You can’t understand the significance of many of the things Jesus did until you comprehend the demographic barriers he crossed. Part of the science and art of Bible interpretation (hermeneutics) is based on understanding the demographics of the times when people in the Bible lived.
For example, the story of the Woman at the Well (John 4:1-26) or the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) won’t make much sense to you until you know the implications of who the people are in the story. That is, until you understand their demographics.
You need to know, these were Samaritans and the Jewish people in those days didn’t get along with Samaritans. For Jesus to make the Samaritan the hero in a story he told to Jews was scandalous. For Jesus to be talking to a woman, let alone a Samaritan woman, was very a very radical thing for a Jewish Rabbi to do.
There is usually no need to explain the demographics of these Bible stories to ministers, since many of them are more familiar with the demographics of first century Palestine, than they are of their own town. If knowing about the demographics of the people and places of the biblical world are important for exegesis of the Bible, then understanding the demographics of your present-day community will make making applications of scripture in sermons and other communications powerful too.
Demographics: “What Would Jesus Do?”
Jesus (and the Apostles) did let demographics inform the way they communicated. We know what Jesus said to the people in the Bible, but have you taken the time to consider the Bible gives much of their demographic context as well?
- Rich Young Ruler (Matt 19:16-30) male, Jewish, young, upper income, professional
- Samaritan Woman (John 4:1-26) female, divorced, Samaritan
- Widow in the Temple (Luke 21) female, older, single, poverty level income
- The Syrophoenician Woman (Mark 7:24-30): female, Greek, immigrant
- The Good Samarian (Luke 10:25-37) male, Samaritan, good (I couldn’t resist. :))
- Nicodemus: (John 3: 1-21) male, Jewish, highly educated, community and religious leader
Of course Jesus and the Apostles didn’t do demographic research to conduct their outreach communications. But neither did they have television, radio, newspapers, internet, direct mail, newspaper, outdoor, telephone and other forms of media. You can’t effectively use media channels without understanding demographics.
You can use demographics to understand people too!
Factors such as age, sex, family size, occupation, income, education, religion, race, nationality, etc. directly impact how we communicate in ministry. Take some time pouring through the data and glean as much helpful ministry information as you can from demographics.
- What is the median age? Don’t stop there! Learn more about the age groups. What is the size of the largest population segments? (Or the segment your ministry targets, i.e. preschoolers, youth, senior adults, etc)
- How many people typically live in each home? Are they married with children, or singles living in apartments?
- What is the marital status?
- What is the education level of the people in your community? Many church leaders are far more bookish than the people they want to reach. How could that impact how you teach?
- What is the population distribution by income? Is your church in the Blue Collar part of town?
- What are the main occupations of the people in your town? You may find a ministry idea or two from knowing where people spend their working hours.
- Where do various ethnic groups tend to live? You may find an unreached people group in your own backyard. We spend a lot of money sending missionaries to the other side of the world to reach them, maybe your church needs to adopt a missionary mind-set and set out to reach the ones who have come to your city.
Does Using Demographics Make You Feel “Secular?”
I understand the trepidation of some about using what appears to be worldly means to accomplish heavenly objectives. Most objections to using demographics are not based on teachings from the Bible, but from biases against using research in ministry. They think that no spiritual good can come from anything that involves spreadsheets, I guess. I believe in heaven there will be no spreadsheets or PowerPoints! Yeah! But on earth… God is not going to smite you for learning as much as they can about people.
Demographics: Use Responsibly
Using demography is not putting people in boxes as some object either. Demography is morally neutral; it is how it is used that can become evil. So if a person is a prejudiced person who tends to marginalize and stereotype people who are not like them, they are likely to use demographics that way too. But since we are not talking about people who will misuse demographics–we are talking abut you– there is no need for you to fear handling demographics in your ministry will get out of control.
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