Answering the Call
Dear friends, we are honored and grateful to share with you the call that the Lord has given us to reach out to the burnt and the broken. My wife Charlene and I received the call to serve together in 2010, and after 13 years of marriage and ministry, we felt led to start a new church to reach those who might not ever feel comfortable - or be physically capable of - joining a traditional church community. We have served both full-time and bi-vocationally in various areas of church and pastoral ministry.
Due to Charlene’s health issues, we found that the traditional church model was ineffective in meeting our needs; before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down society, her poor health forced her to step down from worship ministry and even made it difficult for her to make the 30 minute drive to church every Sunday. Due to my schedule, I had to be at church hours before the services started, so we weren’t able to drive together.
There was no recourse for Charlene to remain involved with church unless she moved churches, and even then she would only be able to watch streamed services, with little to no opportunity for fellowship or service.
With the pandemic forcing individuals and organizations to look into ways of meeting online, she was once again able to join in fellowship and other church events through Zoom and other online resources. But with the pandemic over and many churches, including ours, returning to pre-pandemic habits, we became aware of a need for a style of church that would be accessible to those who, like her, were unable to physically attend for one reason or another.
Why Online?
Perch.Church is a hybrid model of online and house church, meant to bring the church to those in need, rather than expecting those in need to come to the church. The COVID-19 Pandemic has seen an explosion in globalization and interconnectedness through the internet. People are no longer constrained to their immediate local communities in searching for connection, while at the same time now more aware of their need for community and social interaction than ever.
Why a New Church?
Did you know that in 1950, nearly 92% of Americans self-identified as Christians?
By 2022, that number had dropped to 68%. Not surprising, really. But the biggest change has been in the Protestant (non-Catholic) Christian circle.
While Catholicism has maintained a self-reported population of 22-25% over the years, the number of people who declare themselves Protestants went from 66% in 1950 to 34% by 2022.
68% of Americans identify as Christians today. And of those, less than a third actually attend church or are part of a Christian community.
In other words, out of every 100 Americans, 68 consider themselves Christians and 20 are a part of the Church.
Where are the remaining 48?
Stepping away from the statistics for a moment, there are a few answers that immediately come to mind through personal experience and through conversations I’ve had with friends and strangers alike:
Some don’t like the hypocrisy of churchgoing Christians.
Some don’t think they are “good enough” to go to Church.
Some don’t think they need to be a part of a community to be a Christian.
Some are too sick to participate.
Some are afraid of or have experienced judgement and/or condemnation by the Church.
Some don’t have the time or lack flexibility in their schedule that would allow them to attend Sunday services.
There are hundreds of different reasons for people not to attend church, and we believe all of them are valid and real. And those reasons - or at least some of them - are what Perch wants to address.
We are reaching out to those who would never under normal circumstances go to (or go back to) church. Who believe in Christ, but who might have lost faith in His people. Or those who want to attend, but are physically or mentally incapable. To those who are too tired or burnt out from serving in the Church, and who would feel too uncomfortable sitting in the pews and not volunteering in some sort of ministry. To those 48 people out of a hundred who believe in Jesus, but do not feel like they would be accepted by or comfortable around Jesus’ people.
How? By bringing the church to the people, rather than the other way around. We have started small, with a local gathering that meets weekly to watch Perch’s streamed worship services together, and my wife Charlene and I are in contact with others who watch from home on a regular basis as well.
Our current long-term goal is to have watch parties throughout Southern California. So far, we have our main watch party in Whittier, with three more individuals/families ready and willing to host in Koreatown LA, Santa Ana, and Upland. Our 3-year goal is to expand to include additional watch parties in Pasadena, Long Beach, and the Corona areas. But our long-term goal, the vision God has placed in our hearts, is for Perch to become a safe place for people all over the world to come and learn about Christ, to worship him and find community, not condemnation.
We want to do this alongside other churches - both legacy and house church. Ideally, Perch will be a resting place, for nonbelievers to encounter Christ, for hurt believers to receive healing, and for burnt-out believers to be built up again while being empowered to either start their own watch parties with Perch or to join other church bodies and serve in their own local communities.
To do that, we need your help. Your prayers, your moral support, and, if you are willing and able, your financial support as well.
Please pray for us as we:
Raise financial support
Recruit team members
Enhance our online offerings
Love on our community and establish connections.
If you are interested in supporting us through prayer or have any comments, concerns, suggestions, questions, or any other form of feedback, please, please feel free to contact us through hello@perch.church, sam@perch.church, or charlene@perch.church.
If you want to support us additionally through financial means, please visit us at https://perch.church/give or click the button below, where you can set up a recurring or one-time donation. Perch is a 501(c)(3) organization, so any charitable donations you make are tax deductible. Due to our target audience, we do not anticipate Perch being able to raise much of its needed funding internally for at least the first few years, so any help you can provide is much appreciated.
