Has your church conducted a church member survey lately? A survey can be an easy thing to put off doing, as it can seem relatively unimportant compared to everything else that’s involved with operating an active church. But if it’s been a couple of years (or more) since you’ve sought congregational feedback, it’s time to make a church member survey a priority.
Why Do a Church Member Survey?
If you’ve never done a church member survey, you may be wondering why this is important. It may seem like everything is going fine in your church—attendance is steady, your members seem to be growing in their faith, they are engaged in the ministries and activities of the church, and there are no major conflicts to speak of. But what about those things that are below the surface? How will you know if members of your congregation are struggling or if they have issues with aspects of the church unless you ask?
You could go to each member of your congregation individually and solicit their feedback, but that’s time consuming, and you might not get straightforward answers in person. On the other hand, an anonymous survey is a great way to get candid input for a relatively small amount of effort.
In addition to providing you with insight into your congregation, conducting a survey can also help your congregation feel as if their feedback is valued. They will know that the decisions made by church leaders going forward will be made with congregational input in mind.
Can You Create Your Own Church Member Survey?
There’s certainly an argument to be made that church leaders or staff members can craft their own church survey to send out to church members. They can come up with the questions, load them into one of the many online survey tools, and email it out to the congregation. However, this assumes that they know what questions to ask and how to word them in such a way so that they’re not confusing to the reader. It also assumes that they will know what to do with the survey results when they come in—how to interpret them and how to use them to make decisions going forward. It’s for these reasons that churches often choose to get help from church survey experts, rather than attempting to assess their congregations on their own.
An Affordable Church Member Survey Designed by Experts
So, if it’s not a good idea to create your own church member survey, where do you go to get one? There are multiple options at various price points—including custom surveys—but this church member survey designed by VitalChurch Ministry includes many of the features that church leaders are looking for in a survey. It is a thorough, but not too long, survey with questions that cover a range of topics. It gathers basic demographic data, as well as information on topics such as:
- Main reasons for church attendance
- Perception of acceptance and belonging
- Volunteer potential
- Level of agreement with the church’s current vision, plans, and goals
Along with the survey, VitalChurch Ministry provides helpful suggestions for maximizing participation among church members. Completed surveys are sent directly to VitalChurch Ministry for processing, and a report is sent to church leaders at the conclusion of the survey period. Church leaders can then schedule a follow-up phone call with the church diagnostic experts at VitalChurch Ministry, who will offer helpful suggestions for the church as they plan for the future.
All of this is included for one low price that is affordable for congregations of just about any size, and suitable for denominational and non-denominational churches alike.
To learn more about VitalChurch Ministry’s Church Vitality Survey, visit their website: https://vitalchurchministry.org/product/cvs
