INVITING REFLECTION
As the spiritual leader of a people, you preach, teach, counsel, and pray with your people. What do you think you would hear if you asked them to probe their spiritual lives and share with you their points of both growth and struggle?
I want to suggest a simple procedure by which you can get a snapshot of your congregation’s spiritual life. While it takes a little work, summer may be an opportune time. If you will do it, I promise you it will provide a wealth of ideas that will enrich your preaching and teaching during the rest of the year.
What you are going to do is conduct your own unofficial poll of your people. While it is not scientifically accurate, from experience, I can tell you that it is surprisingly accurate.
BEGIN BY COUNTING
Take your church directory and, depending on the size of your church, count down and identify your random sample. If you are a small church, every tenth person would be nice. For larger churches, you may want to identify every 20th person or every 30th person. You should develop a list of at least 30 people. This is your sample.
YOUR QUESTIONS
Develop a set of no more than four topics for conversation with each of your sample members. I would suggest topics like the following:
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If you could pass on one Christian truth to your family, what would it be?
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When outsiders speak of your church, what do you think they would say about the church? What would you most like them to say when they think about the church?
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If the whole church could convince the world of one truth about how to relate in this world, what would that truth be? What is one action our church might implement that would advance that truth?
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What is one area of personal growth in faith that you would like to achieve in the next couple of years? What might be a way your church can support you in that growth?
A LETTER OF INVITATION
Compose a letter of invitation that you will send to your selected list that both explains that you will be calling them and you would like them to share with you their response to the four topics that you will provide them. Note your own schedule and only send out letters to the number that you can call each week. Then send out letters to the next group the following week.
I would encourage you not to be tempted to simply send an email and await a response. Both the personal letter and the actual phone conversation will have its own impact.
Make clear to each that you will summarize the results of your conversations and share it with the congregation without any names attached.
SHARING YOUR SUMMARY
Make good notes about what you are hearing from each conversation. Then summarize the basic messages that you are receiving. Be as accurate as you can and recognize when there are a variety of opinions. Use percentages when reporting the results of your conversation. For example, you might report that 40% wanted the church wanted to increase their knowledge of Scripture, 20% wanted to become involved in ministries of compassion, and 30 % wanted to become more involved in ministries of compassion, etc.
Share your summary of results with the whole congregation and invite further conversation in a church gathering. Also mention that what you have heard will be reflected in some future sermons and conversations.
Back in the 90s, we conducted a survey of every member, with questions similar to Steve’s very good ones, plus this: “If you are willing to share, is there any community service that you do that is motivated in any way by your Christian beliefs or inspired by our congregation’s members?”
We had about 220 folks reply (of >300), and found that >80 agencies and missions were being served regularly by our volunteers, besides the direct missions of our church. A real eye-opener for session.