Our Field of Ministry: Demographics of Christ Covenant's Target Area

In June of 2009, Christ Covenant commissioned a demographic study of our target area by the Percept Group - a demographic study organization specializing in information for Christian ministries.


Percept prepared a report focused on the people living in a 5-mile radius of Salem Elementary School - 4501 Jackson Rd. - where we meet on Sunday mornings for worship.  It is a large report, full of numbers, graphs and comparisons.  Lots of interesting things to think about and ponder.

Some of the observations are pretty obvious.  No one would be surprised that the number of workers in this target area whose travel time to work is between 60 and 90 minutes is 2.5 times the national average.  Or that there is 4,852 people in this category.

There are some other observations that are just as obvious, but that have more impact of ministry decisions.  For instance, out of six nationwide population groupings used by Percept, the top group in our area was "Middle American families" - comprising 58% of the population, 1.8 times the national average.

Of particular interest to me were their findings regarding "U.S. Lifestyles Segments" in our area.  Overall, this is a sophisticated, research based collection of 50 different groupings of people across the United States developed and used by a number of demographic organizations, including Precept.

Drilling down to look at the top 5 "U.S. Lifestyles Segments" in our area, Percept identified:
(Click on the link for a 5 paragraph description of characteristics of each segment.)

Suburban Mid-Life Families

7,595 Households representing 20% of area 3.6 X the national average 

Young Suburban Families

6,853 Households representing 18% of area – 6X the national average

Established Country Families

4,732 Households representing 12.5% of area – 2 X the national average

Prosperous New Country Families

3,922 Households representing 10.2% of area – 4.8 X the national average

New Beginning Urbanites

3,193 Households representing 8.3% of area – 3X the national average

As the school board planners will confirm: lots of different sorts of families.

This is important for a missional church like Christ Covenant to know.  We believe that the Father has placed us here in Spotsylvania County for more than ourselves.  We believe that He has placed us here "to see Jesus transforming people through grace and truth into Christ-like relationships that sow His love throughout our communities."  (Click here for a full statement of Vision, Mission and Values of Christ Covenant.)  Pursuing that vision in this location will necessarily mean ministering to families of several different characteristics.  Jesus spoke of "fields ready for harvest."  It is helpful to know whether the particular field we are called to labor in is corn, apples or peanuts, to carry on the metaphor.  You do the work of harvest with different tools.

Certainly, we are willing to share the Gospel of Grace with everyone who is near.  This Precept report gives us a sense of just what sort of people they are most likely to be.