Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

406 • P LANTING C HURCHES AMONG THE C ITY ’ S P OOR : V OLUME 1

II. Who Lives in Your Community? 1. How many people live within your target area? 2. What is the density of the population, i.e., its socioeconomic, racial, religious, cultural/ethnic, age, gender, educational distribution? 3. What are the differing cultures, races, nationalities, ethnicities represented in your community, and how are they distributed within it? What areas of the community do these differing people groups reside? 4. How long have the majority of residents lived in your community? 5. How fast are your community’s residents either moving in or exiting your area? 6. How large are the average family units, and what kind of families make up the majority of homes in the community (single parent, two parent, with or without children, etc.)? 7. What are the current birth and death rates for the community? 8. What are the current rates of divorce, legal separation, broken families, etc.? 9. What are the some the predominant kinship patterns in the community? 10. What percent of the population would be considered “alternative” or even considered as “deviant” by the majority culture’s standards (homosexual community, some particular minority community, etc.)? 11. Where did most of the residents come from (where did they live before they moved into the neighborhood)? 12. Where do most people who exit this community go? 13. How do the majority of residents view as their community’s strengths and/or weaknesses? 14. How cohesive and unified are the members of the community? III. What Is the Character of the Housing Within the Community? 1. What percentage of the families or individuals own or lease their home? 2. What do these homes cost and/or what is the average rental fee? 3. Who are the land and property owners for most of the community? 4. What is the general condition of the rental housing in the community?