Key Points
Ask ten people on Pennsylvania’s West Shore about church, and you are likely to hear very different answers.
Some have never set foot inside one. Some grew up in church but drifted away somewhere between high school and adulthood. And some have been in a pew nearly every Sunday for years, yet quietly wonder whether that is all faith is meant to be.
Most churches find themselves speaking mainly to one of these groups. Josiah and Mikayla Malinich are setting out to reach all three.
On September 13, 2026, the couple launched Total City Church in Mechanicsburg, part of the Association of Related Churches’ fall 2026 launch season. From the beginning, they have named exactly who they hope to serve: “the unchurched, dechurched, and even the overchurched.”
For people who have never known Jesus, church can feel like a building full of unfamiliar language and unwritten rules.
Total City’s goal is to remove those barriers and create a place where anyone, from any background or none at all, can explore faith for the first time. The Malinichs describe their hope simply: that people will “meet Jesus and then experience the kind of transformation that reaches every part of their lives.”
Many people who leave church never fully leave their questions about God behind. Life gets busy, a move happens, or a difficult experience creates distance. Over time, coming back can feel harder than staying away.
Total City wants to be a place where people who have walked away are welcomed home without pressure. Among the things Josiah and Mikayla are believing for is to see “prodigals come home.”
The third group may be the most surprising. Total City is also reaching out to people who have spent years around church but “still know there is more of God and more for their lives.”
For these people, the need is not information but renewal. It is the difference between knowing about faith and experiencing a faith that changes how they live on Monday morning.
Whichever group someone comes from, the Malinichs are believing for the same kind of change. They hope to see addictions broken, marriages restored, families strengthened, and lonely people find community.
They also believe that personal change does not stay personal for long. “When people become whole in Christ,” they explain, “that wholeness begins to impact their homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, and eventually an entire city.”
That outward focus shapes how Total City thinks about its place in the region. The Malinichs want it to be “a church that is known for what it gives to the city, not simply what it gathers from the city.”
In practice, that means serving local schools, meeting practical needs, caring for families going through difficult seasons, and investing generously in local organizations. It also means looking beyond their own church. Planting more churches is already part of the vision.
Taking on a vision that broad requires preparation, and Josiah and Mikayla say ARC played a central role. Through assessment, coaching, training, resources, and relationships with other church planters, the process “helped us clarify our vision, strengthen our launch strategy, and build a healthier foundation for the church.”
They describe themselves as “incredibly grateful to have been assessed and approved” and to be moving forward with the continued support of the ARC network.
Whether someone has never been to church, has stepped away, or has been sitting in the same pew for decades, Total City Church wants to be a place where they can find faith, experience freedom, and discover what the Malinichs call “the full life God made them for.”
Their prayer for Mechanicsburg and the West Shore is captured in a single line: a church “that doesn’t just fill a room, but changes a region, one transformed life at a time.”
The Association of Related Churches (ARC) is a church-planting organization dedicated to helping leaders launch and grow healthy, life-giving churches. Through church planter training, coaching, leadership development, and practical ministry resources, ARC has helped launch more than 1,200 churches around the world.
