Ministry to the family is regarded as a priority by Sydney’s clergy and parishes. Yet I wonder how many truly understand the layers of family groups that live in the suburbs and towns of the Diocese. Consider these facts:
- 40% of the families in Claymore, Airds and Parklea are one-parent families, and the suburbs Waterloo and Daceyville also have a high percentage of those families.
- DINKS (double income, no kids) families live in high concentrations within a five mile radius of the city centre, but are also to be found in Homebush Bay, Newington, around Macquarie University, in Hornsby and Belrose, Narrabeen, Harbord, Manly, Bondi, Coogee, Cronulla and Sutherland.
Late in October, the Australian Bureau of Statistics published results of the 2001 Census in Sydney…A Social Atlas. Helpfully laying-out the dry statistics as maps, it retails for $75 from the ABS bookshop in St Andrews House. With its release, one may well ask if parishes in the diocese have ministry strategies in place that reflect the reality of life for families in their area.
The science of demography is an invaluable resource to the community. Obviously, this type of research will also prove invaluable for those who are committed to the diocesan mission to see at least 10% of the people of this community in Bible-based churches within the next decade.
For it will tell us just who our audience is, and what tailoring will be needed to ensure that we do reach the particular local audience we seek to reach with the gospel message of the good news to be found in Jesus Christ.
The Social Atlas is crowded with practical and useful information. Almost immediately readers will note the challenges it offers to some of our diocesan planning.
Consider where our indigenous congregations are located – Tregear, Redfern and the new Minto plant. But where are the major populations of indigenous persons according to the 2001 Census? La Perouse and Phillip Bay, to the south of the city, and Waterloo. ‘High percentages of Indigenous Australians were also noted’ in the Blacktown area, Airds and Claymore in the outer south-west, and Newington in the inner-west.
Our diocesan indigenous work is fairly spot on. Yet we can ask ‘How is the South Sydney region catering for La Perouse and Phillip Bay, the major areas of indigenous population?’
The November issue of Southern Cross indicated where the eighteen Chinese congregations of this diocese were located. The Social Atlas tells us that more than 180,000 people in Sydney were born in South East Asia – 33.9%  in Vietnam, 25.3% in the Philippines, 10.7%  in Indonesia and 10.2% in Malaysia.
The nearly 182,000 people who speak a Chinese language are located in a band within 10 and 20 km of the city centre. The suburbs around Hurstville and Allawah have more than 25% of their populations speaking Chinese.
Similar percentages are to be found in western suburbs such as Cabramatta and Campsie, and in inner-city Haymarket and Ultimo. These figures suggest that Chinatown is a glaring ommission from our list of eighteen Chinese Anglican churches.
Arabic is the second most commonly spoken language in Sydney – 130,287 people. They live in the Canterbury-Bankstown area, Guildford, Granville, Turella and Arncliffe.
If you want to use the internet in parish evangelism, then you will be most effective in the inner-city, north shore, and Blue Mountains. Ku-ring-gai and Hornsby Shires have the highest proportions of home internet users in Sydney.
Why not ask the staff from the Anglicare department of Strategic Ministry Services to come and help your parish isolate the layers of Sydney’s population living within your reach.