SAVI Talks: Understanding Urban, Suburban, and Rural Contexts for Ministries
Our December 5 SAVI Talks presentation, Understanding Urban, Suburban, and Rural Contexts for Ministries, shared a number of interesting findings. The recent election demonstrated just how different rural, urban, and suburban environments are when it comes to voting. And these are not tiny differences. They are more like 60/40, 70/30, or even 80/20. Most of the racial and ethnic diversity in Indiana is in cities. This has changed over the past several decades for Latinos. There are still very few Black people living in rural Indiana. How congregations think about issues like race, sexuality, gender identity, guns, climate change, animal rights and many other things are rooted in their social environment. With more and more Hoosiers living in suburban areas, it is important to consider the ways faith congregations are adjusting and the implications for the larger communities of which they are a part. Join us for this webinar that explores the intersections of religion, place, and changes in society. The demographic trends by community type have wide applicability in other contexts as well.
Presenters included Art Farnsley and Jay Colbert. Art Farnsley, Research Professor at the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University Indianapolis has been involved in all of the Polis Center’s work on this topic. In this SAVI Talk, Art shared findings from his recent report on the similarities and differences among urban, suburban, and rural communities in Indiana. Farnsley is Director of the Congregations and Polarization Project. From 2007-2016, he was Executive Officer of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Farnsley writes about religion’s relationship to American culture, especially American politics, but he steers clear of the usual angles. For instance, his first book, Southern Baptist Politics, examined the influence of American political culture on that denomination’s internal affairs, not vice-versa. He has written about topics as diverse as religion’s influence in shaping an entire city and about the religious and political lives of flea market dealers.
Jay Colbert, Data Manager, The Polis Center, is an expert in data collection, transformation and analysis; management; matching and algorithmic deduplication; and automating processes. He has almost 20 years of experience analyzing and managing data for community initiatives, most notably the SAVI community information system, for which he also led public training workshops. Jay has provided technical support and strategic data consulting to a variety of community-based organizations (CBOs) in Central Indiana. He has led large and novel data integration efforts for Domestic Violence Network and Hear Indiana. Jay has worked at The Polis Center for 16 years full-time with a four-year hiatus during which he was a self-employed data expert specializing in eCommerce, data analysis, and geographic information systems. He has a B.S. degree in Aviation Technology from Purdue, an M.S. degree in Geographic Information Science from IUPUI, and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Applied Data Science at IUPUI.
Lizzy McGrevy, Community Engagement Health Specialist, WFYI Public Media, moderated the questions and answers portion after the presentation as well as led the panel discussion. She graduated with a Bachelors degree from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington. After graduating, Lizzy served a year as an AmeriCorps Vista in rural Illinois. Later, she worked for a problem-solving court in Marion County, Indiana, and as the outreach specialist with Indiana 211 – FSSA.
Janae Pitts-Murdock, Senior Pastor, Light of the World Christian Church, is a graduate of the University of Michigan- Ann Arbor with a B.A. degree in Communication Studies; Carnegie Mellon University with a M.S. degree in Public Policy & Management; of United Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree; and of University of Memphis with a M.B.A.. She was a civilian employed by the U.S. Department of the Army as a U.S. Presidential Management Intern and later as a Logistics Management Specialist. Pastor Janae is a member of numerous civic and service organizations including the National Council of Negro Women (Indianapolis Section), Jack and Jill of America, Inc., and board member of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society.
Brian K. Shobe, Pastor of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, has over 30 years of ministry leadership experience serving in the Indianapolis community. He has a B.A. degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia in communication and sociology. His theological training is from NBC Congress of Christian Education, Crossroads Bible College, and Faith University Seminary. Pastor Shobe is a community leader and advocate and serves on the board of Stop the Violence, Indianapolis, an organization dedicated to reducing violence in Indianapolis. He is also on the board of The Wellness Connection Inc., a faith-based organization dedicated to improving community health and reducing health disparities. Shiloh is a member of the Congregational Care Network with IU Health and serves on the IU Heath Equity Advisory Board. Additionally, Pastor Shobe serves on a Health Equity Board with Eskenazi Health.
Martin Wright, Director of Supervised Ministry, Christian Theological Seminary (CTS), has served as the Senior Minister of Ogilville Christian Church for the past twenty-seven years. The congregation hosts three worship services each weekend as well as many vibrant ministries. He also serves ministry students and congregations throughout Indiana and abroad in his CTS role.
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Understanding Urban, Suburban, and Rural Contexts for Ministries