Our Goal
During the Point Church’s 4th Birthday Celebration on February 1, we announced that the Point will plant our first new church in a strategic Northeastern city in 2010. Our immediate goals are to appoint a planter/pastor, identify a city, and begin mobilizing a team of people over the course of 2009. Throughout the spring, summer, and fall of 2009 our pastoral staff is scoping out different potential cities. Check out the info below to see how the search is going and check this space for future updates.
For more information about The Point's involvement in church planting, contact Kevin Pounds via the Contact Us page.
Prospective Cities
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence has a population of over 173,000 with a metropolitan population of over 1.6 million. Covering only 20.5 square miles, Providence is one of the United States most densely populated cities. Within close proximity live the extremely rich and the extremely poor, the highly educated and the least educate. Within blocks of each other you can find an ivy league school, high end shopping, a soup kitchen, and people begging for money.
Higher education has a significant presence in Providence due to the numerous colleges: Brown University, Providence College, Rhode Island College,The Rhode Island School of Design, and the Providence campus of the University of Rhode Island. The 44,000 university students make up almost 25% of the city’s population. College Hill is the center of university life in Providence with Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the cafés, bars, and shops of Thayer Street.
The political and social climate of Providence like most Northeastern cities is progressive and liberal. Signs of social activism can be seen throughout the city, and it is considered one of the most gay friendly cities in America.
The South Side of Providence has extreme poverty with 1/3 of families living in poverty. Over 50% of South Side residents are of Hispanic ancestry with Spanish as the primary spoken language in this area of the city.
Like many other New England cities, there is a significant Catholic population but few evangelical churches exist. Ironically, the First Baptist Church of America is in Providence. According to a Gallup Poll, Rhode Island is the eighth least religious state and North American Religion Atlas only 1.8% of the state’s population are “evangelical adherents.” Very few new churches have started in Providence due to the tough spiritual environment.
Check out these links too: Burlington on Wikipedia, Burlington's Old North End, Religious Survey, Religion in Vermont
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington has a population of almost 39,000 with a metropolitan population of just over 200,000 making it the largest city, educational, and business center for Vermont. It has the feel of a larger city than it is due to being an “urban island” with Lake Champlain on the Western side, a ring of suburbs to the North, South, and East, and rural farms, hills and mountains extending beyond. The downtown area is anchored by Church Street, with hip stores, bars, galleries, and cafes typical of other urban hot spots.
The social and political climate of Burlington is liberal and progressive. Environmentalism, going green, gay rights, and social responsibility are highly valued by many residents and community leaders.
The Old North End area of Burlington has the highest concentration of people living below the poverty line in Vermont. Due to the Vermont Refugee Initiative there is an unusually high concentration of immigrants in this area including people from Vietnam, Nepal, Iraq, Sudan, Rwanda, and the Congo. Although the refugee relocation is due to a local “save the world” mentality, they seem to be a forgotten part of the community.
Burlington is also home to four colleges: the University of Vermont, Burlington College, Champlain Community College, and St. Michael’s College (actually located in nearby Winooski). Since Burlington allows college students to vote in local elections, they assert more influence than is typical for most college towns.
Like many areas of New England, Burlington like most of Vermont is relatively unchurched and irreligious. According to both a Gallup Poll and the American Religious Identification Survey, Vermont is the least religious state in America. Also according to the North American Religion Atlas less than 3% of the state’s population are “evangelical adherents.” Although several groups have attempted to start churches in Burlington, it has gained a reputation as a “graveyard for new churches.” As one church planter put it, When we were first considering coming here (to Burlington), I drove up here to visit with a friend of mine who works with Young Life in this area. And my friend challenged me by telling me that he had a stack of post-cards from church plants he'd been invited to, none of which are still here.
Check out these links too: Providence on Wikipedia, Traveling in Providence, Waterfire