By Tom Bandy Lifestyle diversity and cultural change have created new challenges and opportunities for worship designers. The challenge is that the basic question people ask themselves on Sunday morning is no longer when to worship or preferred style of worship, but why should we bother to worship at all? Prior to the millennium change, …
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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 …
In my role as the Director of Innovative Evangelism in the Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware Area, I have the privilege of working with a diverse group of congregations throughout Maryland, Delaware, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia. Since we are located in an incredibly diverse region, I do get asked a lot for help with leading evangelism …
Read more “Ethical Evangelism: Sharing Faith with Integrity”
In a world filled with billions of people, it’s easy to feel insignificant, like a single drop in an ocean too vast to impact. But history and storytelling remind us time and again of the profound influence one person can have. As I was flying home from vacation, I had the opportunity to watch the …
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 We know how to retrieve lifestyle data about our community context or church participation. Run a ComparativeInsite Report. Identify the top 50-60% representation. Read the Experian E-Handbook summaries and MissionImpact Guide commentaries for each lifestyle segment, starting with those significantly over- or under-represented in our church. This gives us a pretty good …
By Tom Bandy The internet has been valuable in so many ways. But the combination of digitalization and miniaturisation has raised ethical concerns especially for lifestyle research. Many churches and denominations also use lifestyle research (as we do), but there is always a risk that institutional priorities and hidden biases might unconsciously lead us to …
Read more “How to Use MissionInsite: Ethical Principles for Lifestyle Research”
This week I received terrible news that a young man I mentored from the time he was 8 until he graduated from high school was killed in a senseless act of gun violence. I met Tyejuan in 2007 at my first job out of seminary. I was the program manager at The Southeast White House, …
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 …
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 …