Your church and your community: what’s going on out there?
I rolled into Colville the afternoon of Maundy Thursday after a drive up Highway 395 through snow squalls. It had been more than a year since I’d visited Colville and, since I had a little extra time, I drove through town.
The first thing I noticed was new traffic circles where stop lights used to be. One is at the intersection where you turn on to Hawthorne Street to get to St. John’s Episcopal Church. I wondered what had prompted Colville’s traffic engineers to adopt this little touch of Europe, but liked the efficient way of getting through the intersection.
I drove through the main business district and noticed that most of the storefronts seemed to be occupied. A few years back there were fears that the arrival of Wal-Mart would spell the death of downtown. But downtown seems to be alive. Some familiar stores are gone, but there are new ones as well as some new restaurants.
As I continued, I noticed a huge Habitat for Humanity thrift store. That, I thought, shows that this community has a heart to work on housing issues. Habitat forms partnerships in many communities that help families build and purchase simple, affordable homes.
As I swung left toward Kettle Falls, I noticed two things. One was that the large lumber mill was hard at work. I was told later that the smaller mills are struggling. In this town where mills form an important part of the economy, this is a concern.
Across the street, the Wal-Mart parking lot was full as shoppers came and went.
This was a quick tour to be sure. But you can learn a lot about a community by simply opening your eyes and ears. As we think about strengthening our congregations, we might think about ways to open our eyes and ears in our own communities.
Sometimes churches that are beginning a search for a new priest will spend some time looking carefully at their town as they build their profile. That kind of self-study doesn’t have to wait for a change in leadership, though. It could be helpful for any church that wants to reach into the community for service and evangelism.
Where are the new houses being built? Where do people shop? What languages are spoken in the community? What ethnic groups live in our town? Just wandering around a community is a good way to discover those things.
The Episcopal Church offers another layer of community information that is easy, accessible and free. The information includes an analysis of predominant age, worship style preferences, community concerns, ethnic influence and other information. This is drawn from census data and analyzed and furnished by Percept, an organization that works with demographic information for churches.
There can be some interesting surprises. A few years ago one of our churches discovered that their neighborhood had many single-parent households. It got them thinking about the need for day care or an after-school program. Their eyes were opened in a new way when they had more information. It helped to focus their conversations about their own mission and ministry,
What’s going on in your community?
