Reading The Community

There are several important steps in understanding “who’s out there” in the community around you.

• Use of Percept Demographic Data.  Go to Link2Lead.com for basic information.  At that website you may:
  • Complete a survey on your openness to change.
  • Complete a Leadership Survey.
  • Do a Ministry Match of your programs vs. community needs.
  • Download a “First View” Report.

•  Interview community leaders - numbers alone are not enough.   It is important to interview key community leaders who work with various segments of the population.  For example, if there is a Council of Elder Affairs in your community, set up a time to interview the Director and ask him/her about the needs of the people they serve.  Several such interviews will help to deepen your understanding of the community.

• Listening-Prayer Triads - This is the most difficult of the “who’s out there” pieces, but it is also the most fruitful.   Here is what you do.
  • Put together as many groups of three people as possible.
  • Each triad agrees to meet one evening a week for 2 or 3 weeks.
  • Gather in one person’s home, read scripture, and pray for listening hearts.
  • Go to any public place (arena, shopping mall, restaurant, etc.)  Spend an hour listening and observing behavior.
  • Say little to anyone including your Triad partners.
  • Return to the home and talk about what you saw and heard.
  • Record in a journal the Triad’s conversation.
  • Pray for the strangers you saw.
• Interview the un-churched. Herb Miller suggests that four questions be asked:
  • What are the greatest needs of people in this area
  • Why do you think people don't attend church?

  • If you decided to attend church, what would you look for?

  • What advice would you give our church to better serve this community?
• Collate results and look for patterns.

•  Other ways to get to know your neighborhood:

• Have members of the congregation walk through the neighborhood and interact with people.
• Do a drive-thru after worship and come back and reflect.
• Videotape the mission field and show it to the congregation.

• The goal is to get a snapshot of the area your church is in.

• The data and reflections are important, but in the end it is a matter of people having a “heart” for the mission field.  That is why the Core Discipleship process is so important.  We are seeking a “heart burst” for someone/some group in the mission field.  We are moving people from navel gazing to looking up at who’s out there.

• The mission field, vision, a heart and dollars will be intertwined.  A heart for the mission field will lead to a vision of who we are and what God is calling us to.  The money will follow the vision.