Why So Many Surveys?

Updated 1/16/14

Shepherd of the Valley will begin conducting an important online survey called the Church Assessment Tool (CAT). We need all adults to complete this survey including youth in 10th grade or older. The survey will take about 20 minutes to complete, and responses are confidential. Thank you in advance for your time and input.

A few of you have asked, didn’t we just conduct a survey recently? Why are we doing another one so soon? 

Saturday Worship Survey

In November we asked the congregation to complete a Saturday Worship Survey. Almost 500 people completed the survey online or on paper, and we received a lot of great information that will help Shepherd of the Valley move forward with planning an additional service on Saturdays. Results from the surveys were discussed at a series of Congregation Dialogues on January 11 & 12, 2014. Thank you to all who attended and added to the discussion.

View a summary of the survey’s findings.

Other Recent Surveys

In addition to the worship survey, there have also been a few other ways we have asked for your feedback:

• Late in the year, a few staff and volunteers conducted informal interviews with about 30 members regarding their stewardship. 
• Some of you may have completed a brief paper survey recently regarding church communications.
• If you attended any of our Hot Breakfasts since June, you had an opportunity to complete a very short form asking you to rate the quality of your breakfast experience. 
• Also starting in June, we created two new ways for you to share your comments and questions with us, either by filling out a comment card at the Welcome Center or completing our online feedback form. 

Why are we constantly asking you for your opinion? Because we truly care what you think. Shepherd of the Valley is your church, and the pastors and staff are here to serve you. In order to do our jobs well, we need to know what your needs are, and how we can best serve them. The information we receive back from you is invaluable and has already had many positive impacts on our shared ministry.

Congregational Assessment 2014

This brings us back to the CAT, which will be conducted January 19 - February 16, 2014. The CAT is  different from any other survey we’ve conducted at Shepherd of the Valley. Our other recent efforts only measured a particular aspect of our faith community, such as worship, stewardship, communications, etc. The CAT measures across multiple dimensions of the church’s ministry to create a collective voice of the entire congregation. What we learn from this assessment will provide key indicators of our congregational health, guide us in decision making, and help discern where God will lead us in the next several years.

In order for the CAT to paint as clear a picture of the congregation as possible, we are striving for 1,000 of our members to complete it, including all youth in 10th grade or older. Click here to take the online CAT survey. Paper copies, and computer workstations will be available at church for those without internet access.

The CAT was created by the Rev. J. Russell Crabtree of Holy Cow! Consulting. We’ve partnered with Rev. Crabtree and with Rev. Charles Lane of Kairos and Associates in St. Paul to help guide this process. Rev. Crabtree and Rev. Lane both bring decades of experience in helping congregations assess their organization for the purposes of informed strategic planning.

Please watch this blog and our weekly News for the Flock for more information. If you have questions, please contact Jennifer Maxwell at jennifer.maxwell@sotv.org. Thanks again for your participation.