Compassion By Design

New research out today from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has some important insights for those who believe that the presence and impact of the local church is really important. Some of the news is no surprise—the protestant church is in serious decline. But some parts of this report hold key insights.

The largest growth group, as the blog title suggests, are those who are joining the Church of the Unaffiliated (that is—no church). To quote from the report: “The survey finds that the number of people who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith today (16.1%) is more than double the number who say they were not affiliated with any particular religion as children.” This tells us where people are going when they leave a protestant or catholic church.

How do we appeal to those who have been disaffected by the church? To them, the church has lost real credibility or personal value. It seems clear to me that we have to reshape our Christian experience to include activity that is personally meaningful and powerful. That ought to include community service focused on critical community needs (see the needs assessment kit), and an approach to faith expression that touches the real values and sense of reality.

25% of those under 29…
What I found even more striking in this report was the composition of these “unaffiliated church non-goers.” The report stated that “Among Americans ages 18-29, one-in-four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion.” This predicts that if the trend continues, the unaffiliated category will grow toward 25%– and the protestant/ catholic majority (now 51%) will surely and quickly slip into the minority in our country. This is a dramatic shift to which we need to pay attention. We also know that this same age group has a specific expectation that community service be included as a key part of any organization in which they belong. If you are interested in this research, email me at info@compassionbydesign.org.

This report is a must read for those who are serious about impacting the culture, and intentional efforts to engage community are not optional for churches that want to grow in this season.

A couple of resources the community needs assessment kit for new churches
Check out the community needs assessment for existing churches
Join a free conference call to learn more
Pew Study

Some more reasons why needs assessment should be integrated into every new church plan…(this is part 4 in a series)

Build a missional DNA in the church from its very beginning. It’s the early history of the church that sets its DNA. If your new church will be truly missional (organized around the Kingdom mission), then what you do at the beginning will be critical in establishing this “DNA.” Needs assessment provides an early process that will engage everyone in community focus and help set this priority. If you don’t establish this character at the beginning, then when? The real ethic and story of your new church is told very early in its history and you can help this story to include a strong missional focus.

Survey the landscape. We can only learn so much about a community from secondary sources like demographic or lifestyle research. There are hidden treasures of relationships, personal readiness for a new life, community partners, and significant assets and needs in the community just waiting to be discovered. Since community is a complex mixture of culture, spiritual attitudes, institutions, families, social groups, commerce and identity, the only real way to understand this landscape is “learn by walking around.” The needs assessment allows this thorough kind of survey to put you in touch with all of these important elements.

Raise up new leaders that can lead community service efforts later. If your new church will include a long term focus on service, you will need to grow a new kind of leader. The earlier this starts in your plant process the stronger your community ministry effort will become. We can measure the value placed on community service by the church calendar, budget and leadership assigned to it. The needs assessment provides a great opportunity to attract people who can grow into this kind of leadership and give them the right foundation.

Look for some more insights about the importance of community needs assessments with the next couple of posts. Check out the community needs assessment kit for new churches
Check out the community needs assessment for existing churches
Join a free conference call to learn more

(part 3) Community Needs Assessment is a vital part of the launch plan for any new church. See the previous two posts and explore what follows…

Let the community know we are serious about serving. Since community needs assessment is the official method that new organizations in the community use to prepare for service, our use of the needs assessment lets the community know that serving is more than lip service—we are serious, intentional and sophisticated about understanding the needs in our community. The needs assessment changes the conversation with community leaders from the very beginning. It is critical to establish a service identity for the new church from the beginning, both for team members and the community.

Develop community partnerships. Long term partnerships with community organizations result from the needs assessment process. It allows us to begin by asking “how can we help?”, rather than “what can you give us?” You will discover that your requests for meetings with community organizations are much more readily accepted for the purpose of needs assessment that they are for the introduction of a new church. One church reported a 100% “yes” response to appointment requests with more than 200 community leaders during their needs assessment.

Look for some more insights about the importance of community needs assessments in the next post. Check out the community needs assessment kit for new churches
Check out the community needs assessment for existing churches
Join a free conference call to learn more

Continuation of our discussion (part 2) about why needs assessment is a critical part of the new church pathway to health and growth. Additional reasons are as follows…

Develop missional disciples in your core team. While we often work to “win” team members to the new church effort, we cannot afford to only “disciple” them to church practices. This reality is made clear in the new study by Willow Creek, REVEAL. To many, a real disciple is missional—that is, their life includes an external life focus in which they see themselves as sent people, present in the community not just to set up chairs, or lead singing, but to personally win and disciple others. Needs assessment helps put the entire team on this track, and gives their leaders an effective way to work at “action discipleship” in which they work together in the community, talking and listening to community members intentionally. Without intentionally focused personal discipleship around mission, we may find ourselves have to “re-disciple” people who we truly only won to the work of church, not the work of the mission of God—to be sent in the world.

Make hundreds of new connections, relationships. We know that people come and stay in new churches when they connect with people. An effective church launch requires hundreds of new relationships in a short amount of time. If we are targeting more than just transfer growth, or those who are shopping for a new church, the needs assessment will put us personally in front of as many hundreds as we want.

Look for some more insights about the importance of community needs assessments in the next installment. Check out the community needs assessment kit for new churches
Check out the community needs assessment for existing churches
Join a free conference call to learn more