Americas Top 43 Ripest Towns for Church Planting

In my previous blog article I highlighted 9 statistics about Oneonta that attracted us to start a church here. Specifically, we were looking for a community that had all of these things going for it :

• A college town.
• Town growth (or the lack thereof).
• Percentage of population with degrees.
• Poverty levels.
• Church-to-people ratio.
• Percentage of people unaffiliated with any religion.
• Percentage of people who live/work in the community.
• Percentage of people who commute to the community. 
• Town size.

We exhaustively compared these statistics to every college town in the lower 48 states. This helped us to locate a community that we felt would most benefit from a new church like the one we were envisioning.

Objectively Ranking America's College Towns

Methodology: For every one of these 9 categories we assigned a maximum value of 10 (90 points max). We then ranked each statistic from 1-10, in accordance with the national average. Next, we totaled the values of all 9 statistics and divided the sum by the maximum score (90), in order to arrive at a percentage/score for the town. This allowed us to rank and compare prospective church planting communities by percentages, with the higher the percentage equating to the greater the need the community has for a new church like The Redemption Movement.

It was a very revealing study that highlighted the need for church planting in America. To narrow down our search, we came up with a list of every town that scored more than 60%, which produced this list of the top 43 ripest college communities for church planting, 2009:        

1. Hanover, NH.................pop. 8,532...........86.9%
2. Boulder, CO...................pop. 93,552........78.7%
3. Middlebury, VT............pop. 6,380...........78.4%
4. Laramie, WY.................pop. 27,469..........75.3%
5. Oneonta, NY...........pop. 13,225..........74.9%
5. Macomb, IL...................pop. 18,701.............-
5. Iowa City, IA.................pop. 67,062.............-
8. Ann Arbor, MI..............pop. 115,092........74%
9. Missoula, MT................pop. 67,165...........73.5%
10. Oxford, OH..................pop. 22,210..........72.6%
11. Corvallis, OR................pop. 51,125...........71%
12. Carbondale, IL............pop. 20,413...........69.9%
13. Fairfield, IA.................pop. 9,163.............69.6%
14. Lamoni, IA...................pop. 2,420............69.4%
15. Mansfield, PA..............pop. 3,223.............69%
16. Glenville, WV...............pop. 1,465.............68.8%
17. San Francisco, CA........pop. 764,976.........66.9%
17. Lawrence, KS...............pop. 89,852...............-
19. Keene, NH....................pop. 22,893...........66.8%
19. Ithaca, NY....................pop. 29,974................-
21. Manhattan, KS.............pop. 51,707...........65.9%
22. Bar Harbor, ME...........pop. 2,752..............65.7%
23. Columbia, MO..............pop. 99,174............65.3%
24. San Luis Obispo, CA....pop. 43,516...........64.9%
25. Big Rapids, MI.............pop. 10,596...........64.7%
25. Houghton, MI..............pop. 6,924.................-
27. Brattleboro, VT...........pop. 8,160..............64.6%
28. Terre Haute, IN..........pop. 58,932............63.7%
28. Chadron, NE................pop. 5,489..................-
30. Ames, IA......................pop. 54,745............63.4%
30. Bangor, ME..................pop. 31,853.................-
32. Duluth, MN..................pop. 84,397............63.2%
33. Farmington, ME..........pop. 4,159..............63.1%
34. Auburn, AL..................pop. 54,348............62.4%
34. Portland, ME............... pop. 62,825................-
36. Bozeman, MT..............pop. 37,981.............62.1%
37. Prairie View, TX..........pop. 4,513..............61.9%
38. Charleston, IL..............pop. 20,296...........61.3%
39. Spokane, WA...............pop. 200,975.........60.4%
40. Muncie, IN.................. pop. 65,410...........60.1%
40. Kirksville, MO..............pop. 17,139................-
40. Lebanon, NH................pop. 12,729................-
43. Urbana, IL....................pop. 39,484........... 60%

Subjectively Singling Out Our Destination

You will notice that Oneonta is tied for 5th at 74.9%. Choosing Oneonta was a subjective choice made by considering objective data. With Oneonta ranked fifth, this list of 43 may appear deceiving, but for us, choosing a community that scored strongly in all 9 categories was more important than the town's total score. For example, a town could rank highly despite not scoring in all 9 of the required categories. Safe to say, Oneonta scored highly in all 9 categories.

The benefit of having a list like this is that it helped narrow down the subjective search of studying the community's culture for the purpose of finding a city that would be a good fit for our church--a process that would have been impossible to do for every college town in America. For this subjective look at our potential community, we asked questions like:

• Is there already a church in the community doing what we want to do? 
• How many new churches are in the community? 
• Could we effectively minister to the community's culture?
• Would we enjoy living there?
• And of course, finding that "special something."  

Notice that this whole process was guided by the desire to start a new church based on a community's need for a new church, as opposed to looking for a community where a new church is in high demand. This need-based approach to church planting has proven to be one of the biggest challenges for our church plant. 

At the end of such an extensive research project, we prayerfully ended up in Oneonta. If we didn't do this project, we wouldn't have moved here, seeing that we previously had never heard of Oneonta. Also, unlike other "ripest cities for church planting lists" that used different criteria (and never listed Oneonta), our research allowed us to apply different criteria based on our unique calling, passions, and giftings. 

In July of 2009 we moved to Oneonta, New York to plant The Redemption Movement, and the rest is history. If you're a church planter looking for a community to start a new church in, feel free to contact Pastor Kaler for assistance with drafting a similar model for your own ministry.

Why Oneonta New York?

My wife and I moving to New York will be a total change for us, especially because we will not know anybody who lives in Oneonta. This begs the question, why did I pick Oneonta New York to start a church? What makes this small community of 15,000 people so special?
For almost 2 years now I have been called to church plant but did not have a location. During this time I have worked to save money to church plant, and researched where and how to plant. At first I looked locally, but not finding what I was looking for I broadened my search to include the entire mainland United States. My search was intense, and I believe God led my search, I also believe God leads different people in different ways. Maybe for some pastors they can pray and hear the voice of God say, "Move here." But it didn't work that way for me. The Lord chose to lead me by placeing values on my heart that pointed me into the direction of researching these values in order to find a specific community. This was mainly done through researching city statistics. Statistics tell important facts and clues about what a community is like, and I recognize that different communities produce different types of churches. Knowing this, I asked the Lord what city statistics and cultural values to look for so that the new church can make the strongest impact possible for the Gospel.

1. College Town

• Colleges produce leaders, “reach the university, reach the world (Chi Alpha mission statement)”

• College students want to make a difference, and are willing to volunteer. A church that does heavy outreach ministry will connect with this young crowd.

• College towns are made up of educated people with critical thinking skills. I believe this group to be attracted to exegetical/seeker-sensitive preaching.

• Young college communities are generally more open to new out-side-the-box ministry ideas that church plants are known for.

Colleges in Oneonta:

• 2 Colleges: SUNY College: public college, 5333 students, and Hartwick College: private college, 1170 students.

• 1/3 of population has a bachelor's degree.

2. Poverty

• A community with physical needs is ripe for outreach. Asthe apostle Paul said, "I am eager to help the poor," and I generally believe those who are impoverished to be more open to the Gospel.

Poverty in Oneonta:

• 30.3% of residents had an income below the poverty level in 2007. That is more than twice the state avg.

• 17.4% of residents had an income below 50% of the poverty level in 2007. Also more than twice the state average.

3. Community Growth: Stagnant or in Decline

• Similar idea behind poverty. I believe a town that lacks new commerce and growth may not be as positive about the future as a fast growing community and would appreciate a new positive church preaching the hope of Christ.
  

• Towns in decline do not typically attract new churches. A new church would be big news.

Town Growth for Oneonta:

• Population change -0.4% since 2000.

• An average of 16 building permits are issued per year. For a town of of 16,000+.

4. Unchurched People

• My biggest target group are those who are unaffiliated with any religion.

Unchurched in Oneonta:

• 61.1% of people in the county are unaffiliated with any religion, this number is most likely higher in the main town of Oneonta. This percentage is significantly higher than most counties in the U.S.
  

• The 2009 American Religious Identification Survey recognizes the Northeast as the most irreligious part of the country.

*This desk was "Church Planting Headquarters." Discerning God's will on where to start a new church: it took me over 3 months to compile and assess approximately 500 pages of research. The project was fueled by gallons of Mountain Dew and required 6 seasons of "Stargate SG-1" playing in the background to keep me company. And I looked at enough church websites across the nation that they all began to look alike. Of course, prayer was also very much involved.

5. Church-to-People Ratio

• This contributes directly to the unchurched percentage. The higher saturation of churches in a community, makes the element of church competition stronger. I desire a ministry that minimizes the need to compete with neighboring churches, and instead, has a greater freedom to stay on mission and do what's important.

Oneonta Churches:

• There are around 17* Christian churches in a town of 16,000+. That is almost 1 church per 1000 people. Compared to national averages, this ratio is significantly high. For example, in Missouri, where I am from, almost every town has 1 church per 200-500 people.

*Update 6-6-09: The number of churches within city limits varies with different websites and sources. Some sites have the number as low as 12, I've heard other reports saying it is as high as 33. And it is hard to determine the doctrine and mission of the church based solely off the church name. But the point of this statistic is the "Church-to-people" ratio, which is still considerably lower than the rest of the nation. Here are some sites listing the different churches in Oneonta:
Church Angel National Church Directory (12 Churches, 9 Protestant)
Sweet Home Oneonta Houses of Worship (23 Churches, 17 Protestant)
Daily Star White Pages (26 Churches, 16 Protestant)

6. Ministeries offered by Churches

• There are some very specific ministeries I envision this new church doing. It does not make sense to plop a specific style/type of church next to an existing church that is already doing the things the new church plans to do.

Churches in Oneonta:

• After reviewing the churches websites of Oneonta, I came to the conclusion that there are good churches in the town, but they are not doing some of the ministeries I would like to do (this goes back to lowering the element of church competition.)

7. Lack of New Churches

• Every church planting organization has produced statistics that show dozens of benefits a new church can bring to a community, and the effectiveness of new churches reaching new people. Click here to find out more.
  

New Churches in Oneonta:

• *I've heard there have been 3 recent attempts at church planting in Oneonta, and none are around today. This tells me planting a new church in Oneonta will be hard, but I also feel it is needed. Please feel free to contact me with more information about new churches in Oneonta.
  

*Update 6-6-09

8. Geographical Influence

• The type of ministry that I want to do, is most effective within a close-knit community.

• I believe that the higher percentage of people that live and work in a town, the more responsive the town will be to a church dedicated to helping the community.

• I would also like to be a part of a church that plants new churches in the surrounding area. I believe a church that is headquartered in the most influential town in the county, has a responsibility to minister to the surrounding smaller communities.
  

Oneontas' Influence:

• 70.6% of the people that live in Oneonta also work in Oneonta. This number is significantly high, especially for the New York.

• The town population increases by +34.2% every day with commuting traffic, making Oneonta very influential for the area.

9. Town size

• I have a town size that I am personally comfortable with, and Oneonta fits that range. I would prefer a town that is big enough that you don't have to send talented young people away to have a good future. And small enough to have that close-knit small community feel to it. I am rural at heart and not a fan of the suburbs or the big city.

Oneonta Population:

• Town population is 13,225, add the dorm residents and the population is 16,761. And over 61,000 people live in the county.

This is a very brief overview of the reasons we are moving to Oneonta New York to start a church. I could write tons more about all this, but I understand blogs are supposed to be rather short. Some of these statistics are objective, and some are subjective, and some are more clear than others. But what makes Oneonta rise above all other towns in this search, is it ranked very high in all 10 of these catigories, something no other town in America pulled off. Go Oneonta!

Pastors Blog: Stardate 2009

It is hard to believe that Laura and I are actually doing it, we have committed ourselves to moving to Oneonta New York and starting a new church! Doing a church plant feels like a big/scary/exciting (take every emotion and put it in a blender) adventure, especially when we are rookies at this sort of thing, but I know this gut-wrentching conquest is actually the typical experience from following the adventureus Lord of Creation.

As we all know, every good adventure has a logbook, and just like Captain Kirk, I too feel compelled to chronicle my findings and happenings as I encounter new life, but unlike Kirk I will be reporting all this to you, not the Star Fleet Federation; although, if the Federation wishes to help fund this church plant I do accept Federation credits.
On a serious note, I desire this blog to serve as a communication tool to help the new church plant. Here are a few purposes I see with the blog.

1. Church History: this blog will be a step-by-step record of how a new church started. And what a valuable resource this will be for church members to look back on and read. I also hope it might inspire others to church plant and learn from the early successes and failures of the Oneonta church.
2. Missionary Newsletter: for all practical definitions of the word, Laura and I definitly feel like we are doing the work of missionaries. I grew up in churches that finically supported foriegn missionaries, and they always sent the church newletters of their progress. I hope this blog can be accessible to our friends and loved ones who care about my wife and I. May this blog act as a virtual newsletter for us to communicate our progress and share our needs.
3. Valuable Feedback: I welcome all feedback from all peoples. If you have some solid advice or you see something I do not, please post a comment and share with me your thoughts. I have some big descions to make coming up, and I would like my descions to be highly informed and smart sounding.

Also, I am thrilled to finally have something worth blogging about! For years I have wanted to sign up for a blog, but until now I felt I never did anything big enough with my life worth sharing with the world. It would have read something like this: Today, I played Nintendo, worked at Wal-Mart, went to church, and now I am going to ramble a few pages about politics...I think the interent has plenty of these blogs.
I will try to stay current with this thing, and I pray some good will come out of it and I hope it is not a time-waster. Please, feel free to contact me, and thank you for adventureing with me on the first steps of this incredible God journey.