HELP WITH ASSESSING YOUR CONGREGATIONAL CATEGORY - 2003

1    Worship Attendance – Look up the average worship attendance from five years ago and from last year. Compare the two worship averages. What percentage of change has the congregation experienced in average worship attendance over the past five years?

1.   Decreased by 20% or more
2.   Decreased less than 20%
3.   Increased by less than 10%                 (last yr atten) – (atten 5 yr ago) = incr or decr
4.   Increased between 10% and 19%      (incr or decr) / (atten 5 yr ago) *100 = ??%
5.   Increased more than 20%

2     Professions of Faith – Divide last year’s average worship attendance by the number of Professions of Faith for the past year. The result is the number of people in worship it takes to have one profession of faith. What is the result for your congregation?

1.   More than 60
2.   50-59
3.   40-49                  avg worship attendance / # of professions of faith = ??
4.   30-39
5.  Under 30

3     Apportionments – Determine the percentage of apportionments paid by your congregation for each of the past five (5) years. Add these percentages and divide by 5. The result is the average percent of apportionments paid by your congregation over this period of time. What is that percentage?

1.   Less than 50%
2.   50-64%
3.   65-80%                  (%yr1 + %yr2 + %yr3 + %yr4 + %yr5) / 5 = % avg
4.   81-90%
5.   Over 90%

4    Small Groups – Divide the average worship attendance by the number of small groups present in the congregation. For the purposes of this survey, a small group is a gathering of 15 or fewer people that meets at least twice per month and engages in some time of Bible study and prayer. The small group may also engage in acts of service, mission projects or other activities. Examples could include a ten-member Sunday School class, a women’s Bible study or a group that met for devotions and prayer and then engaged in a work project. What is the result for your congregation when you divide the average worship attendance for this year by the number of small groups?

1.  More than 60
2.   50-60
3.   40-49                   avg worship attend / # of small groups = ??
4.   30-39
5.   Under 30

5    Advertising and Outreach – Add up all expenditures by the congregation on advertising, publicity and similar evangelistic efforts. Examples include advertising in the phone book, direct mail to invite people to congregation, evangelistic block parties, flyers handed out door-to-door and similar activities. What percentage of the total congregation budget does this total represent?

1.   Less than 1%
2.   1-2%
3.   2-4%                (advertising & outreach exp) / Total budget *100 = ??%
4.   4-6%
5.  More than 6%

6    Training and Leadership Development – What percentage of elected congregational leaders participated in at least four hours of leadership training during the last year? Leadership or training events could include team-building workshops, small group leadership skills, a seminar on conducting an effective meeting, a faith-sharing workshop and other leadership development programs. Such training would NOT include Bible studies, attending Annual Conference, etc.

1.   Less than 25%
2.   25-40%
3.   41-60%              elected leaders in training / total # of elected leaders *100 = ??%
4.   61-80%
5.   Over 80%

7    Rotation of Leadership - What percentage of the elected leaders of the congregation have been participating in the life of the congregation for fewer than five years?

1.   0-20%
2.   21-30%
3.   31-40%        elected leaders less than 5 yrs / Total # of elected leaders * 100 = ??%
4.   41-50%
5.   More than 50%

8    Hospitality – How many of the following items are currently a part of your intentional system of hospitality? ___greeters in the parking lot, ___greeters at the entry ways/doors, ___a welcome/information station, ___area for refreshments and conversation, ___informational flyers/brochures/material about the congregation and its ministries that is available in the lobby/narthex, ___a committee charged with the task of evaluating and improving the hospitality ministry of the congregation, ___a time for greeting guests and others during the worship service, ___a non-threatening, non-embarrassing method of collecting contact information from guests

1.   0-2
2.   3
3.   4
4.   5-6
5.   7-8

9    First-time Guests – Determine the average number of first-time guest family units per Sunday during the past year. A family unit of any size living in the same residence is considered to be one family unit. Divide the average worship attendance by the average number of first-time guest family units. What is the result?

1.   Over 100
2.   80-100
3.   65-79         # of first time guest family units for whole yr / 52 = avg # of first timers
4.   50-64        avg worship atten / avg # of first timers = ??
5.   Under 50

10    Guest Follow-Up – How many of the following items are currently part of your intentional system of guest follow-up AND occur within 30 days of the visit? ___letter from the pastor sent within 3 days, ___letter from other staff member, ___letter from a non-staff leader, ___the guest is added to the list of those who receive the newsletter, ___a phone call is made to the guest, ___a brief visit or phone call is made to the guest within 36 hours, ___a thank you card is sent to the guest, ___an email address is requested from the guest and is then added to the email mailing list for congregational announcements

1.   0-2
2.   3
3.   4
4.   5-6
5.   7-8