Equipping churches with evidence for action
The Look Up Tool: a critical resource for local mission
The Look Up Tool was relaunched in 2024 to help churches better understand their communities by providing insights into local demographics and key social challenges such as poverty, housing, and education.
With around 12,500 parishes in the Church of England, each serves a unique and diverse community. Every parish has its own tapestry of people, gifts, and challenges that shape its local culture. The Look Up Tool helps churches develop a clearer picture of these realities, ensuring their mission and outreach efforts are informed and effective.
Mission is often described as “finding out what God is doing and joining in.”1 This tool helps churches discern both the treasures within their community and the challenges that must be met with faith, service, and partnership.
Key improvements and impact
- 1,577 people accessed the Look Up Tool to guide their outreach efforts after its relaunch, and over 6,500 in total used it in 2024.
- Enhanced usability with new interactive features, allowing parishes to compare data with diocesan and national trends.
- Improved data insights to help churches identify and address specific community needs such as housing instability and food poverty.
- More intuitive navigation, making it easier for churches to analyse key social indicators and shape their outreach initiatives.
But the Look Up Tool is just the starting point. Through our other resources like Growing Good, churches can explore how their mission can be shaped to respond to local issues in a meaningful, targeted, and effective way.
By renewing and strengthening the Look Up Tool, CUF reaffirms its commitment to supporting churches in building strong, resilient communities. As we look ahead, we are excited to see how churches continue to use this resource to shine a light on local needs and bring hope and transformation to the places they serve.
Church On The Corner
The leadership team at Church On The Corner in North London used the Look Up Tool to gain a deeper understanding of their local community and plan their mission accordingly.
The resources helped us identify specific socio-economic and wealth needs in the community. We were aware of the wealth inequality in our area but this experience was an opportunity to drill down into specific issues which can be associated. We considered poor mental health, child deprivation and single-parent families when identifying needs in this area.”
