The Old Testament includes many other examples of leaders and people of God sending teams out to gather and use intelligence, often to “spy out the land” before entering (see Numbers 13:17–26, Joshua 2:24, Judges 7:10–18 and Nehemiah 2:11–16, for instance).

Social research as we know it today is more sophisticated, but its purpose is often the same: to understand the times and know what to do. This isn’t just a biblical precedent, but a pressing need for the Church at large—and for your church, too—in an era in which people are drifting away from and questioning the relevance of faith.

Perhaps personal observations and intuition have served you well in some cases. However, relying on these alone means you can’t know about—or care about—the things you don’t see. Barna’s work, including ChurchPulse and the tools provided through State of the Church Interactive, can aid you in seeing the whole as you develop strategies, deliver sermons and disciple your congregation.

Think of this field guide like “Data-Informed Ministry 101”—a basic set of questions and recommendations from the Barna team for whenever you approach research. It includes tips for processing data as a team, communicating about it from the pulpit and leveraging your ChurchPulse and State of the Church Interactive resources to their fullest potential.

Data should matter to faith leaders because people matter. Through this lens, percentages become glimpses into the backgrounds, beliefs, challenges and hopes of individuals. They become tools to better understand the world around us and how your church and community exist within it.