FIRST RESPONSE OF THE ME25
ACTION COMMITTEE
History: In the summer of 2009, the church board
made the decision to use the ME25 (a strengths-based survey
instrument from the Gallup organization) as a church-wide assessment
instrument. The survey was taken
during the month of November.
Results were received in December, and the committee met to review the
results in January.
To supplement the ME25,
twenty one-on-one interviews were conducted. This qualitative data was gathered to provide a context in which
to understand the quantitative data of the ME25.
Overview of the results: The ME25 focuses on the
level of engagement of the people in the church. The good news is that our church scored higher than the
average in the percentage of people engaged (37% of our congregation vs. 29% of
all churches surveyed). The
concern is that we also scored higher in the percentage of those actively
disengaged (21% of our congregation vs. 17% of all churches surveyed).
The survey indicates that the
people of our church are more spiritually committed than the average church;
however, our overall spiritual health would improve if we increase the level of
engagement people have with this local body of believers. The interviews support these
findings. People believe we are
fulfilling our mission, but remain uncertain as to how to be healing
agents. There is a commitment to
spiritual growth (discipleship), but a partial disconnect in using oneŐs gifts
and strengths in the church and the marketplace.
Key Issues: Areas in which we scored low include
the following two questions:
1) As a member of my church, I know what is expected of
me.
2) In my church, I regularly have the opportunity to do
what I do best.
We believe we can address
these two issues through better communication and training.
a. We need to help people discover their gifts/strengths,
and to understand the way disciples use those gifts to further GodŐs Kingdom.
b. We need to identify the needs in the church and
community, and communicate those needs to the people.
Our lowest score was on the
following question:
3) In the last six months, someone in my church has
talked to me about the progress of my spiritual growth.
The church ought to be a
place where conversations about spiritual growth regularly happen. We would like to make spiritual
progress a normal part of our conversations. We want to make these conversations graceful, but
intentional.
a. We will talk about it on Sunday morning.
b. We will encourage classes and small groups to address
spiritual progress.
c. We will attempt to make these discussions a part of
our church culture.
Finally, we scored well on
the following question.
4) In the last month, I have received recognition or
praise from someone in my church.
We want to be a church of
affirmation and encouragement. We
are glad we are doing well, but we would like to build on this strength because
we feel we can do much better.
a. We need to do a better job of sharing the great
successes of the people of our church.
b. We need to teach the skills associated with
affirmation, encouragement and recognition.
An issue that was mentioned
throughout the discussion was communication. The committee believes that improved communication will make
us better in every area. We need
to explore electronic mediums, written materials, and phone & public
platforms. We need to consider it
in our budget and personnel planning.
The committee will help us create a strategy for communication with a
focus toward the four issues listed above.
POSSIBLE AREAS OF CONSIDERATION
We need to consider staffing
for evangelism and assimilation.
Children
and community
Senior
citizens
University
We need to enhance our
systems for visitor recognition, follow up, assimilation and attrition.
We need to ask the youth
staff to lead us.
We need to ask the growing small
groups to lead us.