The aim of the Community Data Story is to provide church leaders with an initial overview of their church, its people, and the surrounding community. Who are the people that belong to, or are connected to, the congregation? How do they spend their time at church and in the community? What do they care about? What are the resources and constraints of the congregation? In what ways have these things changed over time? How does the congregation present itself to the outside world, and what are the community’s needs?
It is common practice for people to answer these types of questions using their own experiences and perceptions. Although this is valuable, the Community Data Story approach uses information and evidence from three different sources to provide some alternative ways of beginning to answer these questions. Specifically, we use survey data from congregation members, operations data from the church itself, and census data from the local area. Collectively, these data sources offer congregation leaders a different type of perspective to see the congregation as it is positioned in the larger community. The report generated from these data sources does not offer “answers” or “wisdom” but instead reveals areas – possibly areas that had not been previously considered -- where more information and discernment may be useful.
Especially in light of the profound changes these past two years have brought, we believe that many priorities, resources, concerns, and opportunities have shifted dramatically and that taking stock with evidence can be extremely valuable. We intend for this “high altitude view” of a congregation to foster conversation directed at beginning to answer the questions of who are we? where are we? and how do we show up in our community?
<aside> ✅ Ready to begin? Fill out this form.
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<aside> ✨ Want to see a sample Report? CLICK HERE
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We ask that participating churches provide two different types of information to us. First, we would like you to distribute a short Household Survey to all individuals who participate in your congregation. We have made both electronic and paper versions of the survey available and have resources available for you to help distribute this to your congregation. Second, we ask that a staff member(s) complete an Operations Data spreadsheet. More information about both of these items may be found below.
Once we receive your information, we will develop a short report that incorporates our findings from these two sources as well as recent census-level data from your local area. This short report is organized around the three questions (Who are we? Where are we? How do we show up in our community?) and contains both data graphs and discussion questions designed to help congregation leaders talk together about the meaning and implications of the results. We know that such interpretation will depend greatly on particular features of your congregation – its size, history, current challenges, member composition, location, resources and sense of call. For this reason, the report is designed to provide information and evidence, with church leaders collectively and prayerfully considering how this guides their next steps.
Key Takeaways
To collect the Household Survey, we have designed a short 5-10 minute survey for each household to complete. The focus of the survey centers on the vocation of each adult and the way that they and their household interact with the church and the wider community. Because not all congregations use the language of “membership,” each church may want to consider obtaining survey responses both from church members and nonmembers (e.g., those who attend or participate in congregational activities but may not be “official” members).
The survey can most easily be completed online using Survey Monkey. We will provide a QR code that can be printed in the bulletin as well as a link that can be included in electronic communications. We have also prepared a pdf of the survey that can be printed out and completed on paper. (Community staff will need to enter the data using the online platform.)
The usefulness of the survey evidence relies heavily on broad and honest participation. We recommend that community leaders emphasize how the information will help them understand the important ways in which members are already involved in the community, what they care about, and how they are supported. We also believe that it is important to emphasize that broad representation of voices is valued; this information along with operations data and local census data will help to paint a picture that the community can use in its discernment of next steps. It is also important to assure people that only aggregate results will be presented, meaning that they can be candid and honest since we will not provide back individual-level responses.
<aside> ✨ Check out and take a Sample Household Survey
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Key Takeaways