Church Profile

The profile information below is the result of several meetings and questionnaires from the congregation. It is based on the "Calling an American Baptist Minister" guide.


Ministry Priorities
1st-- Strength in interpreting the faith

2nd-- Pastoral care

3rd-- Preaching

4th-- Spiritual life development

5th-- Interchurch cooperation

6th-- Conflict management

7th-- Visitations

8th-- I put two here Growth and Communications




The following are quotes from members of the congregation about what they hope for our future.



1. Youth ministry to bring in more people, involve youths in our congregational life, think of ways to get community involved

2. Evangelical for adults--put in some different types of gatherings so we can have fun together, more attractive to other adults, think of ways to get community involved

3. Fundraising think of ways to get community involved


4. Missionary


5. Music to share with others in our community 


Our Church Information (demographics)

Several church members were not comfortable sharing demographic information, so this information is incomplete. Our church is located in the center of a city with a population of 35,000. Church members live from less than one mile and more than ten miles from the church, and everywhere in between. We participate in most of the denominational events but in small numbers. Our racial/ethnic mix includes Afro Americans, Euro Americans, and Latinos. There are households with single parents, married with and without childern, divorced, and widowed. There are retired, unemployed, homemakers, part-time and full-time employed. They include clerical workers, health care workers, household workers, managers/executives, service workers, teachers and technical workers. Incomes vary widely and include everything from $0 to $90K and above in fairly even distribution.
We have a multi-board system, as you can see in the by-laws. There is a Church Council which has only recently gone back to work. This Council is representative of each Board and Committee. The other Boards include Deacons, Trustees, Education, Nominating and Missions (not fully functioning). We do not currently have a Pastoral Relations Committee. We have representatives to the Attleboro Area Council of Churches, Old Colony Association, and TABCOM.
Our current total budget is about $130K. The average annual income of church participants (based on who shared this information) is about $50K. The current expenses of the church are about $130K. The annual mission giving is about $11K. The current endowment is about $400K. Income from the endowment is used as follows: 39% maintenance, 46% operating expenses, 5% scholarships, 10% community outreach and AB missions.

Worship

 There are about 50 people in worship on a normal Sunday, but we have noticed an increase in visitors in the past few months. We currently have a traditional worship, including a lay leader for scripture reading, prayer concerns shared aloud, greeting one another, and reading church covenant only on Communion Sundays (first Sunday of month). Litanies and responsive readings are used, and we often follow the lectionary because our Sunday School curriculum follows it. Having said all of this, we are open to new ideas about worship, and realize that our current situation may not meet the needs of the entire congregation or best equip us for reaching out to the community as we want to. We would love to talk more about this during an interview.