Community Research You Can Use-Free
Successful church planning responds to the needs and opportunities in a local community. The Census Bureau offers statistics that reveal what some of those needs might be, and the information is free.
During 1993, the U.S. Census Bureau is releasing data gathered during the 1990 census. More than ninety characteristics of residents’ income, age, race, sex, homes, and mobility are grouped by census tracts (neighborhood-size urban areas or subdivisions of rural counties).
At least one library in each congressional district, usually a university or large public library, is a “federal repository library,” which will provide this information to anyone who requests it.
Most libraries have the census data in printed form. Federal repository libraries also have tract data on computer disks called CD-ROM. With this technology, the data is more accessible and can easily be printed out.
Family composition information, for example, can provide clues to which ministries should be launched. Questions like Is the community getting older or younger? Who in the family works-one adult or two? and Do most households have two parents or one? can be quickly answered.
A sample tract from Baltimore, Maryland, is shown in Tables 1 through 3.
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Table 1 shows this area has many preschool and elementary school children but few teenagers. A church daycare or preschool might be a ministry that would attract families in this community. The low number of teenagers suggests that an extensive youth program might not be productive. Another interesting observation in this table is the many children living in single-parent homes headed by a female.
One church in Bethesda, Maryland, used demographic information to call another staff person. At first, the parish thought they needed a minister to serve senior citizens. But the demographics of their neighborhood revealed a large number of adults in the 30- to 40-year range and a declining number of 60- to 70-year-olds. Without the census information, the parish would have missed serving a large slice of its community.
Income data provides clues to the giving potential of the parish and can be used to price church-sponsored events so desirable activities won’t be too expensive for area households.
Table 2 shows over 500 households in the area earning less than $12,500. Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Olney, Maryland, discovered that in spite of its location in one of the most affluent counties in the country, a surprising number of low-income families lived in the community. Pastor Donald Schaefer believes his congregation’s awareness of this information increased their commitment to social ministries.
Information such as average travel time to work might appear to be unrelated to church activities. But in areas with long commutes, church activities must start later on work nights for maximum attendance. Long commutes also limit volunteer time. This lack of volunteer time could translate into hiring lawn services and other maintenance rather than using volunteers.
The census also provides information on mobility. Table 3 shows how many households in the tract moved there since 1985. This suggests the importance of outreach to new residents. Many of the moves were nearby, within the same county or within the state. But over 400 people moved into the tract from another state, probably having few ties to the community. These families represent a significant block of potential members with specific needs for relationships.
Census information does not make future projections. Projections of population, land use, and zoning as indicators of future trends can usually be acquired from local government planning boards or school districts. This, along with the census data, can only improve the effectiveness of local church ministry.
-Ted Kruse
Baltimore, Maryland
Invasion of Kindness
On a Friday evening, the staff of Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Cincinnati noticed that holiday traffic was backed up for almost a mile at the corner by their church. Pastor Steve Sjogren and his Kindness Squad swung into action. They iced down 400 cans of soft drink, and as cars stopped at the stop sign, the drivers were offered free drinks.
“Why are you doing this?” drivers asked.
“Because God loves you,” the squad members responded.
This was not the squad’s first act of kindness. Earlier a free car wash allowed them to wash forty cars and pray with almost every driver. Most drivers wouldn’t believe it was free and offered to pay.
The squads have used more than forty creative outreaches in the last six years-free lawn care, offering batteries for smoke detectors and returning a year later to replace them, free Christmas gift wrapping at a local mall, giving out free coffee at grocery stores, taking pictures of families in the park, cleaning restrooms in restaurants and filling stations, and washing windshields on parked cars.
The smiling do-gooders are always asked, “Why?”
Sjogren got the idea for the kindness squad while people-watching in a shopping mall. Most people seemed to be experiencing a significant level of pain. But he had found them skeptical of an aggressive approach to Christian witnessing.
Many Christians, believes Sjogren, are guilt-ridden when pressured to do evangelism. The kindness squad’s activities are less threatening to both the squad members and to the individuals receiving the kindness.
Organized through the church’s small group ministry, the acts of kindness raised the church’s level of visibility in the community. The soft drink give-away was reported on a local radio station’s evening traffic report. When a squad hands out coffee, they may hand out brochures about their church. A note is left under the windshield wiper by the washers. The photos of families in the park have a sticker on the back with the church’s address and phone number.
Sjogren says, “Last year alone we touched over 60,000 people in our community and gave opportunity for low-risk outreach training to many in our fellowship.”
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Copyright © 1993 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
