Science in Christian Perspective

 

 


Goal Setting in a Christian Congregation

THOMAS J. MANETSCH 
Department of Systems Science 
Michigan State University 
East Lansing, Michigan

From: JASA 30 (September): 1978.


Goal setting can contribute importantly to the carrying-out of God's purposes for our churches. Goal setting in the church is consistent scith Scripture if the goals (a) are directed at fulfilling God's purposes for his church and (b) are prayerfully developed in the light of divine wisdom and pertinent information from a number of sources. A number of principles are developed and discussed which can be helpful in formulating goals for a particular church which address the comprehensive array of purposes God has for his body. A practical approach to goal setting is discussed which involves: (a) study of various congregational needs, (b) study of various needs and characteristics of the church's neighborhood and community, (c) study of the membership and financial trends of the congregation, (d.) tentative draft of a goals statement by a broadly constituted goals committee, (e) intensive interaction with the church board and congregation and most importantly (f) extensive and specific prayer at each stage in the process.


In the secular world of business, industry, and government, goal setting has become an important tool in enhancing organization effectiveness. If properly used it can also he an exciting way of serving God
effectively in his church. A natural inclination is to take the secular methods and apply them directly to our Lord's work. This of course we cannot do as Christians if it means "locking God out" of key decisions which shape the directions we take as his people.

This paper seeks to present an approach to goal setting for the church which both makes use of modern tools and ideas and is consistent with our faith in a God who is a guiding and empowering Presence in our midst. While we do not directly touch on the important matter of goal setting for the individual Christian, a number of the principles discussed apply at a personal level as well.

The Biblical Basis

In the secular use of the term, a goal is an aim or objective intended to guide action toward a desired end. Interestingly enough, the Bible makes little or no mention of this concept. It is therefore important for us as Christians to harmonize this secular notion with our biblical theology before we accept it.

While the Bible has little or nothing to say about goals, it speaks at length about a closely related concept-wisdom. Wisdom is a special kind of knowledge that leads to "good" or "right" actions. Wisdom is therefore the "stuff" of which good goals are made. Therefore, to be on sound ground as Christians we must base our goal setting methodology upon biblical teachings on wisdom.

The Bible clearly speaks of two kinds of wisdom: human wisdom (James 3:15 and I Corinthians 1) which at its worst is rooted in selfish ambition, and Godly or divine wisdom (James 3:17, I Corinthians 2:7, I Corinthians 12:8). This latter wisdom, which is a gift from God (e.g. I Cor. 12:8) is the basis for goal setting in the church of Jesus Christ and the focus of our inquiry here.

The book of Proverbs is a rich source of practical teaching on wisdom but the theme runs through the New Testament as well. Proverbs 2:1-10 eloquently tells us that we must seek this wisdom and pray for it. Other relevant passages follow.

It you want favor with both God and man, and a reputation for good judgment and common sense, then trust the Lord completely; don't ever trust yourself. In everything you do put God first. And he will direct you and crown your efforts with success. Proverbs 3:5-6 (Living Bible)

A wise man's words express deep streams of thought. Proverbs 18:4 (Living Bible)

Don't go ahead with your plans without the advice of others. Proverbs 20:18 (Living Bible)

Get the facts at any price and hold on tightly to all the good sense you can get. Proverbs 28:23 (Living Bible)

Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully from keeping abreast of the facts. Proverbs 24:3,4 (Living Bible)

there is safety in many counselors. Proverbs 24:6 (Living Bible)

A sensible man watches for problems ahead and prepares to meet them. Proverbs 27:12 (Living Bible)

Paul prayed that the Colossians would be ". . . filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding; to lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work Colossians 1:9, 10 (RSV)

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it
will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea.
For that person must not suppose that a double minded man, unstable in all his ways will receive any
thing from the Lord. James 1:5-8 (RSV)

While these passages are by no means exhaustive, they give us useful guidelines for determining proper courses of action in our churches (determining goals that reflect God's will for us). We are told that divine not human wisdom is to be the basis for our service in Christ's name-we are to rely upon God to direct us. A paradox exists in that we are also told to think deep thoughts, plan carefully, gather facts, look ahead and seek counsel of others (fallible humans). The inconsistency is apparent not real, however, if the results of our human efforts lead to understanding of issues and the specification of alternative courses of action which we bring before God for illumination by divine wisdom. Finally, these passages offer us great hope and encouragement. God promises to give us the divine wisdom we need to do his work!

Thus we see that goals for the church result from a blending of human and divine activity under the sovereignity of God. In the next paragraphs we seek to determine the kinds of human activities that will bear fruit in this enterprise. In so doing it will be helpful to examine how, specifically, goals relate to God's purposes for his church.

The Nature of Goals and Their Role in Fulfilling God's Purposes

A church is part of a larger setting that we must consider when we seek to know what God wants us to do and how he wants us to do it, as indicated in Figure 1. This is a holistic or "systems" viewpoint6 which can be a helpful way of constructing a total picture of our mission as long as we subject it to the norms of Scripture.
By "our church" in Figure 1 we mean our people, staff, programs, activities and facilities as an integrated whole working towards God's purposes for us.


"Our neighborhood" includes the people to whom we are primarily called to minister spiritually and in other ways. It may include the people in the vicinity of the church building and people who live and work in proximity to our members. Most of the people we introduce to our Lord will come from "our neighborhood". In goal setting we must prayerfully determine precisely what "our neighborhood" is.
Our church is also called to serve "our world" (the world beyond our neighborhood) -but on a less personal basis than our neighborhood. Our support of world missions, world famine relief, United Good Neighbor, etc. are several examples of this wider ministry. The world influences our church in many ways and we must be prepared to deal with these as we plan and function as God's people. Some important examples are (1) the national economy as it affects the income and employment of our people and the prices of goods and services we need as individuals and as a church, (2) tax laws, (3) changes in values and attitudes in the population, and (4) social and economic change as they affect the movements of people.

Our church may also he related to a denomination and its regional bodies. We have some responsibilities to support these but they may also have important talents and resources we can draw on as we serve God. "Our world" also includes other Christian groups with whom we need to cooperate. These important external resources and responsibilities should be considered explicitly in goal setting.

Finally, our church is influenced by awesome spiritual forces. Not only does God provide the guiding wisdom for our work, he also provides, through other gifts, the power to carry out his work effectively. On the other hand, Scripture tells us (and most of us know from experience), that a cunning and powerful enemy is seeking to confuse us and turn us away from God's purposes. Since goal setting is our attempt to find the center of God's will for our church we can expect heavy attack from this enemy. It follows that goal setting must include a great deal of specific prayer at key points in the process.

In order to better understand the nature and role of goals, we take a closer look at a church as it functions within the whole described above. (See Figure 2). Think of this diagram as representing a church as it functions from week to week and month to mouth in carrying out God's work. The following points emerge from thinking along these lines:

1. A church develops ministries to carry out the purposes of God. Since God has given us a diversity of tasks we need a diversity of ministries in order to he faithful,
(a) Ministries to our neighborhood and the world include evangelism, ministries to the physical, social, and emotional needs of those around us, support of missions, denominational and regional bodies, etc., and others as appropriate.
(h) Ministries to ourselves include worship, nurture of new Christians, other Christian Education, leadership development, family life, meeting various physical, social, emotional needs, and others as appropriate.
2. Ministries are carried out formally by the programs and activities of the church and informally by people living the Christian life from day to day. Our programs and activities, in addition to directly carrying out ministries, can be means of equipping our people to carry out God's work on a day-to-day basis.
3. We have resources (time, talent, facilities, etc.) to allocate for the furthering of these ministries. These include internal resources from our own people and staff, and external resources from denomination, other Christian groups, etc.
4. Our goals define concrete steps that we choose to take in furthering our various ministries. (The furthering of a ministry may require that we pursue more than one goal simultaneously.)
5. Goals must be assigned priorities - all are not of equal importance. Some goals will take preecdenee over others.
6. To provide a basis for scheduling, goals should have at least a general time of completion as
signed to them; also, the completion of some goals logically precedes others. (Our scheduling must he open to modification, however-a servant and not a master.)
7. Taken together, decisions which define goals and specify priorities perform the important function of allocating resources to the ministries God has given us to undertake.
8. These decisions should be made periodically by comparing our performance in our various areas of ministry with God-given norms or standards. Goal setting is therefore an on-going process.
9. These important decisions are logically the responsibility of the staff and church board.
10. These decisions on goals and priorities involve difficult choices-we probably will find many more worthwhile things to do than can be accomplished simultaneously with available time and talent.
11. These decisions require much prayer and interaction among staff, board members, church committee chairmen, etc.
12. Good decisions on goals and priorities cannot be made without quality information regarding Scriptural norms, the various needs of our people for ministry, the talents of our people and their callings to various areas of ministry, the time, talent, and other resources available inside and outside the church, the various needs of people in "our neighborhood," specific opportunities for evangelism in "our neighborhood," the various needs of "our world," and important economic, social, political, etc. impacts of the world upon our church and neighborhood.
13. Finally, every church faces a number of institutional alternatives which include dissolution, relocation, merger with another congregation, changes in staff, changes in facilities, or to remain "as is" vis-a-vis these options. (Another objective of the goal setting process is to determine which of these alternatives God wills for us as a church.)

Some Basic Principles for Goal Setting

Extensions of the foregoing analysis and examination of some of the available literature3,4,7,8 lead to the following set of principles for goal setting.
1. God has purposes for his church. Our ministries to the world and ourselves are the means whereby we fulfill these purposes. Goals define the specific things we must do to carry out these ministries.
2. A goal is tangible and specific enough to pro
vide a basis for action. We should he able to determine whether or not a goal has been attained.
3. Since all tasks are not of equal immediate importance and since there is sometimes a logical time sequence in the way we implement goals, we must attach priorities to goals.
4. Implementing goals affects the future. We will have a different set of opportunities and problems facing us because we have taken overt action in implementing our goals. We can therefore shape the future in ways that are pleasing to God.

5. Because goals affect future opportunities and challenges and because we live in a rapidly changing world, goal setting must be an ongoing process through time-we must periodically establish new goals and, in some cases, modify and/or retire old ones.
6. The organizational structure of our church
should be set up to provide for periodic evaluation of progress in various areas of ministry and re-definition of goals for the immediate future.
7. We can't expect to "east long range goals in concrete". God promises us only enough light for the next few steps. This does not mean, however, that we don't do any long-run goal setting.
8. We are called to many ministries-evangelism, education, nurture, and meeting physical needs. Each of these ministries may require several goals for their implementation at any given time. It follows then that we as a church will have sets of goals serving our various areas of ministry.
9. To be operationally useful these sets of goals must be mutually consistent-that is they must not seriously work at cross-purposes.
10. In many cases we can and should develop our goal sets so they are mutually supportive. (i.e. a goal to provide spiritual nurture may enhance goals in evangelism, Christian education and family life.)
11. To be operationally useful, goals must be feasible. They must he attainable with available time, talent, and other resources. They must be consistent with the "nature of things", "where people are at", etc. (This is another important specific area for prayer in the goal setting process. With God's strength we can do some amazing things, but it is also easy to he unrealistic in our expectations.)
12. We shouldn't be surprised if we make some mistakes. This is another reason why we need to periodically review and update goals.
13. The alternative to completely avoiding mistakes is to remain immobile.
14. Goals for a church are, in part, an extension of goals of the people in the church.
15. It follows that the people of the church must be directly involved in the goal-selling process.
16. The goal setting process should be organized to provide for this involvement. (This can he done through appropriate questionnaires, congregational meetings and broad representation in the group responsible for drafting a goals statement.)
17. Goal setting also requires appropriate information describing the needs and challenges of our neighborhood and world. The goal setting process must be organized to define and acquire this needed information.
18. Goal setting is not an easy thing to do for a number of reasons. It may require us to give up some things that are safe and comfortable and venture in faith into what is untried and unknown. It is also very easy' to get lost in the forest. The need for dedication to follow where

While the Bible has little or nothing to say about goals, it speaks at length about a closely related concept-wisdom.


God leads is patently obvious. (It's particularly easy to get lost when that is what we really want!) Also the need for a broad undergirding in prayer cannot he overemphasized-particularly at the key decision points in the goal setting process. We ore engaged in spiritual warfare against "principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places".
19. However, we can trust that God is the victor in the spiritual battle and that if we are faithful He will guide us with his gift of wisdom and empower us to carry out his work!

How is Goal Setting Done?

We now present an approach to goal setting that is based upon the foregoing principles and discussion. This is more or less the approach that has been followed at the University Reformed Church at East Lansing, Michigan. (For more on practical aspects of goal setting see References 3 and 10.) While most of the work on this particular goals study was accomplished in a three month period from September to December 1975 due to unusual time constraints, the process may well take 6-12 months to accomplish under more normal conditions.

Major phases of the process as implemented are as follows:
1. A study to determine congregational needs for ministry, and needs for nurture to equip people in the congregation to play an active role in carrying out God's work.
A study of the characteristics of our church's neighborhood and community to determine such things as population trends, needs for social ministries and further opportunities for evangelism. A study of the congregation's membership and financial trends.
4. A tentative draft of the goals statement by a broadly constituted goals committee (based on the information acquired in 1, 2, and 3 above.)
5. Intensive interaction with the church board and chairmen of congregational committees to refine the tentative goals statement.
6. Review of the refined goals statement with the congregation asawhole and further refinement based on this interaction.
Significantly, the planning and execution of each of these phases was supported by the prayers of many people. Members of the goals committee kept individuals and groups in the church informed about the current prayer needs of various phases of the goals study. The goals statement that resulted from the six phases above is currently being implemented by the hoard, committees, and individual members of the church.

The Survey of Congregation Needs

The purposes of this survey were to determine specific needs within our congregation for ministry, and to determine specific areas in which we as individuals or as a congregation need help or nurture in order to he more effective in carrying out God's work in various areas of ministry.

A questionnaire was designed to provide this information by age, sex, and family status. Clearly a balanced questionnaire should address all the areas of human need God is interested in meeting through his church. (For every one of these needs there should be an area of ministry in Figure 2.) A list of these needs might include personal salvation, meaningful worship, spiritual growth, need for love and acceptance, various physical needs, need for development of gifts and talents, good interpersonal relationships, and sound and relevant Christian Education.

Similarly the questionnaire should also deal with specific areas in which people may need equipping
in order to serve others, such as training for sharing faith effectively, training for effective Christian Education (teacher training), training for effective parenting, training for Christian counseling, training for nurturing newer Christians, development of personal gifts, and help in determining Christian lifestyle in an era of crises.

The questionnaire included about 40 of these kinds of items and three open-ended questions designed to elicit suggestions on priority goals and programs. Our people responded to the questionnaire using a coded sheet that could be read by machine (except for the open-ended questions.) This permitted rapid tabulation by computer by various age/sex/family status categories at low cost. For us the total cost of forms and computer processing was less than $0.10 per person.

The Study of the Neighborhood and Community

The three main purposes of this study were (1) to determine further opportunities for evangelism, (2) to determine physical and social needs God would have us meet, and (3) to identify population and other trends that have significant impact upon the work of our church.

Since population and other trends often affect opportunities for evangelism and needs for other ministries, it is often wise to study this area first. U. S. Census data (1970), while somewhat dated, can provide much detailed information by census tract: populations by age and ethnic group, information on income and employment, etc.13 We found that city and regional planning agencies can provide valuable population projections which provide estimates of future populations by age categories. This information can be useful in indicating population age groups that may need more or less attention in the future. These same agencies may also be able to provide information on zoning, changing ethnic composition and other factors that may affect opportunities and needs for ministry. Members of the congregation should not be overlooked as sources of information. Other useful sources of information might include school districts and real estate agents.

Important sources of information on the physical and social needs of our neighborhood and community include the private and public agencies involved in

meeting these needs in the area. Some good questions to ask these agencies are: What is your agency doing? What are high priority needs that are not being adequately met? How can our church best help in meeting important needs? Again, people in the congregation are a good source of information. Other churches can also be a good source of information on unmet needs and possible ongoing programs which can be tied into. (In our church we have received much valuable information on potential social ministries from a nearby church which had a comprehensive social action program for a number of years.)

The information acquired above should prove useful in evaluating opportunities for evangelism. A detailed look into other evangelical Christian churches and organizations and their work in the area is a must. A key question here is: What groups are not being adequately reached with the gospel? (We found that a large group of young married students was in this category. This, in part, motivated a goal to expand our outreach to these people.) It is also important to ask ourselves what groups it is most natural for us to relate to in evangelism-we had a number of active young couples who could relate well to this inadequately evangelized group. Again, people in our own congregation can provide useful information based on their knowledge of the neighborhood and their neighborhood and work relationships.

Study of the Congregation's Membership and Financial Trends

Congregational statistics over a period of several years can provide useful information for goal setting. Several pieces of information can be particularly useful if plotted as graphs over a number of years. These include total baptized membership, total received on confession of faith per year, total new converts from outside the church per year, transfers in and out by letter per year, total communicant membership, total inactive membership, total baptisms and adult baptisms per year, Sunday School enrollment, total annual giving per year, and total giving to benevolences per year.
Graphs of membership-related quantities over time can help in quickly identifying trends we may want to counteract or further support. Graphs of total giving and benevolences can also be useful; however, we need to adjust congregational data to eliminate inflation effects that obscure the real picture. This can he done by multiplying annual data by the adjustment factors given in Table I.

Table 1
 Adjustment Factors for Removing Inflation Effects in Graphs of Congregational Giving

Year                          1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 (est.)
Adjustment factor"      1.00   0.96  0.91  0.86 0.82   0.80  0.75  0.68  0.62 0.59  0.55   0.51


This factor converts dollars for any given year into equivalent 1967 dollars. This is done by multiplying the financial data in any given year by the appropriate adjustment factor. If we graph all our annual giving in terms of 1967 dollars we see what's happening to the real buying power of our contributions from year to year.
Another item we haven't mentioned so far is the trend in age distribution of our congregation. It may he difficult to graph this exactly, but we should try to assess what's happening to our congregation. For example, Is the number of elderly increasing or decreasing? Is the number of children and teenagers increasing or decreasing?
With additional work we can get some projections of membership, giving, and anticipated expenses under several alternative outreach strategies we may wish to investigate. We did this and the results were useful in helping arrive at several key outreach and finance goals.

Tentative Draft of the Goals Statement

After the information from the prior phases has been acquired, disseminated, and prayerfully assimilated, important congregational goals should begin to come into locus. Our initial step was for a Goals Committee to develop a set of goal areas roughly corresponding to the areas of ministry in Figure 2. These were based on the information above. The Goals Committee then in a lengthy "brainstorming" session suggested specific goals for each of the goal areas. Again, many of these were suggested by information from the prior phases discussed. The finalized goal areas were spiritual life, community, outreach, Christian education, worship, family life, social ministries, finances, and miscellaneous.

The rough goals suggested by the brainstorming session were written up in more polished form by
members of the Goals Committee. This draft of the goals statement then became the basis for intensive interaction with the church board and chairmen of congregational committees. Three lengthy meetings were devoted to this process which resulted in further refinements and a (still tentative) draft to be reviewed with the congregation.

Interaction with Church Board and Congregation

This interaction is clearly of the highest importance. The goals statement of the church must represent the goals of the staff, hoard, and congregation and not just the goals of a few at the top. While it is important for a committee to provide leadership and lay groundwork, the board and congregation must be allowed freedom to mold and shape the goals as God leads them in light of available facts and information. In order for the board and congregation to play a meaningful role they must, of course, have pertinent information from the congregational study, neighborhood-community study, etc.

At East Lansing the congregation was directly involved in the goal setting process through the congregational survey and through representation on the goals committee. They were kept abreast of the progress of the goals study and were encouraged to pray specifically for the key steps in the process as they approached. Finally, the congregation reviewed the final draft of the goals statement prepared by the board and goals committee. At that meeting additional changes and refinements to the statement were suggested but, importantly, there was also a consensus that the goals statement represented, generally, God's direction for the church in the months and in some cases, years ahead.

More on the Writing of the Goals Statement

A few more words are in order on the actual drafting of a goals statement. As mentioned it is appropriate to write a set of goals for each of the areas of ministry central to the calling of the church. It is always a challenge to state goals explicitly enough to lead to meaningful action.

Mager in his readable book Goal Analysis5 provides a valuable guide to stating goals in a clear and workable form.
The establishment of priorities is valuable in providing guidance for implementation in the face of always present limitations of time and talent. A three level priority system is one possibility that has proven workable:

Priority A: Time, talent, and other resources will be made available to ensure goal attainment.
Priority B: These goals will be pursued as vigorously
as possible in light of available time, talent, and other resources. However, in some eases Priority B goals may require some minimum level of effort. They should also be periodically reviewed for possible re-classification.
Priority C: In light of higher priorities, these goals may receive little or no attention, Priority C goals should he periodically reviewed for possible upgrading to B or A.

Goals are of course dropped from the agenda when attained or no longer relevant. Factors to consider in assigning goal priorities are centrality to the ministry of the church, the logical need for some goals to be completed before others can be started, and resources available to attain particular goals.

Experience has shown that setting priorities is a very challenging task. After much discussion and prayer we found ourselves with more than 20 "A" priority goals. This seemed unrealistic but in the months since the drafting of the goals statement it has been exciting to see a number of groups and people in the congregation adopt various goals as their own and begin working toward their attainment. God's plan for us is comprehensive and we shouldn't be surprised when we find our goals statement challenging!

A final word: since periodic evaluation and updating of goals is necessary to remain open to God's continuing leading, one goal in the goals statement should provide for this. We established as a goal, "To review goals and priorities at least hi-annually to determine progress toward goals and appropriate adjustments in goals, priorities, and emphasis in attaining goals."

Conclusion

 Space does not permit us to pursue the next logical topic: implementation of goals in the church. While considerable work has been done in this area3,4,7-10 there appears to he need to consolidate and expand 
what has been done and make it available to more churches in usable form. This is particularly true in the case of helpful management techniques such as PERT3 and appropriate uses of modern computers.

There is much more to be said (and undoubtedly learned) about this subject. In retrospect, it would have been helpful for us to study available congregational and outside resources more intensively. It also would have been useful to have had more congregational involvement along the way. Further, there are particular classes of churches, for example those in rapidly changing neighborhoods, that present special challenges in goal setting.9 Goal setting can he an effective tool in our Lord's service and it behooves us to dig deeper and to share our insights and experiences widely. There is perhaps a need for more interaction among Christians who have common interests in developing and applying this means of service. This author is willing to act as a contact person for those who would like to explore this further.12

©1978


REFERENCES


1Lyle Schaller explores a number of these issues in The Local Church Looks to the Future, Abingdon, 1968.
2This form of the goals statement was adapted from one suggested by MARC/World Vision in their excellent Managing Your Time Seminar emphasizing goal setting and planning. 
3Dayton, Edward R., God's Purposes Man's Plans. A four part workbook and text on relating goals and planning and problem solving to God's purposes for man. A good guide to the use of PERT in implementing goals in the church. (MARC, 919 W. Huntington Drive, Monrovia, California 91016, 1971, 58 pp. $2.00 single copy.)
4Engsteom, Ted W. and Alec Mackenzie, Managing Your Time, Zondervan, 1967. A good guide for the layman or pastor interested in personal productivity. Strong emphasis on goals and priorities.
5Mager, Robert F., Cool Analysis, Fearon Publishers, Belmont, California. 1972. A helpful guide to writing clear and workable goals.
6Churcbmao, C. West, The Systems Approach, Dell, New York. 1968. Introduction to "the systems approach" as a comprehensive way of solving problems. Important insights for church leaders.
7Shaller, Lyle E., The Local Church Looks to the Future, Abingdon, 1968. A valuable resource for long range planning.
8Shallcr, Lyle E., Parish Planning, Abingdon, 1971. Many useful insights into how to get things done in the church.
9Ellison, Craig, (Ed.), The Urban Mission, Erdmans, 1974. Some ideas for the church facing rapid urban change.
10GED: A Handle for Planning Growth in Your Church," Goal-oriented Evangelism-in-Depth (GED), A ministry of In-Depth Evangelism Associates, 10871 Caribbean Blvd., Miami, Florida 33157.
11Thcse factors are derived from the consumer price index and are published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, "Survey of Current Business". The American Alumnac (latest edition) often lists the consumer price index also.
l2The author would also be happy to share upon request questionnaires and other material used in the particular goal setting application discussed here.
13A good source of census data particularly selected for use by churches in planning is available by census tract for nominal costs from: Census Access for Planning in the Church (CAPC), 7400 Augusta St., River Forest, III. 60305.