Conducting a church survey occasionally is a great way to keep a pulse on your congregation. Unless you have a very small church and can personally connect with each attendee or member regularly, a church survey can provide you with very valuable information and insight. Even if you feel like you do a good job of getting in-person feedback from your congregation on a regular basis, sometimes an anonymous survey will reveal things that people might be hesitant to tell you to your face. (Not everyone is comfortable offering constructive criticism to leaders—even though some may be more than happy to do so.)
When you decide it’s time to put out a survey to your congregation, what questions should be included? How many survey questions are too many? Should they be multiple choice questions or free response? These are all important considerations and will impact the level of participation in the survey, as well as the usefulness of the results.
For example, if the survey you send out is too long, some people might give up halfway through and never submit their survey, but if it’s too short, you might not get enough information to make it worth the effort. If the questions are worded in ways that are confusing, or if participants feel like none of the optional responses apply to them, then the survey results won’t be accurate, and therefore, not helpful to your church.
Church Survey Questions Crafted by Experts in Church Diagnostics
The team at VitalChurch Ministry has been conducting church assessments for decades. During that time, we have been offering several levels of assessments—all of which include a church survey component. In the past, these assessments have been administered by our team. We come up with the survey questions, manage the distribution of the survey, process the results, and deliver an analysis to church leaders.
Recently, we decided to offer an alternative that allows churches to handle a good portion of the survey process themselves in order to keep costs down. We created our Church Vitality Survey (CVS), which includes some of our most insightful questions, based on our many years of experience in conducting church surveys. We have also structured the survey in a way to maximize participation among congregants.
The church survey questions included in the CVS will help your church gather basic demographic data on your congregation, as well as help you determine what you are currently doing well and how you can improve. You can also find out things about your congregation such as their feelings of acceptance and belonging, and whether or not they have a basic understanding of the gospel message.
Every survey question is presented in a way that is clear so that the survey can be completed in a relatively short amount of time. The survey results are compiled by our team and presented to church leaders in an organized manner that is easy to digest. Church leaders can then schedule a follow-up call with diagnostic experts from VitalChurch Ministry, who can help interpret the results and offer valuable feedback and suggestions for moving forward. This follow-up call is included in the price of the survey.
If you’ve been trying to come up with church survey questions on your own but are struggling with the wording or how to structure the survey for maximum participation, let VitalChurch Ministry help! Contact us to learn more about our Church Vitality Survey, or click here to purchase it today and get started.