why start a new church?

The statistics regarding the church in America are staggering:

• 1500 new churches are started each year, but 3700 are closed.
• Not one county in the U.S. has even a 1% increase in church attendance.
• 65% of Americans have had no significant connection to any church.
• 80-85% of churches in America are plateaued or in decline.
• A church older than 10 years takes an average of 89 attendees to help one new person find Jesus while a church 0-3 years old takes only 3!

Church planting has been demonstrated as the single most effective method of helping new people get connected to Jesus and find life in him.

why south Tippecanoe County?

The statistics of the southside of Tippecanoe County are equally remarkable:

• In 2000, the entire county had a population of nearly 150,000 which reflected a 14% increase over the previous decade.
• The southern portion of the county had a population of just over 30,000 reflecting a 41% growth rate!
• On the southside, there are only 12 churches with a total seating capacity of roughly 3,000!

It is obvious to us that the existing churches cannot hope to meet the needs of this growing portion of Tippecanoe County. By visiting the area, meeting people, hearing how people have been praying for the southside, and even through a couple miraculous meetings, we have become convinced that God is preparing to do something great for His name in this area.

We are eager and excited to be a part of what He will do!

about our name

A trend in churches for many years has been to name their churches for either a theological agenda or a denominational affiliation. We intend to buck that trend by using a name for ourselves that grows out of a few strategic decisions.

we exist for the unconnected

The most important part of our strategy is that we want to be a church for the people who don’t go to church, don’t really care about church, and have “better things to do with their time” than go to church. Our focus is on people who aren’t believers and who don’t plan to be. We want to reach the unreached.

People who don’t care about church, don’t care about “churchy” names. They are more interested in “Target” than in “New Life.” They are more interested in “Citibank” than in “Baptist.”

Our name was strategically chosen to enable us to communicate something an unbeliever might actually care about.

we promote regional unity.

As a generic, geographical name (the people of the county refer to the southern part of the county as “the southside”), Southside Church is going directly against the traditional ways of naming a church. Most churches are named for denominational or theological reasons. Some Lafayette area churches:

• First Assembly of God Church
• Christ United Methodist Church
• Faith Baptist Church

There is nothing wrong with these kind of names, of course, but in the mind of the unbeliever these denominational ties and theological terms have no meaning. To the unbeliever, these are simply competing churches.

In the mind of an unbeliever a “Community Church” or a “Bible Church” can also have the same kind of feel as a “Baptist Church.” I have met people who thought that “Community” or “Bible” referred to the denominational affiliation of those churches.

By simply calling ourselves a “Church” we are identifying ourselves with ALL the other churches, but we are on the Southside. We want to promote a unity among Christians that many unbelievers have never even thought about.

we are unique.

The simplicity of our name sets us apart from the other churches. Where other churches might be trying to prove something with their name, we simply are. We believe that our “generic” name will stand out in contrast to the other church names and thereby communicate uniqueness even in the midst of an effort toward unity.

we exist for people who live here.

Finally, it is our hope that the unbelievers in the area will hear the name Southside Church and realize that we are a church that exists for them. We don’t exist for some denominational hierarchy. We don’t exist to promote our particular theological agenda. We exist to simply connect people on the Southside of Tippecanoe County into the fellowship Jesus called “the Church” so they can take a step closer to him.

it’s part of our vision for church cooperation

Our name also is a strategic part of our vision. We dream of our church being a central player in a developing network of churches and church plants that blanket this county with the love of Christ.

We envision planting Northside Church in less than five years. We dream of forming the Southside Church Network or joining some other existing network in such a way that the unbelievers are aware of one group of Christians despite the various names. If they could see our unity (if we could really be unified) that would be the fulfillment of Jesus’ high priestly prayer.

We believe that a non-threatening, non-competitive, geographical name is the best way to promote and build toward that kind of unity.

it covers our vision for fresh, new ministries.

We intend to directly address our market-driven society by creating “sub-branded” ministries. Our worship service will have its own unique identity and name (Move, Inspire, Deeper, Upward or something like that). Our small group ministries and educational ministries will each have their own unique identities.

In other words, we believe that a generic church name with sub-brands for specific ministries is the best way to communicate what we are all about to the unchurched people living on Tippecanoe County’s Southside.

We pray that God would use southside church to reach the people living in south Tippecanoe county and lead them one step closer to Jesus.