Comment 2: CONTACT

What are the results of the CONTACT surveys, what is the purpose of the surveys?

CONTACT is an effort of pre-evangelism. It is reconnaissance and information gathering. The reason that we have been pursuing these surveys is that we want to make the best connection between what God created our church to be, and the needs in the community we are really built to meet. Rather than doing ministry by braille or just doing stuff, we want to do outreach on purpose.

In Luke 10 Jesus sends out 72 to do outreach. His pattern is this: 1. Go get to know the people till they invite you to eat. 2. Show them the undeniable power of God by healing, 3. Help them to faith by explaining the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Many times the church today does it the exact opposite. CONTACT is about doing these priorities in order. We are researching and getting to know our people. CONTACT is valuable not just because of the surveys, but because of the conversations that we're able to have with people. I have learned as much or more from listening to people we talk to at the CONTACT table than the surveys, but the surveys are the vehicle for those conversations to start.

So far we have fallen way below our goal. We wanted to collect 1500 surveys by October, and instead we collected 200. We didn't anticipate how closed local businesses would be to allowing us to set up a table, but I believe we should continue on. Our current sampling is not enough to have a firm view on the community, but it is a start, and I think we should keep building on it.

Let me give you an example from the current results, and that may lend clarity to the overall purpose:

Currently the survey shows that the greatest area of need among our respondents is Cost Of Living (COL). So far more people have agreed on this as a problem in the community than any other single issue. The top three responses in fact all deal with financial issues. What that tells us is that people need resources on managing finances. That is something we can offer. If we were to do a ministry to the lonely, it would not resonate in our community because loneliness is not recognized as a need in our community. In a recent assessment of our church finances the management of finances was listed as one of our greatest strengths. We look at that and say let's couple our strength with the needs of the community. We believe that will bring us to the table with them. Then we're able to show them the undeniable power of God, for instance what happens when you follow godly principles of finances, and bring them into the Kingdom of God.

I hope that puts it in perspective and clears it up, if not feel free to comment below, you can leave anonymous comments.

One more note on CONTACT. I recently was asked about CONTACT, specifically in relation to doorhangers. CONTACT was originally about surveys, but my coach required us to start doorhangers at the same time, so I ordered 1500 which is the amount that the company sells them, and people seemed to connect the two. We (the operations team and I) made the decision to connect both initiatives under the same name. We're thankful to have handed out over 3000 doorhangers so far this year, and our efforts with that continue.

On deck for tomorrow -- Do we need an altar?

--Ben