My children worshipped in a megachurch setting for almost 10 years. My daughter is only 11 so that is most of her life. My children are accustomed to large parking lots, elevated pulpits, flashing lights, large choirs, loud music and charismatic preaching. Since my father-in-ministry’s retirement, we’ve explored worshipping in smaller settings. Our church today …
There is a touching documentary on Netflix called “Daughters.” It’s about a program that hosts a “Date with Daddy” dance for inmates and their daughters. The program provides coaching for inmates and their families leading up to the dance, and they provide formal attire and barber services for the men so when their daughters see …
Read more “Don’t Let Size Deter You from Planting Fresh Expressions”
By Tom Bandy Many of you may have read the Easter opinion column by Ross Douthat in the New York Times: “It’s Easter 2050. Here’s What American Religion Looks Like”. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/30/opinion/easter-religion-america.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare. It’s a good article, and I have been reflecting on it from the point of view of demographic and lifestyle change. The writer predicts …
By Tom Bandy Strategic thinkers often want to explore a specific demographic detail for which there is no one single category in the Build a Report process. Recently I was asked to research locations with a high population density for children aged 5-13 in families below poverty. MissionInsite only allows you to do separate OpportunityScans …
Read more “MissionInsite: Going Deeper beyond Basic Categories”
By Tom Bandy You can use MissionInsite to make this Christmas especially meaningful for distinct lifestyle mosaics that live in your reach. This is particularly useful for urban churches experiencing growing lifestyle diversity that is transforming their surrounding neighborhoods. Centralization is what happens as urbanization moves along major transportation corridors, isolating rural areas, and forcing …
In an earlier post on hospitality (read it here), I discussed the importance of guest follow up, and I shared some tips and tools. I based my post on Hebrews 13:2 – “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” This is a reference …
By Tom Bandy Congregational Planning Method Most congregational users prefer to skip the initial “What Do You Want to Do” screen to explore a smaller, designated area. You can find the Opportunity Scan tool by clicking the “Demographics” tab on the bottom toolbar of the screen. Then find the Opportunity Scan tool at the bottom …
By Tom Bandy Every congregation has free access to MissionInsite. The amount of data may seem overwhelming, and research tools may seem challenging, but with regular practice it soon becomes easy for any staff, board, or committee to gather information pertinent to their area of ministry. Opportunity Scan is a tool that helps you focus …
We are excited to have the Rev. Dr. Tom Bandy share monthly with us on how we can best use MissionInsite to support outreach and evangelism and the development of new faith expressions in local churches. This is his first post on how we can use MissionInsite when planning for September ministry events. Many of …
Read more “Making Good Use of PeoplePlot: Start-up Events for September”
Bill and I attended the National Developers and Church Planters conference a few weeks ago in Denver, Colorado where we gleaned from the wisdom of successful developers and planters and exchanged ideas and best practices. North Georgia Annual Conference of the UMC shared five of their pertinent objectives when planning to plant a church. I …