Planting a church in Silicon Valley

The churches in Silicon Valley need “Netflix fasts and coffee vouchers”, to “make their home” in the San Francisco suburb. That is what The Guardian said in a report, where it related the problems that church planters find in the nation’s technology hub, and how they work to reach its residents.

According to a Gallup poll published in 2012, less than a quarter of San Francisco residents identify as “very religious”; however, as the report explained: “You’ll notice a bumper crop of newer Christian ministries that, upon superficial glance, could pass for any other Bay Area start-up: glossy web design, well-curated social accounts and free coffee promotions. The numbers from the Association of Religion Data Archives show that several large Protestant denominations have grown in San Francisco County in recent years”.

LOGISTICAL AND COMMUNITY CHALLENGES

The church planters’ problems are more logistical than ideological. Linda Bergquist, who works guiding new pastors through the process of starting a church in the Bay Area, said to The Guardian that finding a place to rent is the main challenge, because “depending on where it is, you’ve got to rethink space – what’s walkable, what’s bikeable, what’s a hikeable, knowing transportation line, knowing whether people have cars”.

Financial problems are also important when planting a church in Silicon Valley. In order to solve them, churches need to look for alternative ways to reach new members: “most of our outreach comes in the form of organizing community events like art shows, performances and parties, in the hopes of gradually building a stable congregation through creative enrichment”, explained Troy Wilson, a Presbyterian-ordained pastor of The Table Church.

Most of these San Francisco suburb residents are young professionals: “Believers moving from community to community based on life stage. You might be in a certain church when you’re single and looking for a partner, and in another when you’re married and looking for a church with a good children’s ministry”, described Dani Scoville, program director at a Christian center that ministers to young adults in the Bay Area.

At the end, those young professionals “are desperate for community. Everyone’s moving in, and tech companies are trying to provide that community as much as possible, so that we all never leave work. But there is a community and relationships that people are looking for outside – for doing life, and going beyond just attending a service”, said Adam Smallcombe, pastor of C3 Church Silicon Valley.