THE PEOPLES CHURCH PROFILE

DENOMINATIONAL AFFILIATIONS
The Peoples Church of East Lansing, Michigan is an interdenominational congregation founded in 1907. Our current church, built in 1923, sits directly across the street from the campus of Michigan State University. Our founding affiliations were, and still are, with the American Baptist Church, Presbyterian Church U.S.A., United Methodist Church and United Church of Christ.

MEMBERSHIP
The current membership of The Peoples Church is 860 with an average worship attendance of 360 people (combined in-person and virtual). Two services are conducted on Sunday mornings. We also currently offer Wednesday evening programs for mid-week worship. Our congregation is multi-generational and multi-denominational as we have grown to include many faiths in addition to our founding four. Our building is used seven days a week for a wide variety of meetings, organizations, and groups. Some are part of our Church programming and some are not.

MISSION AND VISION
The Peoples Church is called to proclaim the Gospel of Christ and the beliefs of the evangelical Christian faith, to maintain the worship of God, and to inspire in all persons a love for Christ, a passion for righteousness, and a consciousness of their duties to God and their fellow human beings. We pledge our lives to Christ and covenant with each other to demonstrate His Spirit through worship, witnessing, and ministry to the needs of the people of this church and the community.

Our Statement of Faith reads, “We believe the teachings of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and with the help of God, we will strive daily to live the life of purity, unselfishness and service which he exemplified to the world.”

CHURCH GOVERNANCE, MINISTRIES AMD COMMITTEES
From our beginning we have had a strong relationship with Michigan State University. In fact, several of the organizing members of our Church were on the faculty at the university. Our ministry priorities are described as serving the three C’s: Congregation, Campus and Community. Our ministry to our congregation and the campus are obvious, but by community we refer to the world community. We have strong relationships with local, regional, national and international organizations that The Peoples Church serves in a variety of ways.

The Peoples Church is governed by a Council of Elders made up of 15 members of the congregation; each person serving a three-year term. The Senior Pastor reports to the Council which helps the Senior Pastor set priorities and programming for all areas of Church life. Within the Council sit seven specific ministries that are tasked with the management and supervision of all Church operations. These seven ministries are: Building & Grounds, Campus, Christian Education, Community Engagement, Finance, Welcome and Worship. In addition to these ministries there are four standing committees. These four committees are: Nominations, Personnel, Information Services and Endowment Fund.

CHURCH BUDGET AND CHURCH STAFF
Currently The Peoples Church annual breakeven budget is approximately $2 million. A certain portion of the budget goes to our large preschool program which operates five days per week throughout the year. Our preschool currently enrolls approximately 100 children and is certified by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The full-time equivalent staff of The Peoples Church is 40, split between the pre-school and the rest of our operations. The Peoples Church currently has one associate pastor on staff as well.