Here are a few ideas as to how you might learn more about your community:

  • Get a demographic study.
  • Drive or walk your community and pay attention.
  • Do “get-o-graphics”—getting into your community, serving people, and listening to their needs.
  • Go to the Chamber of Commerce and inquire about community needs.
  • Read the local paper to see what is being reported.
  • Go door to door and ask.

Phil Stevenson, 5 Things Anyone Can Do to Help Their Church Grow, You Can! (Indianapolis, IN: WPH, 2007), 20–21.


I have just completed a series of lessons based on becoming a welcoming church. They are available on Amazon in both print and Kindle versions, as well as part of my Good Questions Have Groups Talking Subscription service. For a medium-sized church, lesson subscriptions are only $10 per teacher per year. Lessons correspond with three of Lifeway’s outlines as well as the International Standard Series.