COMPLETING THE MissionInsite OR ARDA SECTION OF THE PROFILE
As your church learns more about themselves by creating a Local Church Profile, a key part of that experience is looking at your geographic community. This is not necessarily the community in which your members live; rather the community that your church is located in and serves. How do your neighbors compare to the congregation’s make up? How might age and economic trends in the neighborhood affect your church’s outreach ministries?
Previously, you may have received this information from “MissionInsite”, and some of the resources we provide you with in Search and Call may refer to that program. In order to faithfully steward the OCWM funds that we have been entrusted, our Conference has decided to stop subscribing to MissionInsite which was expensive and could provide a confusing amount of data. We now encourage you to use “ARDA” (the Association of Religion Data Archives). Here’s how to get started:
Steps for accessing your ARDA report:
• Go to www.theARDA.com. Move your cursor over the arrow next to “Congregations” and then click “Community Profiles.”
• On this page, enter your church’s location address.
o Do not use just the zip code or city.
o Do not use your mailing address.
• Click “Create Profile.”
• On the next page, a map will appear.
• Place your cursor on the map and click your church. This will cause the map to zoom out and create a radius for the report. The default radius is set to 2 miles. For most of our congregations, that default is appropriate. fn your congregation is very urban, though, you might consider changing the radius to 0.5 miles. If your congregation is very rural (surrounded by farmland or forest), you might go slightly higher. For best results, make sure your results include at least 1,000 households.
• In the panel on the right side, click “Profile.”
o TIP: There is white text that reads “Have a Question? Email us” that can overlap with the Profile button in some browsers. If that happens, change the size of your window and try again.
• This next page is your report. Share this with the group that is completing your Local Church Profile.
Sections of the ARDA report:
• Congregations listed in the selected region
• The five largest religious groups in the county
• The five biggest religious group changes in the county
• Housing, income, and employment trends for the selected region
• Gender and age demographics for the selected region
• Education attainment and school enrollment for the selected region
• Family structure and marital status data for the selected region
• Information on race/ethnicity, languages, and national origin for the selected region
Applying the ARDA report to the Local Church Profile:
There are five questions in the MissionInsite/ARDA section of the profile. Those questions are listed here with some guidance on how you can use the ARDA report to assess your congregation’s ministry.
• Profile question: Comment on your congregation’s MissionInsite report with data for your neighborhood(s) or area. What trends and opportunities are shown?
o Is there an increase in a demographic that could affect your outreach ministries? (Preschools or after-school programs for an increase in young people; food pantries or free community meals for an increase in poverty; bilingual services for an increase in an immigrant population; etc.)
o Is your building friendly to populations in your community? (ramps, handicapped parking spots, changing tables, bilingual signage, etc.)
• Profile question: How do your congregation’s internal demographics compare or contrast to a) the neighborhoods adjacent to your church, and b) other neighborhoods with which your church connects?
o Is United Church of Christ one of the top five religious groups in your county?
o How do your church members’ housing types, housing values, income, employment, age, education, family structure, and race compare to that of the community? (You don’t have to address all of these in the Local Church Profile, but compare them and select a few that you find interesting or relevant.)
o If your church’s demographics are different than those in the surrounding community, is the church welcoming to its neighbors?
• Profile question: How are the demographics of the community currently shaping ministry, or not?
o Has your congregation changed because of changes in the community? Or has your community changed and the church has a little catching up to do?
o Consider some major changes the church has recently made. Were any of them influenced by the community or neighborhood?
• Profile question: What do you hear when you talk to community leaders and ask them what your church is known for?
o Consider who are leaders in the community/neighborhood that you’re studying in this section. Some churches have used mayors, teachers, librarians, boy scout leaders, members of a nearby church, or even the cashier at a nearby gas station.
• Profile question: What do new people in the church say when asked what got them involved?
o Are your new members local or did they join because of friends and acquaintances?