Thank you so much for all the responses to the congregational survey that the PNC asked River’s Edgers to complete! We feel like we gleaned some really good insights from this. Some information we have already used to update our wording and requirements on the job listing. Some congregational preferences we’re filing away to reference again when it comes time to evaluate and interview applicants. And some information may be useful for the current and future Session to have ideas on growth and refresh opportunities. So thank you again for your time and ideas!
Since you all may want to see results too (I know I was chomping at the bit to see the overall summaries!), we want to make these available to you now. While most of the entries were filled out on paper – as we requested – the team divided up the task of entering the information in the Google Forms version so that we could see the breakout charts that were provided in this tool. These graphs are provided here, along with some very brief comments about what the PNC interpreted from the results. For the charts that have some results cut off, the complete wording is included at the bottom of the image.
We will not publish here the full results of the free-form questions (“About Our Church” questions 2 and 4, and “Is there anything else you would like us to know?”), but the PNC and Session have access to the answers and will reference the feedback provided there.
There were many indicators that preaching was a top care-about regarding the new pastor (answers to questions 1, 2, and 7)
While “Inspiring and challenging preaching and teaching” ranked highly in question 2, the combination of responses “d” and “f” indicate that drawing in new members, especially younger folks, may be a very tight second to the preaching ranking.
The highest ranked values for desired character traits are “Humble and relatable” and “Outgoing and people-oriented”. While humble and outgoing may be a unique combination, it may be safe to say there’s a leaning towards our new pastor being authentic while others-focused.
Answers to questions 4 and 5 were very instructive. Taken together, we gather that there is less emphasis on the need for an already-acquired Master’s degree in Divinity/Theology. We as a church see a need for someone to come in with some previous ministry experience, lots of ideas and potential, and experience helping a church grow in numbers. However, taking the results from questions 1 and 2 into account, where preaching, teaching, and theology all come in strong, we don’t discount that we want our pastor to be studied, and at least working towards an advanced degree from a seminary.
Looking at the answers for 6 and 7 together was also instructive. We see that in the short-term (12 months), we want the pastor to get settled and “steady our ship” – help us refocus and re-energize as a church. But then the overall time investment should be primarily focused on the Sunday morning teaching, followed by small groups, discipleship, and attracting new members.
On question 8, regarding preaching style preferences, due to the free-form answers provided for the different mixes, we normalized the responses and re-generated a form of the chart. Overall, we believe that the congregation would most like to see a mix of Topical and Expository, not excluding either.
Answers to 9 seem to clearly indicate a desire for sermons to include application to everyday life with strong Biblical references and connections. However the relative strength of humor here, with references scattered in other responses above, is not lost on us! River’s Edgers love humor.
Regarding the church, the answers to questions 1 and 3 definitely demonstrate that community is important and that we want to keep improving that aspect of our church life.
Thank you again, from your PNC. And until next time – Blessings and Peace.
