Friday, March 30, 2012

Spreading the Presbylove

I'm afraid I've contracted a serious case of senioritis. I'm not sure there's a cure for this, other than finishing classes on May 4th.

I've been doing a lot of things other than homework these days. Read the Hunger Games. Knit cute baby clothes. And mapped out the church deserts in Austin, TX.

That last one is the result of what happens when a would-be cartographer/demographer goes to seminary.

Here's the PC(USA) church desert map I created:



View Presbyterian Churches in Austin in a larger map

Anyone else notice how dense the churches are in white west Austin? There appear to be a few PC(USA) deserts in East Austin, where there are more communities of people of color. The socio-economic level is also much lower on the east side of town.

My map is by no means scientific. I just put some blue shading in neighborhoods which have a high density of minority communities without a PC(USA) church.

The PC(USA) has more money per capita than any other denomination in the U.S. What if we used those resources to plant churches/community programs in neighborhoods that could use some Presbylove?

Now, who wants to convince the Presbytery to devote some funds for this church development plan?

2 comments:

Erin said...

If we start writing the proposal now, maybe we can get the money by the time I graduate and I can come join your effort!!! I love you, Bec!

Jane said...

OH, I thought you meant desserts. I got all excited thinking you had a map of where all the good desserts are. I envisioned a field trip to Austin just for desserts. I was packing my bags when I realized you meant places where there are no churches. Could we maybe combine the two? It would be sure to help attendance.