Listening to our neighbors

For this exercise, you are encouraged to enlist the help of other members of your congregation to talk with people in your community using the Quality of Life survey that Iowa State University has used to collect their data in the Shrink Smart Initiative and the Small Town Project.

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When you have completed the survey with them, you could ask:

What recommendations would you have for our local church regarding how to better connect with community residents and participate in constructive ways to contribute to the quality of life in our town?

Steps - Brainstorm who to enlist to help your team and ask them to identify 2-5 people who live in the community they would be willing to share the survey and talk with.

When you have completed the surveys, discuss the results with your team and your regional missioner.

What do you notice? What sticks out to you?

What are you curious about? Is there an experiment you would like to try to dig deeper?

Meg WagnerFebruary 4, 2026