The social analysis will be conducted at your present place of worship/congregation and serve as the starting data collection for your final paper. The paper will be 3-4 full pages in length. The paper will be written in paragraph form.

The following constitutes the questions your Initial Social Analysis paper should address:

• Demographic data
o Ethnicity
o Age groups
o Gender
o Marital status
o Socio-economic status
o Number of persons in congregation
• Religious Impact
o Primary or foundational theology (both what is said and un-said)
o Primary ministry focus (what is done the most by your group, i.e., some congregations focus more out evangelism, while others on teaching, etc.)
o Types of Symbolic religious expressions
o Types of Rituals
o What aspects bind these people together (in addition to their faith belief)
o What draws people to this congregation
o What turns people away from this congregation
• Context
o What is the geographic location of the congregation/group/church
o What is the make-up of the surrounding community
o How does the congregation/group/church interact with the larger community
• Organization
o How is the church organized
o What are the primary leadership styles
o Are there un-spoken/un-written expectations
o Are there leaders that are not in leadership positions
o What power struggles exist
o How does the internal and external communication function


It is understood that not all these questions will apply to every context. However, do you best to address the above in some way, shape or form. The expectation is that you derive this data from your own observations outside of direct conversations or interviews of others. This is an exercise to also tune your ear and eye to your context.

These solutions may offer step-by-step problem-solving explanations or good writing examples that include modern styles of formatting and construction of bibliographies out of text citations and references. Students may use these solutions for personal skill-building and practice. Unethical use is strictly forbidden.

The purpose of this paper is an initial social analysis of the congregation I attend. I will look at the basic demographic data of the church, analyze the religious aspect of its activities, and then compare the church against the geographic and demographic context of the larger surrounding community. Finally, I will describe its organization and leadership.

The church I attend belongs to the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. As it is known, this is the oldest African-American church in the world, so the members of the congregation are well aware and proud of their historical heritage. This is an entirely black congregation of about 150 members. All age groups are represented evenly, with a slight relative prevalence of senior citizens (65 years old and more). This age group comprises about 20% of the membership, which is a higher proportion than in the general populace.

As for the gender distribution, there is a strong prevalence of female members. The percentage of female members reaches 70%, which is much more than outside the congregation....