Lynne Taylor is Senior Lecturer in Pastoral Theology at the University of Otago, where one of her main research interests is contemporary faith formation. She was part of the original group that established the Church Life Survey in New Zealand and continues to serve on the Church Life Survey Committee. (Lynne is also Researcher for the Baptist Churches of New Zealand). In this article, she provides suggestions of how a local church might work with and learn from their Church Life Survey results (one-third of our Baptist churches participated in the survey last year).
This is our third article on the Church Life Survey, the first being: First response by Mike Crudge (16 November 2023) and the second by Peter Lineham: A Baptist overview of the Church Life Survey Results.
The Church Life Survey (CLS) gathered a whole host of information from church attenders across the motu, including from 4758 Baptists in 77 Baptist churches. It is one of three sets of information that are insightful (and freely available) for Baptist churches:
(1) Stats NZ census data (from which Community Demographic Profiles on the area surrounding your church can be provided)[1]
(2) Annual church statistical returns (from which Church Profiles can be produced, showing patterns of attendances, baptisms, membership and more over several decades)[2]
(3) The Church Life Survey (which give invaluable insights on the people who attend each church).
This article focuses on this third area: the Church Life Survey. Available online are insights on the perspectives and values of participants of all denominations, and a closer look at Baptists who participated in the survey. Churches that participated in the CLS will also have received immediate access to six reports. Hopefully your church has already got yours: check in with your pastor if you’re keen to be part of thinking through insights and implications. If your church hasn’t already got it, your pastor can access it online here: clsnz.org[3]. They can also download additional information, drilling down to discover how a subset of your church perceives an area of interest. For example, you can find out the extent to which people who are new to your church feel like they belong; or whether younger and older people are reading the bible each week and/or engaging in other devotional activities. There is a lot that can be unpacked!
How might a church use and learn from this data?
The first step is to read through your “dashboard” reports. As you read, be attentive to four things:
1. What surprises you?
2. What encourages you?
3. What disturbs or concerns you?
4. What do you want to know more about?
Take your time over this. Perhaps skim first and then read more closely the second time through. Engage prayerfully with the material, grateful to God for the people who contributed their perspectives, as well as grateful that God is at work in the lives of all those who are part of your church.
Once you’ve done that, this document talks you through a range of questions that you might ask of your reports, and this article, and some more to follow, help you further explore what you might learn from the CLS results from your church. There is much that can be explored. Enjoy!
Who have you heard from?
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The first thing to recognise is that the people who completed the questionnaire are people in your church who made the time to do so. It’s obvious, but worth remembering, that you’re not hearing the perspectives of people who have left your church, or people who have never been part of your church. The voices of the respondents are vitally interesting and important, but they likely don’t reflect the perspectives of those beyond the church. Also, Peter Lineham estimates that on average 61% of the attenders of participating Baptist churches completed the questionnaire. You can work out the proportion for your church by comparing attendance and participation, but you need to note that not all voices in your church were heard. You’ll have some sense of whether the sample was representative by age, ethnicity and the like, by comparing your church’s demographic data with what you know about your congregation.
Newcomers welcome!
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Altogether, around 17% of churchgoers have been attending their church for less than 2 years. How does your church compare? You might like to gather a group of relative newcomers together and explore with them what attracted them to your church in the first place and what has encouraged them to remain. Their reflections might give you some ideas for future missional engagement and advertising (without stealing sheep from a neighbouring paddock!). Did they experience any barriers to participating or belonging that might be addressed, helping future newcomers to readily find a place of belonging at your church? How might you work to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative?
The backgrounds of those new to your church are important too. If they came from another denomination, they might not have a good knowledge of the kaupapa and tikanga of Baptist churches. An occasional refresher on Being Baptist might be helpful! And of course, if they have come from an unchurched background there will be unique discipleship needs. On a very practical level, they might not have a bible in a readable translation and might also need resources on how to read the Bible and to deepen their faith. The Bible Society has links to helpful resources.
(Everyone is welcome – and we use our words carefully!)
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I emphasised in the Resource for Church Leaders the need to be careful about the language that we use in church services and other communications. One small example is around the use of the term “family”. Churches rightly emphasise that they are committed to, and indeed are, families. However, single people or childless couples might not hear that as inherently welcoming, even though it is likely meant to be so. There can be an easy swap to language that is intentionally inclusive; a careful naming of meaning behind words and phrases commonly used; and a review of the church’s activities to ensure that some people are not inadvertently overlooked.
A growing faith
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Overall, Baptists scored lower than average on questions about their growth in faith; the extent to which the church is resourcing their spiritual journey; and whether the preaching is helpful to their life. It might be that Baptists are better equipped to resource their own faith journeys than those of other denominations, but the responses to these questions should cause us to reflect. See how your church’s results compare.
You might like to brainstorm a list of the ways in which your church seeks to nurture faith, and then consider whether there is more that could be done, things that might be dropped, and areas where change is needed. Another simple idea might be to invite testimonies from people who have grown in their faith: people who share what that growth has been and what has helped contribute to the growth. Overall, 38% of Baptists reported reading the bible every day; and 52% are involved in small groups. Perhaps there is room to introduce new practices, such as journalling or a myriad of other spiritual practices that can support spiritual growth.
Church services that connect and grow
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Does your preaching seek to connect to everyday life? If so, do responses to the questionnaire suggest that it is doing so effectively, or might some changes be necessary? If you don’t intentionally try to connect preaching to the everyday, have you considered doing so? You might have good reasons, or it might be time for a rethink. Again, it might be worth discussing formally or informally with a group of church attenders. Your leadership will certainly have thoughts on this, but so will others in the church who are not involved in leadership roles.
Things that are valued (and not)
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While you’re thinking about preaching, you might want to also consider the other data on areas of church life that are particularly valued by those in your church. It’s worth digging deeper here too and doing some cross tabulations to work out if there are different types of people (age, gender, family situation) who appreciate different aspects of church life.
Conclusion
There is much to be gleaned from the Church Life Survey results – nationally, denominationally, and locally. In a context of religious decline, local churches are invited to ongoing faithful service. Your church is vital for the ongoing faith development of its attenders. Hopefully these questions and insights open up space for reflection on your current and future ministry practice. More articles will follow over the coming months.
Endnotes
[1] 2023 data will be available free to Baptist churches from early 2025, and (for a fee) to churches of other denominations. Contact [email protected]
[2] Available now. Contact [email protected]
[3] To access your reports, you need your Church code and Report code. These are available in your online Survey Pack, down the bottom left. Click Login to view reports and enter the codes. If you cannot find your Survey Pack, click here to retrieve it https://clsnz.org/registration/retrieve_survey_pack If you know your Church code and Report code click here to login https://clsnz.org/report/login
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