and mentoring; it will incorporate weekly bible studies, Sunday school classes, mentoring, fellowship opportunities and Group Life.

2nd Service – This service will be more energetic and outreach-focused by design.

What Do We Say To Those Who Want A Saturday Night Service?
We believe that it is in the best long-range interest for the future of our church to center our major church activities on Sunday morning.

Why Can’t Brad And Richie Just Take Over The Saturday Evening Service And Leave Everything Else The Same?
This is not part of the way we feel God wants us to accomplish our vision.

What Will Be Done Differently To Attract The Unchurched And Younger Generation?
We want to shape the 2nd service in such a way that it is easy for the unchurched to feel that they can relate to what they experience; in the music, style, atmosphere and setting. We will be more attractive to a younger generation by putting younger leaders into more substantial leadership roles.

If We Are Trying To Reach The Younger Families, Are We Going To Be Able To Invest More Money Into The Children’s And Youth Programs?
As these programs grow and need additional funding, we would like to make more money available.

If We Are Trying To Reach A Younger Crowd, Why Don’t We Just Pack-Out One Service And Make It Appeal To That Crowd?
Part of our vision is to be a multigenerational church. By offering two services we have the ability to impact a wider range of people. We believe that maturity, stability, longevity and greater spiritual health are possible by a commitment to a multigenerational church. Also, we want to have room to grow.

Why Not Go Back To 3 Services?
There is no need for three services now. We don’t need the space and we don’t have the volunteer resources.

By Moving The Saturday Service To Sunday, Is There A Chance That We Would Lose People?
We might lose some people for various reasons:

Cannot attend on Sunday morning
Don’t like the change

The change might be the hardest for those who have spent a large part of their Christian life going to this service and are more attached to the time slot than any thing else.

What Happens During This Transition Time?
We will continue to receive ideas from the congregation about how to improve these changes through October 31st.
After that time the elders will evaluate all the input received and then make any changes to the plan that will help us better accomplish our purpose.

Final decisions will be made by December 1. The new service schedule will begin in January 2010.

Are We Doing This On A Trial Basis?
If PABC is going to continue to have effective ministry into the future we must reach, equip, and release new and younger believers into the ministry. If this doesn’t happen, we will continue to decrease in attendance and effectiveness. If what we are currently going to do doesn’t work, we will keep trying ideas until we find a successful strategy that will reach North Brevard for Christ.

How Will We Determine The Success Of This Change?
We already consider it successful to some degree because we are obeying God; however, some other indicators will be greater interaction cross-generationally in mentoring; more people in group life; more effective ministries that are presenting Christ to North Brevard; and an increased effectiveness to accomplish our core values of building through relationships and serving with relevance. We will also be retaking the Reveal Survey within the next 18 months. This will give us objective data to see how we’ve changed.

How Can Members Give & Receive Further Input During This Transition?
At these designated question and answer times: Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 6:45 pm at Ashkelon and immediately after both worship services Sept. 26-27 in the Office Conference Room. Nursery is available.

Leave a comment in the boxes in the church foyers
Contact an elder or staff member
E-mail us directly at email@parkavenue.org
Watch for updates in The Spur and on the church website

How Do We Best Support/Assist The Leadership In This Transition?
With prayer, honesty, trust and evangelism

Last updated September 20, 2009