Target Group – Bald & Bearded Men

Someone asked me last week a question I've often heard: "Who is your target group?" By that they were asking if we trying to reach students (since we are in University City), middle-class professionals, Afro-Americans (since we are in West Philadelphia), immigrants, etc. My standard response is that at Grace Church we don't have a target group per se. We are determined to simply preach the gospel and pray that God would bring together people who reflect the diversity of our community – which has all of the above “targets.”

 

My brother John and I often tell people we would be disappointed in everyone who came to Grace Church looked like us and I'm not talking about being bald and bearded. (We actually have two guys on the leadership team with full heads of hair). In West Philadelphia we are in a diverse community and are committed by God’s grace to planting a church where ethnicity, economic standing, and educational achievement do not really matter in our fellowship with the gospel. It’s not that we pretend differences don’t exist. And being committed to this doesn’t mean it will happen as we would like. It's not our church. It belongs to Christ. However we want people to know that they are welcome among us regardless of ethnicity, age, educational level, or economic status. We do not want to cater to any one demographic component of our community. In saying that, keep in mind that there is nothing wrong with planting a homogeneous church if that represents your demographics. John has written on our philosophy concerning target groups.

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