11.12.08
Initial Survey Results Posted!
See the survey home page (the same password applies as before).
10.15.08
News From the Church Health Team
The Church Health Team is nearly ready to present a church-wide survey to all members and regular attenders of Seaford Baptist Church. It has been tested with a pilot group of church members, and it’s now in final editing. The official roll-out will be on Sunday, October 19.
What is the survey for? It’s a combination of many things. It covers our involvement, our satisfaction with various aspects of the church, our understanding of basic church teachings, our ideas for outreach, our opinions on what is strong and what is lacking, and more.
How do you do the survey? Starting Sunday morning, you will have two options: Fill out the survey online, at http://www.seafordsurvey.org, or fill it out on paper forms that will be provided at the church. For the online survey you will need a username and password, which will be made known when the survey is rolled out this weekend.
You will have three weeks to complete the survey. Further instructions will be provided on the survey web page.
What will happen with the survey results? We have three purposes in mind for them:
- Inform our current church leaders on the needs, opportunities, and opinions of our church members and regular attenders.
- Provide information to the Pastor Search Team that will help them with their search task.
- Give feedback to you on what the church is saying and thinking. A report will be made available to the entire church body.
Is there more feedback being sought from the church? Definitely yes! We are arranging for Don Cockes, our area SBCV missionary, to come with a team of objective outsiders and spend focused time speaking with every person who has something to share. They will take notes and report back to us on what the church has told them. We don’t know the exact times and dates yet, but we’ll let you know as soon as possible.
What else is the Church Health Team working on? We’re studying what it means to be a healthy church, for one thing. And we’re conducting community studies so we can have a better idea how to bring the truth and love of Christ to the church. Later on we’ll be working with staff and lay leaders of the church to try to bring clearer definition to the church’s mission and direction.
08.29.08
Church Health Team: What Are Your Questions?
One of the first tasks of the Church Health Team is to evaluate how our church is doing. We’re preparing a church-wide survey questionnaire for that purpose. You can help us with it by letting us know of questions that you think should be included. Is there some aspect of the church’s current condition you think we should look into? Then we want to hear from you. Here’s how:
- You may respond by posting a comment here or by emailing it to Tom Gilson, at tom DOT gilson AT cox DOT net (I’ve obscured that address to keep it from being picked up by spammers).
- You don’t need to phrase it as a survey question. Just let us know the area of interest, and we’ll take care of the wording.
Here are some ground rules before you answer:
- If you post it here on the blog, please make sure it’s a question and not an opinion, because this is not the right forum for dealing with potentially controversial opinions.
- That also means to please avoid posting opinions disguised as questions (e.g., “Why does so-and-so do things in such a nonsensical way?”).
- Note also that this is about the church’s general condition, not things like (for example), “What happened at the business meeting?”
- If you have an opinion to express (rather than a question), you may email it to the address already given. It will be shared with the entire Church Health Team, but otherwise held in confidence.
- The team will make the final decision as to which questions are included in the questionnaire.
Thank you!
08.26.08
The Church Health Team
Last night the new Church Health Team held its first meeting. The Church Health Team (CHT) has been formed to aid the church in its transition to new leadership, by providing a careful assessment of who we are as a church and where we believe God is leading us. Many other churches have learned through experience how important this can be, to help in working through a church’s current opportunities and struggles, and to help the Pastor Search Committee in its crucial work of selecting the right person for the church.
The CHT’s purpose and plans are outlined in the graphic you see below (click here or on the image for a larger version). We will come to you, the members of the church, for your input on the Church Heritage and the Church Assessment. You can expect to see this beginning within just a couple weeks from now. We’re confident you’ll be encouraged by the process as well as by the results. We do not have an expected date of final completion yet, but you can be assured we all feel a strong sense of urgency about it.
Current team members are Tom Gilson, Terry Roberts, Lisa Elburn, Mike Hall, David Jones, Scott Beasley, and Scott Morelen. More members may be joining us in the next month. If you have questions, concerns, or ideas, please contact any one of us. We’re eager to hear from you, and we’ll keep you posted on our activities through this blog and through the Trumpet.
