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Ministry with Eyes Wide Open: The Varied Lenses of Community Research
By Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher
Are you seeing all that can be observed about your community?
From community-based participatory research to social-network analysis, there are various ways Christians can learn more about the communities they serve.
In this presentation, we explore several approaches to community research:
Spiritual and religious assessment
Historical-research approach
Demographic approach with mapping
Community-based participatory research
Assets-based approach
Needs-assessment approach
Community-indicators approach
Leadership studies and stakeholder analysis
Case studies of organizations and best practices
Social-network approach
Systems-analysis approach
A number of these approaches can be used as part of an overall community-building or community-development process that leads to community transformation.
This presentation is part of the larger series, Community Research and the Church. In the next segment, we explore the nature of community research and how it relates to biblical research and Christian ministry.
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