By Tom Bandy
Many churches hold leadership retreats in January or February. Aside from prayer and fellowship, these retreats are often about assimilating newly elected council and board members and strategic thinking for the coming year. Updated ComparativeInsite reports are an essential resource for both elements in the agenda.
ComparativeInsite date compares current church participation with the changing diversity of the surrounding community. It distills essential statistics from the vast amount of demographic and lifestyle data to help leaders focus on what is really important. This includes updated PeoplePlot totals for individual and household participation compared to population, and the current household penetration rate that reflects the impact of congregation in the community. Data comparisons include:
- Age of Head of Household
- Married Household with/without children (by age)
- Household Incomes (including average and median)
- Diversity Score
- Racial/Ethnic Representation
- Levels of Education
- Occupational Diversity
- Lifestyle Representation
- Financial Potential
By updating and sharing ComparativeInsite reports every year, you can customize graphs that provide snapshots of key trends in the life of the church and the changes in the mission field.
Leadership Assimilation
The average church member usually does not know the extent or nature of lifestyle diversity represented in congregational participation. The top 65-75% of lifestyle representation shapes the program priorities in the church and is easily identified in the ComparativeInsite report on page 5. In many situations, this includes 4-7 lifestyle segments that you can readily research using the Experian E-Handbook and MissionImpact Guide. Send the summaries (print or digital) to participants in advance of the leadership retreat. Then highlight key insights and provide time to discuss how diverse lifestyle expectations impact the life and programming of the church.
For example, a common congregational pattern among churches in both Baltimore-Washington and Pen-Del Conferences is that they are very successful including C13 Philanthropic Sophisticates boomers and D18 Suburban Nightlife African American families, moderately successful including younger F22 Fast Track Couples, but only marginally successful reaching O54 Influenced by Influencers (upwardly mobile white singles) and O52 Urban Ambition (young, low-income, black singles). Not only can retreat participants understand why, they can also learn how to equip the households they have to reach those they do not have.
Strategic Thinking
Although church members may not know the contrasts between diversity in the congregation and diversity in the community, church leaders must know this essential data. The contrast between highest and lowest lifestyle representation is easily identified in the ComparativeInsite report on page 5. Use the right-hand column marked “Index”. Any score over 100 indicates the degree to which a lifestyle segment is over-represented in the church in contrast to community. Any score under 100 indicates the degree to which a lifestyle segment is under-represented in contrast to community. Select the groups for whom you feel most urgency and send summaries to participants in advance of the retreat. Provide time to discuss how outreach might be initiated or customized to more effectively include segments currently under-represented in the church.
For example, a common congregational pattern in both Conferences is that our churches have great impact on Group B Flourishing Families (affluent upper-middle-class), but less impact on Group M Families in Motion (struggling lower-middle-class). Retreat participants can reflect on how they might adapt ministries (especially in hospitality, childcare, and education) to more effectively include these households that are growing in our communities. It will also help leaders anticipate the stress of change in church life as the surrounding neighborhoods evolve.
Financial Potential
The average church member often has no concrete idea of the true financial potential of the congregation. But leaders must have an accurate estimate of financial potential in these challenging economic times. The ComparativeInsite reports (pages 7-8) helps leaders develop a comprehensive, year-round stewardship strategy. The report calculates financial potential be multiplying lifestyle representation in the congregation by the average income of any given lifestyle segment. The total is often surprising even after you reduce that amount from gross to net income after taxes. Compare that to current average giving per participating household … and consider how your budget would improve if average household giving increased only a slight amount.
For example, a common congregational UMC pattern is that average giving is 2-3% of net household income. And ironically, the greater the affluence of a congregation, the lower the percentage giving trends. And the poorer the congregation, the higher percentage giving trends. Maintenance-driven churches often erroneously complain about being “too poor” to support additional staff, initiate new programs, or acquire new technology. Mission-driven churches can set more realistic mission-driven budgets when they have solid data about the real financial potential of the congregation if only it were motivated to greater generosity.
An Annual Practice
The benefit of using ComparativeInsite reports in annual leadership training events is cumulative over the years. It takes at least three years to establish MissionInsite research as a routine part of the strategic thinking of church leaders. This is because most churches elect council or board leadership in three classes with three-year terms. Once everyone in leadership has greater insight and empathy with the true diversity of both congregation and community, strategic thinking becomes more imaginative and courageous … and ministry becomes more relevant and impactful.
Over time, you will see the lifestyle diversity in your leadership retreats evolving as well. The makeup of core leadership (major decision-makers) will begin to mirror the diversity of the community. The pace of community change is much faster than the speed of leadership decision-making. This is partly because long-time resident members who often occupy leadership positions do not “see” the changes going on around them and tend to be slow adapting and adopting new ideas. As newer, younger, and more culturally diverse members enter leadership, councils and board become more empathic to lifestyle diversity and faster reacting to the changing needs of the community. Regular use of ComparaativeInsite reports in leadership retreats will help your church grow in numbers and impact.