Lesson Details
Part 4: Interviewing Community Leaders
Unit: Understanding Your Community
Category: Working with Jesus
In every group there are certain individuals who influence
the thinking of many others. In our congregation it may
be people who have been members for a long time and
know the history of the church. Or, it may be individuals
who are respected because of their occupation or education, or their contact with a significant number of other
members.
The same thing is true in our community. There are “influentials” or “thought leaders” who have a great deal of impact on the attitudes and opinions of local residents. These include elected officials and those who work in the
news media. Beyond those few are the relatively larger numbers of individuals who each influence a much smaller circle: The barber or hairdresser who chats with a number of
customers each day; the foreman or office manager who supervises a number of employees; the bank vice president who has lunch with two or three local business owners one
day and attends a civic club the next; the public school principal who has coffee with her teachers every morning and talks to parents several times a day, as well as meeting with a weekly PTA group. These individuals, particularly those who are long-time community residents, are all “influentials” and in a broader sense community leaders.
Other Lessons in this Unit
| Understanding Your Community | ||
| Part 1: What Kind of Community Are We In? |  | |
| Part 2: Demographics | | |
| Part 3: Religious Profile | | |
| Part 4: Interviewing Community Leaders (this lesson) | | |
| Part 5: Conducting a Needs Assessment | | |
| Part 6: Community Systems | | |