Title

A Feasibility Study for Starting a New Church in the Community of Cannon Falls, Minnesota

Author

Susan Aldorfer, Concordia University, St. Paul

Date

1990

Document Type

Capstone

Degree

Bachelor of Arts

Project Coordinator (Advisor 1)

Nancy Bryant

Abstract

Cannon Falls was identified by the Minnesota Baptist Conference as a community that may be ready to support a new church. The researcher is a member of Emmaus Baptist Church in Northfield, a neighboring community 13 miles away. At the time of this writing, eight families from the Cannon Falls community attended Emmaus in Northfield. In addition, three other cannon Falls families attended Minnesota Baptist Conference churches located in other communities.

The first objective of this project was to determine the need for a new church. The number of people in the community who could not be effectively reached by existing churches was determined by subtracting the outreach potential of existing community churches from the population of the community.

The second objective of this project was to determine community interest in fanning a new church. This was accomplished through interviews with Cannon Falls area residents who commuted to outside communities to participate in church life. In addition, community residents were randomly surveyed to determine interest in a new church.

The researcher used four data collection methods to meet the objectives. They included a questionnaire sent to each of the 15 existing community churches to determine outreach potential; interviews with the cannon Falls City Clerk, Postmaster and Chamber of Commerce Manager to determine an accurate community population figure; personal interviews with Cannon Falls residents likely to be among a necessary core group of families to start a church; and a random telephone survey to 33 Cannon Falls area residents seeking interest in a new church and perceptions of what needs a new church would be expected to meet.

The data collected did not support the hypothesis that there was a need for a new church in Cannon Falls. The data also did not support a second hypothesis regarding the capacity to support a new church in Cannon Falls.

Based on the analysis of the results of this project, the researcher recommended that the Minnesota Baptist Conference not initiate a new church in Cannon Falls.

Comments

Concordia School of Accelerated Learning

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