I love the stats.

I have a feeling that I have been slightly depressed for most of winter from January on. Lately, I seem to have a lot more energy to get things done. I have been working on a research paper looking at stats in North York and getting tons of ideas and I still have energy left to do other things. I don't seem to need the same number of naps either.

I love looking at stats and trying to make sense of them. The area around the church is very interesting in just how boring the stats are. We have a low teen pregnancy rate, lower obesity rate, smoking rate and less poverty then other areas just south and west of the church and when compared to the Toronto average. The rate of getting flu shots and vaccines and screening tests is higher than the Toronto average as well. Some of this has to be due to the higher income levels but even so I am surprised that the few area around us is so different then to the east or the south. Also, and this was really surprising,we have a higher number of youth 15-24 then compared to the Toronto average. Yet for years the church has said that there are no young people here because it is too expensive. The only areas that seem to stand out is a slightly higher average of mental health visits and a much higher incidence of heart problems. Perhaps the stress of trying to be too happy!?

Its going to be interesting to try to figure out what this means as a church. For one thing we can't ignore that the idea of serving the community through giving handouts is not going to be effective for the average person. As my prof explained to me, the people in this area can afford to buy what they need - including English classes. Instead our rather traditional churches in the area may just have to actually engage in a postmodern world where the church's role as soup kitchens and food banks no longer engages the majority of those we are meant to serve.

I did some canvassing for the Cancer Society in the neighbourhood and found that during the day and on Saturday mornings the place is a ghost town with the exception of a few grandparents caring for pre-school children. Evenings is when the community are actually at home. How do you create a sense of neighbourhood when everyone has communities outside of their street - schools, work, shopping, activities at clubs?

I am at a complete loss - maybe because I was never interested in my community myself - I don't know my neighbours and make connections in other places. I'm going to have to do a lot of praying and thinking about this.