Challenges to Church Planting In Pittsburgh
I want to begin by stating that I understand that church planting is difficult anywhere. I also think that church planting in Pittsburgh might be more challenging than other locations in a few ways.
There are many issues that might be seen as challenges to church planting in the City of Pittsburgh. I would say that its size and demographic make up are the most challenging hurdles when it comes to recruiting planters and planting new churches. I recognize that some people might suggest other, more fluctuating issues, such as unemployment rates, crime rates or school systems. Yet, the issues I am speaking of effect the shape of the whole city rather than the shape of individual neighborhoods.
Size
Pittsburgh might be categorized as a mid-size city, much of this is due to the fact that geographically, Pittsburgh is much smaller than many other cities, only 55 sq miles. It is also helpful to remember that Pittsburgh has never had the city-county mergers that have made other cities larger; ie. Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and Louisville.
Immigration Patterns
That being said, Pittsburgh does not have the same number of immigrants and therefore does not have as many large immigrant communities as other large Northeastern Cities, like Boston and Philadelphia. Statistically, Pittsburgh’s rate of immigration is not much less than Philadelphia’s. For instance the number of foreign born individuals in Pittsburgh is 7% compared to Philly’s 10%. Interestingly, Pittsburgh has a higher percentage than Philly of residents who have settled from another country, 1.2% vs .07%. For Pittsburgh, a smaller total population mean that the ethnic pockets that reside in Pittsburgh are also smaller. Smaller immigrant pockets are not necessarily bad things, but it does mean that they are not as noticeable as in other Northeastern Cities.
Historic Race Problems
Finally, Pittsburgh, like many other cities in the Northeast, has historically been troubled by race conflicts. Even today many of Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods are divided along the lines of black or white. One thing that makes Pittsburgh unlike many other American cities is that only 2% of the city’s population is hispanic or latino.
For church planters this means that in many cases culturally diverse churches will have to be more strategically placed between existing neighborhoods. It also means that Pittsburgh might need more minority Church-planters to settle into certain neighborhoods. Neighborhoods that still carry biases than would make planting much more difficult for someone trying to cross the race and or culture barrier.