They say, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.” But it doesn’t take long to realize how incorrect this is. Think of the time when, while driving along the highway, you changed lanes only to hear the blaring horn from the car in your blind spot. There’s a reason why new cars have blind spot cameras. It’s because what we don’t know, see, or otherwise discern CAN hurt.
Which brings me to a conversation I had the other day with a leading member of one of our churches. This gentleman was active in the church’s ministry and supportive of his pastor. He explained to me that, while the church was stable, the members were older. He said that the people moving in were of different ethnicities and wouldn’t give the church a chance. They weren’t visiting, anyway. He wondered if the only way the church might grow would be to change everything and bring in an ethnic pastor who spoke Spanish.
Now, I’m all for planting new churches to reach the different people groups in our area, and especially overcoming language and cultural barriers. But something didn’t seem right in what he was sharing. My suspicion began when I observed three “younger” couples sitting among the congregation. Then, when I returned to the office, I ran the demographics for the area around his church. The majority of the community were empty nesters and older, but the numbers indicated a substantial number of families nearby with children at home.
The most surprising statistic was that, while Hispanic persons are moving into the area, they are almost all English speaking. And the ethnicity most resembling the church is expected to comprise more than 70% of the community for the next ten years.
Here’s my point: I was speaking with an influential church member who sincerely loved the Lord and His church; but, he didn’t really know the community around him. He meant well, but his understanding was limited, much like the driver and his blind spot.
Churches often decline not because of people’s sin or lack of hard work, but because of faulty assumptions. People don’t know what they don’t know.
This is an area where GTBN can help you. We have the advantage of seeing the entire region, who is coming and who is going. We can provide your church with a demographic snapshot of your area so you can consider how to best engage your neighbors with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We won’t tell you what to do. That decision is your responsibility as a church body. But we can help you consider a range of options for building bridges for the advance of Christ’s mission, the revitalization of your church, and the glory of Christ.
Prov. 11:14 says, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”
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The GTBN ReNew Team has trained personnel who can help you to process and respond to the data!