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The Emmanuel Research Review is a publication of the Emmanuel Gospel Center. The Review features articles, papers, resources and information that we believe are helpful and relevant to urban pastors, leaders, and community members in their efforts to effectively serve their communities.
In this issue:
The Church in the Context of Community: A Primer on Community Analysis
a foreword by Brian Corcoran
Research Associate, Emmanuel Research Institute
If you have ever embarked on a journey into the realm of
community analysis, you probably have encountered complicated and gargantuan
reports more easily measured in pounds and inches than page count. Community
analysis reports contain vast amounts of complicated data. Could these
intimidating reports help guide decisions for regular people in real
ministry?
In all fairness to the authors of such sizeable reports, many of them are wrestling with ways to understand and explain the many faceted and complex contexts of communities.
The information in this issue of the Emmanuel Research Review is not intended to oversimplify the subject of community analysis, but to encourage pastors and other ministry practitioners not to flee nor grow faint.
We hope that by providing introductory articles, guides, resources and samples of community analysis by real people for real ministry we may help you to become focused, equipped and inspired to successfully venture out and obtain useful data yourself, which will help nurture the vitality of your ministry.
We start with these questions:
To help you get started in your own community analysis, we offer a handy Guide for Community Studies - Basic Information Form. As usual, we also offer both web links and print resources for further study, and some information about the Emmanuel Research Institute. Your feedback is always welcome.
by Rudy Mitchell
Senior Researcher
Emmanuel Gospel
Center
Boston
The concept of community is both rich and complex, an idea not easily framed by simple definitions. Community often refers to more than the territorial, local neighborhood. During the past century, definitions of community proliferated. In surveying these definitions, Larry Lyon, author of The Community in Urban Society, identified three common elements of urban community: 1) an area, 2) common ties, and 3) social interaction.1
Communities can be viewed as ecological systems, culture and population groups, networks of relationships, economic systems, fields of interaction, and—not least of all—spiritual fellowships. However we define the idea, we can agree that it is of fundamental importance to urban life and ministry.
Often the spiritual dimension is ignored in the field of community studies. Moral values, faith commitments, spiritual beliefs, and religious networks are, however, among the most fundamental elements of any community. Community characteristics and forces influence churches and individual believers, and vice versa. It is important to understand this constantly changing interaction because it profoundly affects the growth and health of urban churches.
As the nature and strength of community in a nation change, the life and dynamics of local churches are affected. No longer do we live in a world characterized by small villages of closely knit primary relationships limited to local friends, neighbors, fellow workers, and extended family members, all holding similar worldviews and spiritual beliefs. We live in an urbanized world with pluralistic beliefs and with many impersonal as well as personal relationships.
Community still exists, but its form is changing, shaped by global political, economic, and religious factors. In the city, the concepts of neighborhood and community are not the same. Communities can be networks of strong relationships not located primarily in one neighborhood. Most people have networks of intimate ties, but with only a small proportion of those ties in the same neighborhood. These non-geographic communities have become feasible through ever-growing interconnections forged by urbanization, communications technology, and transportation access. The separation of workplace from home and family, and increased rates of residential mobility have also contributed to the development of these wider networks or communities. A local church needs to both relate to its surrounding neighborhood and adapt to the realities of new communities networking across geographic boundaries in our modern urban world.
1. Larry Lyon, The Community in Urban Society (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987), introduction.
Where do I begin?
The following stages establish an overview of community analysis. A community is a complex, multi-faceted, interrelated system. This list offers one way to start the process of looking at the community intentionally. How would you go about the process of identifying each of the areas in this list? What would be your first action step in each stage of research?
Before beginning a new community study, one should find out what has already been published by government agencies, private firms, general publishers, newspapers, universities, and social agencies. This will avoid duplication of efforts and unnecessary work.
Most large cities have government agencies such as a redevelopment authority, planning department, or urban renewal program which publishes detailed studies of the city’s neighborhoods and sections. Several different departments of city and state government may each publish studies on the same neighborhood. For example, the Boston Redevelopment Authority published a series of District Profiles through their Neighborhood Planning Department, but also published a variety of other studies through their Research Department.
While the federal census provides basic data on the characteristics of the population, other surveys and censuses may be available. Although U.S. Census data is widely available as raw data in printed and computer-based forms, some agencies, city or state governments, and universities publish this data in more digested and analyzed forms. These more usable forms of census data explore the significance and trends in the data, or organize it by recognized local neighborhoods and social service areas.
Some cities have sponsored independent censuses to challenge perceived undercounts in the federal census. Sometimes voter registration lists are updated by means of annual census mailings. Though incomplete, these listings may be public and provide useful age, occupation, and political information. In some cases, state censuses are also taken at five-year intervals between the federal censuses. Some cities also hire private research firms to conduct specialized surveys. Private firms also publish demographic information for sales and marketing audiences. City directories listing homeowners and residents by street address can provide detailed current and historical information.
Newspapers often publish timely and substantial articles on ethnic groups, neighborhoods, social problems, and city institutions. Although these are sometimes less authoritative, they often provide up-to-date information not readily available elsewhere. Interviews may also provide more personal and grassroots perspectives than are found in other secondary sources. Sometimes an urban newspaper will publish a series of articles on the educational system, the police department, or a current trend. Large city newspapers can be searched through printed indices or by computer searches. Neighborhood newspapers give more localized information documenting selected community events and issues. A survey of articles can reveal issues and activities which are a priority to the neighborhood, but the editor’s judgments and interests may also play a major role in the selection of article topics. (For an example of how one urban ministry student used local newspapers to understand the issues facing an urban community, click here. A Word document will open in a new window.)
Colleges, universities, and major social agencies may publish research reports from time to time. These may focus on specific social issues or may provide a profile of an ethnic group. In some cases these might be accessed only through the agency or university department or institute. In other cases where research became a doctoral thesis or was published in an academic journal, the material can be discovered through dissertation abstracts, and periodical indices using library research methods.
More extensive histories and studies are often available in book form. These materials are generally not as useful for very current information, but shed light on history, trends, and issues while providing theoretical frameworks for reflection. Metropolitan and citywide histories will contain scattered information on specific communities and neighborhoods. If an area was originally a separate settlement that later was annexed to the city, it is likely to have a separate town history. One should not overlook biographies and institutional histories which relate to a neighborhood. In some cases a community may be the subject or setting of a historical novel. Well researched literature may give a fuller understanding of the community than individual facts and analyzed pieces of data.
By using these secondary sources of information, one can
compile an initial community study that can be complemented with primary
research. This first-hand research can include interviews, surveys, forums,
listening groups, and participant or non-participant observation. The
combination of various community research methods and sources can provide a more
complete understanding of the context of your work.
What does all this stuff mean and how can it help?
Although facts about an area’s population may not be highly meaningful or interesting taken in isolation, they can become very significant and useful when studied in their dynamic relationship to urban change, movement, social structure, and when brought into comparison with other communities and contexts. Demographic study of the urban community outlines the trends in basic population, and profiles the various aspects of population composition by age, sex, race, and nationality. It includes finding facts about the population’s health, education, employment, language, and marital status. All of these areas have useful application to church ministry and community development.
Doing community research, whether formal or informal, is vital for effective church ministry. Research can enable church leaders to minister more effectively, to avoid duplication of programs, to discover resources, to gain a larger perspective, and to understand community needs. Sider, Olson and Unruh suggest several other reasons why community research is helpful to churches in their book, Churches That Make a Difference:
Community research also enables the Christian leader to discern where God is already at work in the community and the spiritual contours or focal points in the area. Beyond the basic facts, the perceptive leader can begin to understand the systems, networks, structures and powers which underlie community strengths and problems.
2. Ronald J. Sider, Philip N. Olson, and Heidi Rolland Unruh, Churches That Make a Difference: Reaching Your Community with Good News and Good Works (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2002), 257-262.
What can I learn about the community through first-hand observation?
Seeing people and their environments is quite different from learning about them second hand. —Allan B. Jacobs (3)
Although field observation as described here may be especially helpful to outsiders and newcomers to a community, people who have already lived in the area for some time may also benefit by this intense and careful observation followed by reflection and comparison. Some basic observations will appear obvious to long-term residents, but other details brought to fresh awareness might lead to a valuable new understanding. Other observations of changes might also be very important to long-term residents.
It may be helpful to deepen one’s appreciation of the power of observation by reviewing the skills of Sherlock Holmes before beginning community study. “As in medical diagnosis and criminal detective work, in urban diagnosis the observer looks for patterns, breaks in the patterns, and deviations from the norms. Perceiving new or foreign elements in a field, one asks why and how and what are the meanings? The similarity to detective work may lie in openness to seeing relationships and in a questioning way of thinking. The clues are the critical starting point.” (4)
There is a difference between the simple physical “seeing” of the casual observer, and the detailed, systematic observation of a researcher. The researcher may also look at the community through a certain conceptual framework which structures and orders the observations. Of course everyone “sees” objects and events around them, but it is the informed, thoughtful, compassionate, and conscious eye which begins to understand the visual stimuli.
Conscious, careful, purposeful looking, accompanied by continuous questioning of the meanings of what one sees, can tell a lot about a city or neighborhood. “Observation can tell something about the history and present dynamics of an area: when and for whom it was built; what physical, social, and economic changes have taken place; who lives there now; what major issues and problems exist; whether the area is vulnerable to rapid change and, if so, what kind. One can see how the area is related to the larger urban setting; and one can even predict what changes may be expected.” (5)
Living in and observing a community over the cycle of a full year is best when possible. Some aspects of cultural and community life are only observable at certain times of year. For example, festival parades celebrating the Catholic saints and filling the streets with crowds, Italian sausage vendors, and statues of saints held high in procession, only occur during certain summer weekends in Italian American neighborhoods. Seeing the once a year St. Patrick’s Day parade or celebration of Chinese New Year can give a fuller understanding of the Irish and Chinese communities. Observing at different times of day and different times of the week also gives a fuller understanding of life patterns.
Some observations and details can in fact be trivial and insignificant. People have good reason to block out some of these things, just as the expressway driver must screen out some possible observations to concentrate on those relevant to driving. What is observed depends on the purpose. Urban residents screen out many of the possible sensory stimuli in their environment, and consciously observe only the details necessary for their purposes or ones particularly interesting to their lives. Sometimes they also block out unpleasant sights. Author William H. Gass writes:
The face of the city is unseen. It is invisible for the same compelling reasons that Italo Calvino’s invisible cities—the ones he has Marco Polo describe to Kublai Khan—are invisible. We soon cease to see what we are accustomed to seeing, and since the face of the city rarely needs to be seen, or desires to be seen, but hides behind its own smile like a Cheshire cat, we prove to be accommodating and comfortably dense.(6)
3. Allan B. Jacobs, Looking at Cities (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985), 8.
4. ibid. p. 83.
5. ibid. p. 6.
6. William H. Gass, “The Face of the City,” Harper’s Magazine, March 1986, 37.
How do I conduct interviews?
Books on interviewing:
(These apply only to interviewing. A resource list of books on community analysis are fournd in another section below.)
Arksey, Hilary, and Peter Knight. Interviewing for Social Scientists. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1999.
Biagi, Shirley. Interviews That Work: A Practical Guide for Journalists, 2nd edition. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing, 1992.
Brady, John. The Craft of Interviewing. New York: Random House, 1976.
Douglas, Jack D. Creative Interviewing. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1985.
Metzler, Ken. Creative Interviewing, 3rd edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1997.
What types of questions are helpful to ask people in the community?
Information about the interviewee (ask or record):
Information about the community:
Church perceptions:
Linked here are excerpts from two students’ community studies showing how they incorporated interviews into the research process. Both are studying the community of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Shawn Foster’s paper. Lewis Floyd’s paper. (click to open a Word document in a new window.)
Guide For Community Studies - Basic Information Form. This form, available as a Word document, was developed over the past 30 years by the Emmanuel Gospel Center to help hundreds of people start their own research. It is now offered here as a tool for anyone wishing to conduct their own community analysis study.
Linked here is one student’s completed “Basic Information Form” as a sample to show the breadth and scope of research possible using this simple tool. Dana Baker’s completed form. (click to open a Word document in a new window.)
The following papers are excerpts of community studies done by real people doing real research for real ministry. The material and process guiding the community analysis has been developed over the last 30 years by the Emmanuel Gospel Center and has been used by hundreds of people as they begin to flesh out their visions for various types of ministry in many cities.
For this particular group, the community analysis papers are just the first part of a larger six-part process for hands-on research for the development of a new urban ministry. Students use the completed guide to then write an analysis of the community, organization, or church they are studying. They find two models that are similar to their proposed project, and explain how those models are similar or different from their own goals. Next, students develop their vision on paper, and begin to ask questions about budgets, staffing and other practicalities. To help them walk through the process, they are required to find a mentor to review their ideas and coach them as they write. And finally, students are to submit a complete bibliography supporting their area of study.
Sample Community Analysis Papers by Real People for Real Ministry:
Dana Baker is the Regional Outreach Coordinator at Grace Chapel in Lexington, Mass., (http://www.grace.org/) focusing on urban and multicultural ministries. Prior to joining the staff at Grace Chapel four years ago, Dana was a licensed architect practicing in the Boston area for eighteen years. She is currently enrolled in a masters program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary’s Center for Urban Ministerial Education in Boston.
Focus: A large suburban church in Lexington, Mass., is considering launching a unique small group ministry in the nearby, metro-Boston community of Arlington amongst an emerging Korean community while exploring other opportunities for future multi-cultural ministry development.
Dana Baker paper (click to open a Word document in a new window.)
Garret Smith and Jonathan Bernd are missionaries with Jews for Jesus (http://www.jewsforjesus.org/) in Boston. Garrett was raised in a Jewish home, and became a believer in Jesus while living in Israel. Jonathan’s father is a Holocaust survivor.
Focus: An overview of the Jewish Community in the metro-Boston region with the ultimate goal of relevant and effective evangelism.
Smith and Bernd paper (click to open a Word document in a new window.)
Shawn Foster is the founder of YouthStorm (http://www.youthstorm.org/), a partnership of the Body of Christ to empower the next generation for Kingdom service. Through the dynamics of grassroots ministry, community, prayer, and mentoring, he is committed to church reformation and community transformation in New England and beyond.
Focus: Looking at Lawrence, Mass., through the eyes of parachurch youth ministry, we begin to see the opportunity and significance of ministering to the next generation.
Shawn Foster paper (click to open a Word document in a new window.)
Roosevelt Desronvilles attends Boston Missionary Baptist Church, Roxbury, Mass., and has spent 15 years working in youth ministry in Haiti, New York, and Florida. He has a master’s degree in business and is currently working as a book publishing manufacturing manager.
Focus: Examining various aspects of community within a rapidly changing urban work environment. What type of ministry is needed and legal within today’s corporate culture? Can we discover pathways for everyday, on-the-job ministry development? Can I be bi-vocational without taking a second job?
Roosevelt Desronvilles paper (click to open a Word document in a new window.)
Rev. Lewis E. Floyd is the pastor of Third Baptist Church in Lawrence, Mass. Even after living many years in the Boston area, Rev. Floyd is considering relocating to Lawrence to better serve the community.
Focus: Rev. Floyd considers personal and practical ways in which his congregation in Lawrence may connect with the larger community and help meet needs.
Lewis Floyd paper (click to open a Word document in a new window.)
Evelyn Gardiner is an ordained minister in the Church of God of Prophecy. She serves on the pastoral staff and as director of Christian education at the Roxbury, Mass., congregation, and supports and promotes the Christian education ministry in the Mass/Rhode Island district congregations. She is employed as an accountant for Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
Focus: Macon, Georgia, continues to face the historic challenge of racism and a disconnected church. A call for community collaboration and a multi-racial, multi-cultural, downtown church to demonstrate and share a new vision for the community.
Evelyn Gardiner paper (click to open a Word document in a new window.)
Jeana Kim is completing a Master of Arts degree in religion with a concentration in theology. She has a heart for urban missions, particularly working with at-risk/disadvantaged/hurting children and youth stateside, and orphans overseas, through counseling, education, writing, or administration. She attends Citylife Church in Boston (citylifeboston.org) where she leads the children’s ministry.
Focus: Examining the forces, process and impact of gentrification on a West Philadelphia neighborhood and how the church can compliment state, university, and big business agendas for community development.
Jeana Kim paper (click to open a Word document in a new window.)
Network 9:35 – www.network935.org. This website has many resources on urban and holistic ministry. Some of these can be relevant to studying your community.
Fasten Website’s Census Tutorial – a concise page of instructions on using the 2000 U.S. Census to find community data. http://www.fastennetwork.org/Display.asp?Page=Census
U.S. Census Website – www.census.gov
How to use this site for community studies: To gather data for your specific community from the U.S. Census website, select American Factfinder from the left-hand menu. On the American Factfinder page you can request a Fact Sheet by filling in the blank at the top of the page (by zipcode, address, etc.) or you can select Data Sets under the section Getting Detailed Data (or on the left-hand menu). Then select Summary File 1 or Summary File 3. Under these choose Detailed Tables or List All Tables. You can then browse through the list of tables and check the contents of each by clicking on “What’s This.” After you have selected a table or tables, you can then choose the geographic area you want to display. You may want to display a whole city or just a census tract or two.
Conn, Harvie, and Manuel Ortiz. Urban Ministry: The Kingdom, The City and the People of God. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2001. See Part 4: “Developing Urban Church Growth Eyes. (The Social Sciences and Mission; Ethnographic Studies and Mission; Demographic Studies and Mission).”
Dudley, Carl S. Community Ministry: New Challenges, Proven Steps to Faith Based Initiatives. Herndon, Virginia: Alban Institute, 2002. See especially part I.
Eisland, Nancy L. and R. Stephen Warner. “Ecology: Seeing the Congregation in Context.” In Studying Congregations: A New Handbook, edited by Nancy T. Ammerman, Jackson W. Carroll, Carl S. Dudley, and William McKinney. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998.
Hadaway, C. Kirk. “Learning from Urban Church Research.” Urban Mission, January 1985, 33-44.
Lingenfelter, Judith. “Getting to Know Your New City.” In Discipling the City: A Comprehensive Approach to Urban Mission, 2nd edition, edited by Roger S. Greenway. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1992.
Mitchell, Rudy. Studying Urban Communities. Boston: Emmanuel Gospel Center, 1994.
Monsma, Timothy M. “Research: Matching Goals and Methods to Advance the Gospel.” In Discipling the City: A Comprehensive Approach to Urban Mission, 2nd edition, edited by Roger S. Greenway. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1992.
Sider, Ronald J., Philip N. Olson, and Heidi Rolland Unruh. Churches That Make a Difference: Reaching Your Community with Good News and Good Works. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2002. Chapter 12.
Taylor, Dick. “Discovering Your Neighborhood’s Needs.” Sojourners, June 1979, 22-24.
Warren, Roland L. Studying Your Community. New York: The Free Press, 1965.
Who we are:
The mission of the Emmanuel Research Institute (ERI), an applied research and consulting service of the Emmanuel Gospel Center in Boston, is to make information available that builds the capacity of urban churches and organizations to make decisions for effective action. Through research, training, and consulting, we equip urban churches and the organizations that support their work to better understand their urban community systems and serve them more effectively.
The Emmanuel Research Institute offers:
ERI is working to strengthen and enhance its capacity to provide the following categories of products and services, some of which are already available and some of which are in development:
- Basic research such as The Boston Church Directory, periodically revised.
- Topical research such as studies on church-based youth ministry or access to higher education.
- Conferences and consultations that bring different parts of the community together to listen, discuss results, interpret meaning, and decide on next steps.
- Training on how to do applied research. Applied research is original work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge in order to develop an effective response. ERI’s training emphasizes practical application leading to organizational development and programmatic response.
- Published results of applied research to facilitate applied research by others.
- Individual and group consulting related to applied research, program development, strategic planning, evaluation, systems thinking, systems analysis, and church infrastructure.
- Speakers on a wide range of urban ministry topics.
- Data for Informed Decision-Making – ERI will regularly gather, categorize, and maintain information on ethnic and immigration demographics, socio-political, economic, and cultural trends, trends and indicators of church vitality, trends and initiatives in parachurch and faith-based ministry, community needs assessments, and other topics.
- Training and Technical Assistance – ERI will deliver practical training, seminars, and consulting tailored to the needs of urban congregations and the organizations that support their work. These will include “Developing Learning Teams,” “Using Systems Thinking and Analysis,” “Research and Writing in Urban Studies,” “The Inner City – A Context For Ministry,” and “Listening to Your Community.” Some of this training will be offered through individualized technical assistance (working with a single church or organization), while some will be available in seminar or classroom settings.
- High-Quality Scholarship and Tools – ERI will publish, summarize and review studies, papers, and other tools that will help churches and parachurch organizations work more effectively in the urban context. We intend to develop online tools for access to this information, and better catalogue the printed resources for easier access.
- A Network of Resources – ERI maintains longstanding relationships with a variety of institutions that support local congregations, church leaders and faith-based organizations in their efforts to enhance their community effectiveness.
We look forward to working with your church or organization. Please contact us if you have specific questions, if you wish to discuss a project proposal, or if you need information.
Emmanuel Research Review, copyright ©2004, Emmanuel Gospel Center. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint any or all of this newsletter, contact Rudy Mitchell by email or write:
Emmanuel Gospel CenterSend your ideas and comments to:
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PO Box 180245
Boston MA 02118-0994To subscribe or unsubscribe:
- Rev. Jay Broadnax, Research Director, 617.262.4567 x180
- Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher, 617.262.4567 x133
- Brian Corcoran, Research Associate, 617.262.4567 x217
- Steve Daman, Editor
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