First things first: I first encountered Tom Bandy back when he and Bill Easum worked together on congregational growth. Since then, my clergy life moved from church leadership to the world of academia (and, still, church leadership), and I discovered that Dr. Bandy was not only a United Methodist Elder, but also a scholar who studies Paul Tillich. Subsequently, we have connected and become friends. Just wanted to offer that disclaimer.
Having noted all of that, See, Know, and Serve the People Within Your Reach is a core text that I use in seminary courses that I teach, and in my church consultations as well; in fact, I gift a copy of this book to each church I consult with (they also get a copy of his Worship Ways).
Over my years in ministry, one recurring theme is visible: churches often lose connection with their local communities as time passes. If the church does not keep up with the nature of the local community, it risks becoming less and less relevant. Understanding the nature of the changes, including the preferences of the people who move into the local area, is absolutely critical for creating and maintaining vital ministry.
Understanding the overall changes is made possible by online tools such as MissionInsite; actually doing something with the discoveries presented by those tools requires resources such as this book, which helps to tease out the deeper meaning of the data from the online resources. This book directly pairs with MissionInsite, and is key to understanding what the next steps are.
