Who are the people in your neighborhood? A quick and easy guide

by Cynthia Woolever

Congregations are fundamentally "retro" because they don't exist in virtual reality.  While they may be heaven-focused, churches are earth-bound in reality.  All communities of faith worship and gather on a particular spot on the globe (use this free Geocoder to find your congregation's exact longitude and latitude).

Does it make a difference where your congregation is located? Yes! Just as every congregation is unique, every location is unique.  The congregation's programming, outreach, and worship style should be a good fit for the community.  Our research shows that all congregations can be effective if they (a) identify the strengths of their particular location and (b) use that information to better focus their ministry efforts.

We suggest that congregational leaders should investigate and understand important aspects of their congregation's community.  This understanding will yield more effective ministry.  Start by learning about the people who live around your congregation:

• Annual population growth
• Percentage of households with children
• Adult age distribution
• Housing types
• Education level of adults
• Household income
• Major cultural/ethnic populations

Here are several easy-to-use sources for finding statistical information about your community:

1. Check out the U.S. Census Web site, which supplies information for all counties and cities or towns with more than 25,000 people.  You can also use the Census Factfinder, which presents information on the people living in the cities/towns, counties, or individual zip codes-use the "show more" links on that site for additional information.
2. Look at the Association of Religion Data Archives' Community Profile Builder. This excellent Web site provides additional tools and links to other Web sites with community data, including information on the religious composition of the community.
3. Many denominations and faith groups offer community or demographic information on their Web sites.  For example, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) Web site organizes U.S. Census data in ways that make it easy for churches to learn more about their community.  (This site is available to Presbyterian congregations and to any other congregation interested in such information.)

Finally, consider reading Places of Promise: Finding Strength in Your Congregation's Location and using the Places of Promise Leader Guide found on our Web site.  The Leader Guide provides a process and tools for examining your congregation's location.  Pages 21-26, in particular, offer frameworks for gathering the most useful information about your community.

Your congregation's leaders should be able to complete these basic statements:

• Our worshipers are similar to the people in our community in these areas:
• Our worshipers are different to the people in our community in these areas:
• These similarities and differences surprise us in these ways:
• These similarities and differences mean that our congregation:

Does your congregation need to update its knowledge about who is in your neighborhood?