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| Who is out there? |
| The portion of our community studied in the Context Report was a three-mile
radius of our church’s location. This area of Emeryville currently has 342,885
persons living here which is a 12.7% increase since 1990. Our area is expected to continue
growing by 6.4%, which is slightly more than the U.S. projected growth. Our community is
highly diverse in both racial/ethnic composition and in lifestyle. 25% of the area is
Anglo with the largest racial ethnic group being Hispanic/Latino. This population is
expected to continue growing and may provide a major mission opportunity as we seek to
expand our membership and provide new programming. The largest lifestyle (19.8%) is
described as “Educated New Starters”. These adults are extremely well educated
but receive an income only slightly above the U.S. average, have lower faith involvement
than the national average and are prone to financially support institutions other than the
church. They are most interested in cultural programs, theological discussion groups,
programs for sports and camping, marriage enrichment and daycare services. In contrast,
the largest age group present is those between the ages of 23-43 who make up 33.1% of our
population. The overall level of education is, however, somewhat low with only 69.3% of
adults having a high school education compared to the national average of 80.4%. The
families present are described as extremely non-traditional with a low percentage
(compared to the national average) of married people and two-parent families. |
| The stress and risk level for families surrounding our church is very high.
Survey results indicate that the major area of concern for them is community problems such
as gangs, affordable housing, racial prejudice, crime and safety. Children and youth are
particularly vulnerable because of the level of poverty, lack of education and single
parent homes. The basic necessities of life are often at the top of their priority list.
This might suggest that we re-evaluate our outreach program and redirect some of our
efforts toward community services. Continuing to host AA and perhaps considering expanding
our day care program to include an infant day care might be helpful. |
| The area around us doesn’t seem very interested in traditional church
worship services. 47 % of people in our study area are not involved in any faith
community. Interest in traditional Christian denominations is very low, compared to the
U.S. average. Contemporary and more casual worship would likely attract those interested
in affiliating with an established congregation. The average household income is around
$50,000 a year (remember this is averaged between the Educated New Starters and those with
much less education, representing the majority of the community) and the likely giving to
religious or charitable organizations is projected as very low. |
|
Who are We? |
| We are a smaller membership congregation (115) projected to grow smaller over
the next five years. We have lost 41 members since 1990. We are 94.4% Anglo with a low
level of lifestyle diversity. In other words, we look and act a lot alike! The generation
represented in our church most above national average (13%) are the Silents (age 62-79)
and the Builders (80 years and up ) and many of our members are living off fixed incomes
($25,000 or less). There are a below the U.S. average of married persons and two-parent
families in our church but that may be due to our age and presence of many
widows/widowers. We are above the U.S. average of high school graduates (91.7%) and 19.4 %
of our adults over the age of 25 have college degrees. |
| Our congregation is most concerned about spiritual and personal things,
although social injustice is also on our list. The stress and risk level for our church is
considered somewhat high but that may be due to the lower incomes and concerns about
health, etc. |
| Our faith involvement and commitment to our denomination is extremely high. We
love traditional worship and typical church programs such as adult education. Our average
income is $36,780. Our giving potential to church and charitable organizations is
considered about average compared to the remainder of the U.S because 58% of our
households contribute more than $500 to churches or religious organizations..
Interestingly enough, 27% of our congregation’s households are below the poverty
level of $15,000. Based on the assumption that as people become older and more diverse
they become more resistant to change, our congregation’s potential to change is
considered about average – good news! |
|
| Significant Comparisons |
| We have mentioned some of the comparisons between who we are and who our
community is in the previous paragraphs. Here we want to point to some of the major
differences and some of the more important similarities. |
| Those of us already in the church have an extremely high rate of “faith
receptivity”. That means that we’re interested in religion, the spiritual life
and a journey of faith. Those in our community (remember we had a three mile radius
survey) have extremely low faith receptivity. This may present some challenges for
evangelism and church growth. This may be complicated by the fact that we prefer a very
traditional church and our neighbors are looking for something very contemporary. |
| As older adults we’re not as interested in recreation and leisure activity
as we are spiritual development. Those living immediately around us are looking for church
programs that provide time for fun and fellowship. Maybe we need to resurrect the church
baseball team! |
| We have known for a long time that we do not reflect the diversity in our
community. The Context report reflects this. We must find ways of reaching out to folks
who aren’t like us. |
| The report also pointed out places where we were more alike than different. The
most important ones were our family structures and our stress levels. Our congregation is
described as very non-traditional because of the number of single-family units (we
discussed this earlier in our Core Story). Our neighbors are described as extremely
non-traditional. Based on what we know about our area, we suspect there are a high
percentage of single parent families and non-married couples sharing homes together plus a
significant number of single young adults. We older people deal daily with stress
conditions described as “somewhat high” but our neighbors are living with stress
that’s “very high”. |
| When asked about life’s satisfactions, our members felt best about the
relationship we have with our children. 95% of us feel good about our relationship with
God and most of us (92%) feel very satisfied with our church. Well over the majority of us
feel some degree of satisfaction with our jobs, the quality of life in our community, our
health and family life. The only major areas of dissatisfaction were in family
relationships of those having experienced divorce. |
| Where are we distressed? This important question revealed some interesting
facts about our congregation and the community. We are all concerned about neighborhood
crime and safety. The community is somewhat concerned about food, clothing and shelter
which are areas our congregation may want to explore for further ministry. We share
concerns about long-term security for our families, jobs, and our personal health.
Relationship issues – fulfilling marriage, concerns about divorce, parenting skills,
prejudice and aging parents are of mutual interest. The community is slightly more
concerned about childcare, good schools and problems with children and teens. |
|
| About our Church Programs |
| The Congregational Survey asked us to rate the effectiveness of our
church’s programs. The ones we rated the highest are Sunday worship, our choir, the
Kerygma Program and Bible Study. We feel less positive about our children’s programs,
picnics and outings, adult church school and the lowest ratings were on the 12-step groups
(maybe we don’t understand the importance of this? or maybe responders weren’t
aware of this program!), Sunday School and our attempts at drama and theater. |
| The Context Report also presented us with our community’s preferences in
church programming compared to what our congregation offers. Cultural programs such as our
musical concerts and little theater productions score high with the community (even though
we scored them less positively in our own evaluation). Perhaps more importantly are the
areas where we either disagree on the importance of a program or where the community wants
a program and we don’t offer it. |
| Both our congregation and the community viewed spiritual retreats as desirable
yet we don’t offer them. Perhaps this is something worth further exploration.
Likewise, adult discussion groups appear to be of interest to both groups but are not part
of our current program. Although our congregation does not sponsor the AA group which
meets in our sanctuary and many do not like our hosting the group, it is considered very
important by the community. Our church council will keep this in mind when reviewing our
policy on outside groups using the church facility. Areas for potential new programs,
identified as important by both our congregation and the community, are retirement
programs and sporting opportunities. Although the congregation did not express great
interest, the community indicated a need for programs for the care of the terminally ill
and day care services for children. |
| NOTE: This sample Core Story has two endings. The first is an
example of an ending when the Story is shared at the beginning of a planning process. The
second is an example of when the Core Story is shared with action steps. Congregational
polity will determine whether a vote is required on such steps or whether they are simply
being reported to the congregation by the local governance board. |
|
| Our Future Story (Ending One) |
| Our future story is tied to our Core Story, who we are and what we have to
offer the world in Christ’s name. The insights from the Context Report are both
affirming and challenging. We like who we are and feel good about our church. We do not
reflect the community around us and we’re declining in both age and membership. We
do, however, have a sense of social justice and many of the needs expressed by our
community are consistent with our values even if we aren’t currently offering those
programs or even seeing them as important. We have a rich history of stepping up to the
plate when we learn of a real need. Your church council believes that God isn’t
finished with us yet. How can we build on what we do well and think about what we might be
called to do that we’ve not even thought of? These are the questions before us. Your
council sees this as a “wake up” call. We are called to wake up to the ministry
needs around us, to learn more about why some of our programs aren’t satisfying, wake
up to God’s new day in the life of this congregation. We can’t do everything but
we can do some things. The church council has dedicated the next six months to answering
these questions. They will be participating in a planning retreat the first weekend in
September led by a staff person from our denominational office. Please be in prayer for
them as they begin writing the next chapter in our Core Story. |
|
| The Next Chapter (Ending Two) |
| After much study, prayer and conversation the church council brings the
following report to the congregation. |
| 1) After exploring the day care opportunities in the community we’ve
discovered that there is a glaring lack of quality care for infants under the age of one
year. The church council recommends that the congregation authorize them to explore the
possibility of offering a reasonabe cost alternative to home day care for children under
the age of one year including: |
| • |
The cost of refitting the two largest rooms in the elementary wing
of the educational building to meet state code for infant day care |
| • |
Insurance and other liability for such a venture
|
| • |
Necessary licensing for such a venture |
| • |
Projected cost of staff for a day care program not to exceed
twelve infants |
| • |
Denominational, state or federal funding for low-income assistance |
|
| NOTE: We may be able to employ some of our own members to work
in this program, thus assisting our own members financially. |
| 2) That a new covenant be developed between the AA program currently hosted by
our congregation and the church council that addresses some of the shared space issues and
allows the church to promote the program as jointly sponsored. |
| 3) That a special task force be formed to explore ways that we might extend
hospitality to our growing Hispanic neighbors including worship, social services and
programming. This task force will report to the council and congregation no later than
June 30. |
| 4) That we grant our pastor an extra two weeks for study leave in the coming
year (a total of one month) for the purpose of learning more about contemporary worship,
effective evangelism programs targeting younger adults and new trends in discipleship and
spiritual formation. |
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