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Understanding
the makeup of the community surrounding your ministry location
is an important component to a successful ministry program.
Demographics help church leaders design ministries that will
target the most appropriate groups of people in the
neighborhood.
Demographic
information stimulates conversations in the local church about
trends that cause questions to be raised. Localized questions
are best addressed by talking with community leaders (elementary
school principals, local business people, civic associations and
local elected officials) to see how various groups are engaging
people in the neighborhood of the church.
We offer several resources for demographic information:
US Census
The U.S.
Census bureau provides free demographic information for
each county in the United States. This is a good resource for a
congregation to find regional information and see trends for the
future. Click here to enter
www.census.gov website and
click on the "Quick Facts" on the right side of the page. That
will take you to a page where you can pick the state and county
and even city within the state.
Another resource through the US census is:
http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html This web site that allows you to gather lots of
information about your community. Check the “American Fact
Finder” to locate data specific to your neighborhood. More
detailed data can be found by using other sections of this web
site. It’s a little time consuming but there is tons of info.
General Board of Global
Ministries
gbgm-umc.org/researchoffice/
The Research Office of the General Board of Global Ministries of
the United Methodist Church provides data and explanations that
help United Methodist Churches keep in touch with the
communities among which we live, and the opportunities for
mission right outside our sanctuary doors. The Research Office
conducts sponsored research for United Methodist organizations.
It provides strategic planning seminars for Annual Conferences
and districts as they identify local churches to merge, close,
redevelop or start. And the Research Office provides a number of
informational publications and custom studies to help United
Methodists understand their communities better. This web site
provides some free and other low cost demographic data.
It is a very helpful site.
Local Information
Many local organizations offer
useful demographic information about your target community.
Local Chamber of Commerce's, Better Business Bureaus, and other
civic organizations should be contacted for demographic data.
Percept
percept1.com/pacific/start. Percept provides a full spectrum
of information products, from an introductory FirstView report
for a single ZIP Code area to a comprehensive PeopleArea study
of the United States or any other uniquely defined region or
ministry area in-between. Percept is not free, but
provides a wide variety of resources that may be of help to your
ministry. Cal-Pac used to have a contract with Percept which
offered our Conference churches some free and discounted
services. Due to cost issues, we no longer offer this free
service.
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