Vital Congregations: Strategic Priorities
Help Us Chart NDPC’s Future (lunch on 1/21 & 2/4)
NDPC has been engaged in the Vital Congregations Initiative for close to 2 years and we are nearing the end of the process.
Now is your chance to help shape the next chapter of NDPC. We need every voice at the table to help to determine our priorities. Join us after worship on January 21, 2024 or February 4, 2024 to enjoy a meal and define our calling as a congregation. We are guided by three S’s: Story, Status, and Spirit.
In the remainder of this post, the VCI team will share with you SOME of the things we’ve learned about our church that can help us discern where God’s Spirit is leading us.
of the country and our world?
We evaluated our status through 3 primary inputs:
- a congregational survey (remember filling that out in the spring of 2023?)
- a neighborhood mapping project (completed over the summer of 2023).
- current demographic information and social trends (fall 2023)
We invite you to review these results in order to come prepared to help focus our priorities at one of the meetings mentioned above. Below are summaries of the findings from each.
Congregational Survey: who are we? what do we do well and not do well?
The survey broke responses down into 7 areas of church life and health. NDPC’s average ‘score’ was slightly higher than PCUSA mean (yay!). Our lowest scores were in lifelong discipleship formation and intentional authentic evangelism. We learned that the way a question is asked on a survey affects the responses greatly! We took issue with the way some of the questions were worded. That said, here’s a snapshot of your responses (the full results are in the Google Drive file at the bottom of this email).
1) Lifelong Discipleship Formation – our lowest score compared to PCUSA average, this seemed related to a general feeling among our members of not knowing the Bible well and not seeing ourselves as “disciples.”
Is it important to you that NDPC members know the Bible well and see ourselves as disciples?
2) Intentional Authentic Evangelism – also a low-ish score; NDPC values mission work and community service over inviting other people to church or the importance of sharing faith and discussing religion with people who do not identify as Christian.
Is redefining/reclaiming Evangelism important to you, and if so, how might we do so in our pluralistic community?
3) Outward Incarnational Focus – high score; we are generally positive about our external mission work.
What aspects of our service to the community inspire you and where have you wished you could engage more deeply?
4) Empowering Servant Leadership – good score; we are positive about NDPC’s ability to encourage volunteering, stewardship, and about our leaders as role models.
Do you think our congregation can improve at empowering servant leaders?
5) Spirit-Inspired Worship – high score; we are very positive about the experience of worship.
What aspects of worship inspire you? How would you like to see worship grow or deepen?
6) Caring Relationships – middle score; we have low perceptions of conflict (yay!), but 40% didn’t think anyone would notice if they stopped coming and 23% don’t have a close friend in the congregation.
How will we express care for every member of the community?
7) Ecclesial Health – high score, a sense of health in the church and hope for the future.
What does a “healthy” church look like to you? How do we continue to try and get there?
Demographics of Survey Respondents
● 70% are female (!)
● 97% are white (!)
● 27% are single, 73% are married/coupled
● 66% have an advanced degree (!)
● 92% have a bachelors or higher
● 57% make more than $100,000/year
● 1% are theologically/politically conservative
As a take-away, you might say that the “average” person in our congregation is an older liberal white wealthy woman with a masters degree.
We may love each other; we may feel like we are welcoming to all. But we are not a diverse congregation. To become more diverse (by age, race, gender, education level) will require more than hoping and believing that we are “welcoming.” What might God be calling us to do and be that is different than what we are now? Or is increasing congregational diversity not our calling?
Ages and Stages Responses
● Highest dis-satisfaction about the church’s ministry is with our (lack of) young adult offerings (19-40); this is also reflected in the difference between how many young adults survey respondents report in their household versus how many actually participate at NDPC.
We are not serving young adults effectively. What steps might we take to invite, welcome, inspire, and serve young adults in their faith?
Neighborhood Mapping Project: who is in our immediate community?
The traditional “catchment” area for NDPC is a 2.5 miles radius around the church. Some of our members travel from beyond this catchment area, but many of our member live within that area. There are 180,000 people within that catchment area, and if we engage one-half of one percent, that is 900 people. If 1/3 of those people want to join the church, that is 300 persons–almost double our congregation’s current size. The demographics of the community within this 2.5 mile radius is more diverse than NDPC, but not as much as you might think–it leans liberal, and is older, wealthier, and more white than Greater Atlanta as a whole.
The area immediately around NDPC has changed significantly over the past several years. The residential neighborhood is evolving, now a mix of senior residents and families with young children. There is a mix of old homes in disrepair, homes that have been renovated, and larger new multi-family constructions.
The International Community School is a DeKalb County charter elementary school that seeks to serve refuges, immigrants, and local children. Hess Academy is based on the NDPC grounds and is a private school the serves students Pre-K through 8th grade. Medlock Park is home to a bustling playground and baseball fields and provides access to the PATH trails. Clyde Shepard Nature Preserve is a popular spot for birders and nature lovers.
Along and across Scott Boulevard are many newer condos, apartment homes, and a senior living facility. These areas house a population more diverse than our current membership and provide potential opportunities to engage. North DeKalb Mall is on the cusp of a massive redevelopment.
There is a wide range of big box, smaller franchises, and local businesses within 0.25-0.5 miles of the church. Patel Plaza is a popular retail development focused on “everything Indian.” Other nearby retail developments cater to the neighborhood and/or Emory University students. The 6-way intersection our church sits on remains a frightening space to navigate, especially on foot or bike, but thousands and thousands of vehicles pass by every single day.
We didn’t record information about the natural environment on our journeys, but we know that we are in the South Peachtree Creek watershed of the Chattahoochee River. What can we do to be stewards of a healthy watershed? We also know that climate change continues unabated. What is our responsibility to our community and to the earth itself to be stewards of this patch of creation?
How might NPDC engage with our most immediate neighbors?
How might we engage with nearby schools? institutions? hospitals? businesses? politicians? police? the water, the earth, the air?
What Are the Trends in Religious Congregations?
Religious congregations in America are experiencing changes in membership and participation. We are in a period that has been characterized as “the Great Unchurching.” Gallup Poll reported that 72% of Americans belonged to a church in 1970, in 2020 only 47% of Americans belonged to a church. In the greater Presbyterian Church USA, there has been a reduction in the number of congregations, and at the same time, a reduction in the number of total members in those congregations. Using total number of churches and total number of members reported to the Presbyterian Church, there were 156 members per church in 2016, 144 members per church in 2019, and 131 members per church in 2022. The trend in fewer churches and members has been occurring for decades and COVID may have accelerated a long-term trend. NDPC had 378 members in 1960, 550 members (our high) in 1970, 351 members in 2019, and 335 members in 2022.
NDPC has remained a vital congregation over the years, with our own high points and low points. What do you think we should prioritize in order to be vital in the future?
Congratulations! You made it to the end! That’s what we know about NDPC’s STATUS!
For some of you, these summaries are not enough and you want ALL of the data. Here is a link to a Google Drive with all of the data referenced above:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1b6rbXwIH9cSG_bnkQR0G04w2HU7ONQYm?usp=sharing
We’re excited to see you at one of the lunches. Stay tuned. Next week’s email will tell what we learned about NDPC’s STORY.
Comments? Questions? Insights. Email them to [email protected].
-VCI Team: Ariel Hart, Kip Duchon, Andrew Godfrey-Kittle, Ashley Pieper, Dee Raeside, Tim Merritt