   
“So, how is your church doing?” It is a question congregational leaders often ask one another in various ways. And the answer often comes back in some form of reporting on “nickels and noses.” While that may begin to answer the question, it is a bit like asking a person how their marriage is doing and then never hearing anything about their spouse!
A congregation is married in ministry to their community. Since a local congregation is God’s and the Annual Conference’s primary strategy for reaching and impacting communities for Christ, we don’t know how a congregation is doing apart from knowing how they are ministering to their community.
- Do the ages of people in your congregation reflect the ages of people in your community?
- Do the racial and economic make-ups of your congregation reflect that of your community?
- Do the ministries in your congregation reflect the real people needs of those in your community? (For example, if 63% of the families in your community are single parent families, are your congregation’s ministries effectively addressing their needs? Or, if the average age of people in your community is 36, do you have a worship service designed to appeal to those persons in their 30’s in your community?)
- Do the people in your congregation actually live in the community in which your facilities are located? (Do you have a “congregational plot” of where your members live? See below how you can obtain one inexpensively from MissionInsite.)
Answering these questions requires having accurate, objective demographic information about your community. The Annual Conference has contracted with MissionInsite so that this information is available to you for online free. To find out more, download “MissionInsite startup instructions” below and then click the MissionInsite logo to go to their website.
++MissionInsite Startup Instructions
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