{"id":736794,"date":"2021-03-24T05:00:28","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T10:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=736794"},"modified":"2021-03-24T08:23:12","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T13:23:12","slug":"do-you-really-know-the-community-around-your-church-four-often-missed-demographics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/do-you-really-know-the-community-around-your-church-four-often-missed-demographics\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Really Know the Community Around Your Church? Four Often-Missed Demographics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your church address is not an accident. God sovereignly placed your church in its location to reach the people around you. Do you know them? Jesus\u2019 Great Commandment (Matthew 22:34-40) gives clear instructions: Love your neighbor. Knowing your neighbor is the first step to loving your neighbor.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you really know your neighbors? Church leaders often miss four basic demographics. I\u2019ll use my community in Bradenton, Florida as an example.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. How many people live within a drivable distance to your church?<\/strong> Typically, church leaders dramatically underestimate how many people can easily drive to the church. I\u2019ve asked this question numerous times. I\u2019ve heard answers that underestimate by tens of thousands. In my own community, some of my church leaders were surprised to know there were almost 250,000 people that live within fifteen minutes of the church.<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

2. What percentage of your community is ethnic minority?<\/strong> Like the first question, most underestimate the ethnic population in their community. In many communities, growth is fueled by ethnic minorities and immigrants. Of those that live around my church, almost four out of ten are an ethnic minority.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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3. How many people regularly participate in and give to a religious organization?<\/strong> At Church Answers, we\u2019ve analyzed thousands of communities around churches. I\u2019ve seen surprises on both sides of this question. Below are the figures for my community.<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

4. How many single-parent homes are in your community?<\/strong> In many communities, single-parent homes make up one-quarter to one-third of homes with children. The number of single-parent homes in your neighborhood will drastically change the way you do children\u2019s ministry in your church. In the area around my church, over 45% of homes with children are single-parent homes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s hard to reach your community if you don’t know your community. How can you create an outreach program without knowing the people you are attempting to reach?<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s easier to love your community if you know your community. Once you understand who they are, then you can know how to love them better.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The call to lead a church is a call to shepherd the community. You cannot separate the calling of church and community. They are one and the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perceived demographics are often different than actual demographics. You may think you know your community, but in many cases, church leaders have a skewed view of who lives around the church.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t know the answer to these questions for your community, I have a solution. Church Answers, in partnership with Revitalize Network, has created a resource to answer these four questions and many more! It\u2019s called the<\/span> Know Your Community<\/span><\/i><\/a> report. We offer this incredible demographic and psychographic report to help you reach and love your community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Know your community. Love your community. Reach your community.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your church address is not an accident. God sovereignly placed your church in its location to reach the people around you. Do you know them? Jesus\u2019 Great Commandment (Matthew 22:34-40) gives clear instructions: Love your neighbor. Knowing your neighbor is the first step to loving your neighbor.\u00a0 Do you really know your neighbors? Church leaders…","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":736803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,175,192,177,180,176,187],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-736794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-grow","category-how-to","category-lead","category-outreach-and-evangelism","category-revitalize","category-smaller-churches-and-communities"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDo You Really Know the Community Around Your Church? 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