The Twenty Steps: Exegeting a City

As I continue to work through Dr. Glenn Smith's "Urban Mission Methodology" he has given me much to consider, mull over, process, and figure out. At the tale end of his paper he leaves the reader with what I call a "walk-off homerun." The paper was already chalked full of thick insightful information in understanding the urban context and then he transitions into a practical application of how to exegete one's city / neighbourhood. For sake of length I will condense the twenty steps into bullet points:

1. Compile a list of significant historical events that inform the city's identity.
2. Understand clearly the sections or zones that make up the city: (downtown, ghettos, etc)
3. Study the neighbourhoods: their ethnic, social and economic composition, religious affiliations, occupational patterns, younger and older populations, concentrations of the elderly, young professionals, singles, problem groups, to understand a neighbourhood you must walk the streets, talk to people, insiders and outsiders.
4. Determine and analyze the power centres in the city - the political figures, the police department, business leaders and the Chamber of Commerce, religious leaders.
5. Analyze the felt needs of specific people groups within the city.
6. Examine the traffic flow of the city.
7. Seek to discover how news and opinion spread in the city, and in particular groups.
8. Examine the relationship between city-dwellers and the rural, small-town communities outside the city.
9. Ministries and churches in the city - locate them on a map; identify them by denomination, size and age.
10. Analyze the various types of existing churches.
11. Find out the growth patterns of the various churches - attendance, membership, and rate of growth.
12. Inquire about church planting and church closures in the past several years.
13. Who is planning to start new churches? Where and among which people groups? Find out all you can from church and mission sources as to what is being planned for the city.
14. Strategies - what has been tried in the past, what has failed, and what was effective in starting churches and stimulating growth?
15. Christians and non-Christians - where are the Christians located (which may not be where they attend church)? Identify areas of the city where relatively few Christians live.
16. Identify Christians in positions of influence in the city - in business, politics, the media, education, entertainment, and sports.
17. List and analyze the para-church ministries operating in and to the city. How might each contribute something to the overall strategy?
18. Make an inventory of all possible personnel resources that might be tapped for the carrying out of your church planting strategy.
19. Evaluate all known methods for planting churches in light of what you know about this city, its history, people, existing churches, and particular characteristics.
20. List and evaluate the community agencies (private, religious and civic) that are designed to meet particular needs (literacy, overnight shelter, emergency food and clothing, etc.) and consider how their help can be incorporated into your overall strategy.

Hope this is helpful to you like it is for me.