From Missional Context: Research for Missional Roles from the IICM Missional Suite

IICM Project	Sitescape Location Typology
IICM Processes	iDESIGN
Report Category	Community & Congregational Research
Data Type	Denominational statistics & trends, Demographics
Standard Report	Denominational area boundaries
Custom Report	Smaller regions or districts
Area Reports	State, County or combination
Key Feature	Analysis of church trends
Key Maps	Regional map
Page Length	Powerpoint - about 60 slides
Report Purpose	Missional strategy development
Report Usage	Denominational executives and pastors
Worksheets	Provided
Mentoring	Missional Coaches available
Onsite Training	Training available
Online Training	In development
Minimum Donation	3000+ churches=$6 each; 2000-2999=$7; 1500-1999=$9; 1000-1499=$10; 500-999=$12; 250-499=$13; 125-249=$14; 75-124=$16; 30-74=$20
Quantity Discount	25% Discounts for groups within a prior report (ex. SBC Associations within Conventions who have purchased)

The MissionCraft^TM report arose from the desire of Alabama Baptists to make a difference during the decade of 2010 to 2020. The Alabama State Board of Mission (ALSBOM) desired to develop a missional strategy that empowered their churches to reach both the current and future peoples of Alabama. In order to do so they needed to complete a missional analysis of the Alabama Baptist churches compared to their current and future communities. At their request, IICM has created the MissionCraft^TM report together with the Missional Insight Catalogue, and the MissionSite and MissionView reports in order to analyze both community and congregational data. Together, these documents provide a window into the future trends that impact a denominational group's missional strategy development. Other denominational groups may profit from the foresight of the leadership of ALSBOM by ordering their own customized reports as well.

Primary Missional Role Using this Report

The prophets of both the Old and New Testament assessed the current and future realities confronting the children of Israel and alerted the leaders and people. While the OT prophetic message was not always well received, the prophetic function of assessing current and future realities and alerting leadership continued into the days of the early church and beyond. The MissionCraft report facilitiates this vital prophetic role in our churches today -- assessing realities in the church and community and alerting leaders with information they need to make adjustments to their ministry and mission.

Research Question

The MissionCraft^TM report answers the following questions:

• What is the current and projected capacity of the existing churches to effectively evangelize their communities?

• How can this capacity be increased and which congregations have the most potential for increasing their evangelism capabilities?

• How many churches are currently growing, are plateaued or are in decline and what impact will this have on the denominational group collectively by 2020?

• What demographic changes are anticipated during the next decade?

• Which ethnic and social lifestyle groups are we currently reaching and which groups are we not reaching now and probably will not reach in the future?

• How do we develop a regionalized evangelism strategy in order to reach the unreached and under-reached peoples today and over the next decade?

Report Description

The MissionCraft^TM report addresses three main concerns: (1) the past, present, and future growth and decline of the existing churches as a means to focus revitalization efforts; (2) site locations for church planting based on the lack of active evangelical presence as a means of creating an intentional church planting strategy; and (3) an analysis of the missional capacity and context of the existing churches as a means of facilitating greater outreach efforts.

Report Objective

To assist demonational groups in understanding community and congregational trends in order to develop a more effective missional strategy.

Report Contents

The sample report below breaks the statewide information into the following regions and districts:

Northern Alabama -- the Mountain Region -- Districts 1, 2 and 10
North Central Alabama -- the Central Metro Region -- Districts 3, 9 and 11
South Central Alabama -- the Black Belt Region -- Districts 4,8 and 12
Southeastern Alabama -- the River Heritage Region -- Districts 5 and 6
Gulf Coast Alabama -- the Gulf Coast Region -- District 7

Report Worksheets

The worksheets provide a step-by-step procedure to understanding and responding to the report. They are used as part of the on-site training/debriefing that is available.

Report Training

A one day training event is available to facilitate denominational leaders and pastors in both understanding the data that is presented and in beginning to develop a missional framework.

Report Donation

Minimum donation required based on the number of churches in the denomionational group. The price includes: an analysis of the congregational statistics, and the development of the MissionCraft^TM report together with the Missional Insight Catalogue, and MissionSite reports for the top church planting locations. The MissionView report is also developed and made available to the churches at a discount.