ST. ANDREW MEMBER SATISFACTION SURVEY
The St. Andrew member satisfaction survey was conducted between Saturday, October 1st and Sunday, October 16, 2016. It was available in both printed form and electronically on SurveyMonkey, an independent web-based service. The respondents were promised anonymity.
There were 10 questions, the maximum allowed to qualify for a free SurveyMonkey study. Eight of the questions used a “1” to “9” scale, with “1” meaning the respondent “strongly disagreed” with the statement and “9” meaning they “strongly agreed”. Two of the questions asked for short written answers.
A total of 56 surveys were completed; 38 online and 18 paper surveys.
The results will be shared with the Mutual Ministry Committee, the church council and the congregation.
SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS
The highest mark (by a significant margin) members gave the church was for “engaging in acts of charity and service to people in need”. That score was nearly 11% higher than the next highest score, which was earned for members’ “overall satisfaction with being a member of St. Andrew”. The lowest scores given were for how well members are kept informed and the training that lay leaders receive. Both of these received a score below 6, which could be characterized as slightly above average.
With two exceptions, the scores given on the paper surveys were consistently higher than those provided on the completed web-based surveys.
If the results were given a letter grade, the scores would have been in the C+ to B- range (5.91 to 6.68), with the exception of the “…acts of charity and service to people in need” score, which would have earned a B+/A- grade.
Questions 9 and 10 encouraged people to provide short written responses to: “What can St. Andrew do better?” and “For the question you ranked lowest, please tell why you ranked it low”. These questions drew responses from only about 60 percent of the respondents.
The greatest member concerns identified by the study were:
· The need for recruiting new members, especially younger members and families with younger children. There is a general perception that the church’s membership is continuing to shrink and that it is aging rapidly, without a game plan to attract younger replacements
· The members are asking for more information earlier and more consistently. More member input into making decisions and consistently presenting decisions to the congregation in a timely manner were frequently mentioned
· While church morale received one of the higher quantitative scores, there were several comments about morale, most of them relating to the issues listed in points 1 and 2 above
WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS
The good news is that we have the results of the survey to provide us a road map that we can use to build upon our strengths and correct our deficiencies. One approach would be to identify the one or two problems we need to address first. Get a small committee to write objectives, strategies and tactics to attack the problem(s). Present the plan to the church council for input, then to the congregation for modification and approval. Get a small group of volunteers to execute the plan and report progress on a regular basis to the congregation.
RESULTS OF QUANTITATIVE QUESTIONS
The results of the eight quantitative questions (“1” to “9” scale) are shown below, with the questions ranked best-to-worst by their average total score.
QUESTION # 6 “ST. ANDREW ENGAGES IN ACTS OF CHARITY AND SERVICE TO PEOPLE IN NEED.”
WEB-BASED RESPONSES 7.53
PAPER SURVEY RESPONSES 7.17
TOTAL SURVEY AVERAGE 7.41
QUESTION # 1 “OVERALL I AM SATISFIED AS A MEMBER OF ST. ANDREW”
WEB-BASED RESPONSES 6.50
PAPER SURVEY RESPONSES 7.06
TOTAL SURVEY AVERAGE 6.68
QUESTION # 2 I HAVE A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THE MISSION AND VISION OF ST. ANDREW.”
WEB-BASED RESPONSES 6.34
PAPER SURVEY RESPONSES 6.33
TOTAL SURVEY AVERAGE 6.34
QUESTION # 5 “IMPORTANT DECISIONS ABOUT THE CHURCH ARE ONLY MADE AFTER OPEN DISCUSSION WITH CHURCH LEADERS AND MEMBERS.”
WEB-BASED RESPONSES 5.92
PAPER SURVEY RESPONSES 7.06
TOTAL SURVEY AVERAGE 6.29
QUESTION # 3 “ST. ANDREW PROVIDES A GOOD CHRISTIAN EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH.”
WEB-BASED REPONSES 6.18
PAPER SURVEY RESPONSES 6.39
TOTAL SURVEY AVERAGE 6.23
QUESTION # 8 “THE CURRENT MORALE OF OUR CHURCH IS HIGH.”
WEB-BASED RESPONSES 5.71
PAPER SURVEY RESPONSES 6.39
TOTAL SURVEY AVERAGE 5.93
QUESTION # 7 “MEMBERS ARE WELL INFORMED ABOUT WHAT VARIOUS GROUPS AND COMMITTEES IN THE CHURCH ARE DOING.”
WEB-BASED RESPONSES 5.75
PAPER SURVEY RESPONSES 6.22
TOTAL SURVEY AVERAGE 5.91
QUESTION # 4 “I BELIEVE THAT LAY LEADERS ARE PROVIDED THE TRAINING THEY NEED FOR THEIR COMMITTEE AND VOLUNTEER ASSIGNMENTS.”
WEB-BASED RESPONSES 5.76
PAPER SURVEY RESPONSES 6.20
TOTAL SURVEY AVERAGE 5.91
QUESTIONS #9 AND #10 ASKED FOR SHORT WRITTEN ANSWERS. HERE IS A SUMMARY OF THE MOST FREQUENTLY MENTIONED RERSPONSES.
QUESTION # 9 “WHAT IS THE ONE THING ST. ANDREW COULD DO BETTER?”
There were a wide variety of responses to this question. At least 15 separate response areas were identified. Here are the major areas of concern.
1. Need for new members. The area of greatest concern cited was the need to recruit new members, especially younger members and families with young children. This area received 1 ½ times the response of the next greatest concern.
2. Improved communications. Respondents mentioned a variety of communications needs, with emphasis on working groups and church leaders reporting to the congregation earlier and on a more regular basis.
3. Involvement. Get more members involved by asking them directly (face-to-face) to participate or lead groups/activities.
4. Two other areas with multiple responses were: “building a more active youth program” and “providing more sermons that relate to today’s issues and current events ”.
5. No other area received more than one response.
QUESTION #10 “FOR THE QUESTION YOU RANKED THE LOWEST, PLEASE (IN A FEW WORDS) TELL US WHY YOU GAVE THIS AREA A LOW RATING.”
Fewer than 60 percent of survey respondents provided comments or suggestions.
The area that drew the most response was a combination of “making decisions/communicating effectively and working together”. There were several comments that fit into these categories. There was some dissatisfaction with how decisions are made, who and how many are involved in making decisions, and how decisions are presented to the congregation. There were also comments that too many people are involved in making decisions that affect the church.
A second major area of concern involved the youth of the church. Concerns ranged from the small number of young people in the church to the need for more youth leadership and involvement to concerns that there seems to be little interest in forming a youth group.
The comments about “the vision of the church and its mission statement” generally related to the lack of awareness of either or both. One member suggested the permanent posting of both in a prominent place in the Narthex.
There is concern about the shrinking number of church members, the declining weekly attendance at church services and, the aging of the congregation and their related health issues.
There were a few comments about the morale of the members. Many of these comments related to the aging of the membership, the lack of young people and children in the congregation, what is perceived to be overall declining attendance, and, in some cases, the lack of participation in church activities by a larger number of members.