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Your Input on Our Upcoming Pastor Survey

Wednesday September 17, 2008   ~   52 Comments

Survey.jpgI need your help.

We are about to undertake a very large survey of Protestant pastors in the United States. We want to ask them questions about their church, their lives, and their ministries.

It will be an anonymous survey, taken over the phone, and will be released (in parts) over the next few months.

So, here is my question: if you could ask thousands of pastors a question, what would it be? We want to get a picture of what is going on in the church today and this is one means to do so.

Keep in mind that it is best that it be answerable in a short format: yes/no, multiple choice, single word answer, etc.

I have spent the morning with my team and we are looking for ideas. Many of the questions are already committed for a project we have in motion, but we also have some room for others.

We can't guarantee we will use them, but if you put them here we might. And, if you have some questions you would want to ask for a project you are doing, please contact my staff at research@lifeway.com and we can talk about you being a client on the project.

Please share your thoughts below.

Posted on September 17, 2008 at 11:11 AM   ~   52 Comments

Tagged with: research

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52 Comments

By Michael Stover on September 17, 2008 11:55 AM

Here are my questions:

Do you feel that churches are adequately concerned about the welfare and care of their pastors? Why or why not?

Does the care or lack thereof shown by the church to you, their pastor, affect how you minister? Why or why not?

By Jonathan on September 17, 2008 11:59 AM

Really a two-parter...

1) Do you provide attendees with practical tips on how they can apply the sermon you preach to their daily lives during the week?

2) Do you feel that attendees apply principles from your sermons to their daily lives during the week, or is the sermon just a "Sunday event?"

By D C Cramer on September 17, 2008 12:05 PM

How would you describe your feelings toward the missional/emerging church movement?

a. mostly positive
b. mostly negative
c. I am unaware of this movement.
d. I consider myself a part of this movement.

By Clif Cummings on September 17, 2008 12:11 PM

Are you a seminary graduate?

If yes which seminary did you attend?

What degree(s) did you earn?

Do you feel that your degree(s) adequately prepared you for your current and future ministry opportunities? Y/N

If no - have you pursued other leadership/ministry training?

By Eric Carpenter on September 17, 2008 12:15 PM

Do you preach and teach salvation through Jesus Christ alone?

Do you preach and teach that people can be saved through religions other than Christianity?

By Jimmy_C on September 17, 2008 12:26 PM

What percentage of church revenue is dedicated to maintaining staff and facilities?

Do you believe a part time pastor can be effective in a community?

Would you consider working part or full time outside the church?

By Mike Hannah on September 17, 2008 12:30 PM

How strong is your sense of "call" to ministry

How strong is your sense of "call" to your current ministry assignment

To what extent do you perceive lives are being changed through your ministry?

How closely aligned is your current ministry role and your perceived strengths, gift-mix,

How clear is your church's sense of mission?

How effective do you perceive your church is, in accomplishing it's mission?


By Tim Wade on September 17, 2008 12:43 PM

My job as pastor is secure as long as I agree with the diaconate (or other committee).

Agree/Disagree 1-5

I measure success by the number of people who walk the aisle each Sunday.

Agree/Disagree 1-5

Building the Church for the work of the ministry is as important as preaching salvation.

Agree/Disagree 1-5

By Ben Stroup on September 17, 2008 12:44 PM

Knowing what you know now, if you could go back to the point in time when you decided to enter the pastorate, would you make a different decision?

By Dan Byrd on September 17, 2008 12:45 PM

When is the last time you personally led someone to Christ (outside of a formal invitation/alter call)?

a. in the last week
b. in the last month
c. in the last year
d. longer than a year ago
e. I haven't had that opportunity

By Kevin Bussey on September 17, 2008 12:49 PM

Being a pastor has been beneficial for the Spiritual welfare of me and my family.

T-True
F-False

By Curtis on September 17, 2008 12:54 PM

Do you know/interact with unbelievers on a regular basis?

Do you preach hard truths?

Is your church involved in some capacity in reaching unreached people groups?

By Robert Angison on September 17, 2008 1:03 PM

This will hopefully be a great poll. Should be enlightening. I'd be interested in hearing about longevity in ministry and how pastors have done with their time. Maybe something like:

1. How long have you been serving in active, vocational ministry?

2. What is the biggest contributor to the length of time in ministry?
a. An affirming mentor
b. Spiritual disciplines
c. Calling/Passion
d. Training
e. Fellowship with other pastors
f. Church affirmation
g. Seeing lives changed
h. other

maybe just a couple that might be interesting to ask. Should be a great poll given the terrific questions already posed above.

You are the Church
R.A.

By Andy Wright on September 17, 2008 1:03 PM

When was the last time your church had involvement (planting, training, giving money, giving resources, etc.) in planting a church?

a. in the last year
b. in the last 5 years
c. in the last 10 years
d. in the last 20 years
e. never

By Emily L on September 17, 2008 1:34 PM

1. How much time a day do you spend personally reading and meditating on the Bible? [these are just guidelines for answers]
a. less than 5 minutes
b. more than 5 minutes but less than 20 mins
c. between 20 minutes and 45 minutes
d. at least an hour
e. more than one hour

2. How much family time do you get a week?
a. one night a week for a few hours
b. a couple nights a week
c. one weekend day
d. family time? what's that?
e. other answer, not listed. Please specify

3. If effective is defined as noting spiritual growth and maturity in more than 55% of your congregation, do you feel that you are being effective in your current place of ministry?

4. List one thing your congregation can do for you to encourage and refresh you.

5. In one sentence or less, what has been the highlight of your ministry to date?

6. If you could have any super power, what would it be, and why?

By irreverend fox on September 17, 2008 2:37 PM

How often do you have sexual relations with your wife?

This question is very blunt, yet, needs to be asked more often. The vast majority of men have sex frequently...period. They are either having sex with their God given wives or they are doing so in other sinful ways. Sexual sin is a massive monster that no one wants to talk about until after one falls (and then we criticize). A question like this very uncomfortable but I believe will help diagnosis many if not most related problems before they become disgusting public failings.

I'm afraid to read the results of this poll if a question like this is in it. If the poll results are as pitiful as I fear the obvious question would be, “then who are you having sex with?� Pastors as a group need to see these questions more often and we as a convention ought to see the (what I fear to be) brutal truth…and then encourage repentance and healing. We have far too many unqualified (yet professionally educated) men serving in our churches and this part of what ails us...we've lost an annointing.

By Jeff on September 17, 2008 2:58 PM

~How willing are you to partner with other pastors in your area? (1-5 scale)

~How willng is your church to partner with other churches? (1-5 scale)

Somehow inquire if these were to change if the pastors/churches partnerships required crossing denomination, racial, and established vs church planting lines.

By Denis Vasin on September 17, 2008 3:11 PM

-What do you do when people leaving church?

-How much time do you spend to train youth pastors?

Thank you

By David Black on September 17, 2008 3:19 PM

Great Project. Lots of good questions so far too.

1. Can you name three unsaved individuals you interact with on a weekly basis.

2. Can you name a family member of the above individuals?

3. In one sentence, define personal success.

By tom ascol on September 17, 2008 3:20 PM

Do you agree with the following statement?

"Justification is the act of God infusing righteousness into a person who trusts in Jesus Christ for salvation."

How long do you usually preach? (multiple choice)

Does your worship service usually include public reading of Scripture other the reading of the text of the sermon?

By Ed StetzerAuthor Profile Page on September 17, 2008 3:23 PM

Some very helpful ideas here. Keep in mind that these are ALL Protestant pastors, mainline, charismatic, evangelical, etc.

Keep them coming... we already have taken note of several.

Ed

By R. Scott Helsel on September 17, 2008 3:27 PM

Is the government of your church workng in such a way that makes it easy to make needed directional changes?

Yes/No

What type of governmental structure do you have?
A. Staff Run with Trustee Oversight
B. Board Run
C. Elder Run
D. Congregational
E. Other

By Greg Frohna on September 17, 2008 3:35 PM

How much money do you spend annually attending conferences for you/your staff?

By Bob Cleveland on September 17, 2008 3:37 PM

I'm not a pastor but I'd suggest a couple anyway.

(Being the shy sort that I am.)

1) Do you have, in place, monitored programs to:

A) Assimilate people who join from another church, into your church?

B) Discern the gifts of those joining your church from other churches?

C) Find such new members a place of service?

D) Monitor attendance and compare with overall membership attendance?

E) Follow through on members who join and disappear?

2) Do you have such a program in place to monitor:

A) New-believer new members who join, to be sure they learn the fundamentals of your church, as well as the your denomination's statement of faith?

B) Track the attendance of such new member believers in their first year (or other selected period)?

By Craig on September 17, 2008 3:55 PM

Do you spend quiet time in prayer and in the Bible EVERY DAY?

Do you believe visitation programs still work in this day and age?

Do you think Sunday School is still the core of a vital, growing church?

By Ron Harvey on September 17, 2008 6:45 PM

Questions about:

Church:
What is a healthy Church?
What is a healthy church member?

Life:
Do you view or have you viewed porn since you have been in the ministry?
Who are you in an accountability relationship with?
Are your finances in order i.e.out of debt, will, enough insurance?

Ministry:
Are you committed to the scriptures, and the sharing of the true Gospel?
Do you preach expositorally, systematically, doctrinally through the Scriptures?

Would you seek help from your church if you felt burn out coming on or were having marital difficulties?

By Carole Turner on September 17, 2008 7:14 PM

How big of a problem do you think Pornography is among staff members?

How do you handle gay or lesbian couples or individuals that come into your congregation?

Do you think church staff should be required to sign a form stating they will not drink alcohol?

Do you believe the church is responsible for taking care of the poor?

What part do you feel a church should play in shaping the political views of it's members?

By David W. Gould on September 17, 2008 7:27 PM

Ed, Looking forward to the results. Hopefully they will be properly used.

Not a 'researcher', so I don't know if the following are good yes and no, or multiple choice questions. I will leave that up to the professionals so I don't hurt myself.

Do you believe you were adequately prepared for the pastorate by the Bible College/Seminary you attended?

Were economics a deciding factor in your decision to go into ministry?

Could economics be a deciding factor to stay in the ministry?

Do you believe you are a good pastoral match for the church in which you presently serve?

Does your denomination do an adequate job of matching pastoral gifts with a specific church's need?

Do you believe you could be more effective in a full-time position?

Spiritually, do you feel like you are personally growing, plataued or declining?

Hope that helps, though I don't feel any better after airing the questions... LOL.

By Eric King on September 17, 2008 7:42 PM

1. Is the purpose of the Sunday morning gathering/service for evangelism or is it to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry during the week?

2. Is missions one of the tasks of the church or is fulfilling the Mission THE task of the church?

3. What is the scorecard at your church, how do you measure success? Activity? Baptisms? Sent out members? Transformed lives?

4. is the primary evangelism strategy of your church programatic or relational.

5. Do you have an intentional plan to equip your members in relational evangelism?

By Sandra Peoples on September 17, 2008 7:54 PM

Please consider including questions about balancing family time, leading family worship/devotions, and/or spouse's involvement (I say spouses since you are targeting this to a variety of denominations who may ordain women).

By Garry on September 17, 2008 7:58 PM

Is ministry what you expected it to be?
Given a do over would you go down a path of ministry again? If yes why If no why
What are you feeling as a pattern after you preach?
How do you feel always being compared to the mega church model?

By jimmie w kersh on September 17, 2008 8:31 PM

How soon do you plan to retire?

Question is to try to determine the number of pastors actually needed to fill the empty positions

By IndyChristian on September 17, 2008 10:34 PM

"Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves. On average, how will your closest 100 neighbors rate your church one year from now? (One to Five Stars)

By Joshua Maciel on September 17, 2008 10:44 PM

Devotions: How many have spend quality set aside time with the Lord in the past week?

Or Some kind of question gearing the rate of devotion.

By Jason on September 18, 2008 4:30 AM

What has been your biggest struggle as a Pastor?

What has been your hardest sin to avoid?

Seeing at how this is anonymous have you ever had moral failure, public or still kept private?

What is the percentage of sermons you come up with from your own study and that you get off the internet or some other form of media?

What is the best book you have ever outside of the Bible?

Why we park on driveways and drive on parkways?

What do you wear on an average Sunday morning and do you think it really matters?

Calvin or Arminian and is your church growing?

By Eric King on September 18, 2008 6:48 AM

OK: thought of a couple more:

Are you satisfied with the present impact of your local church?

Has your church adopted a strategy for engaging an unreached people group?

Are you as a pastor being transformed on a continual basis through your personal walk and devotion?

By Ryan on September 18, 2008 6:59 AM

Are there times as a Pastor, that you don't stand up for what is right because you are afraid you will lose your job?

Are there times as a Pastor, that you don't stand up for what is right because you are afraid of losing someone from the church?

By Will Jackson on September 18, 2008 8:11 AM

Not quite sure how to phrase the question, but I would like to see a question that reveals the thoughts of pastors and retirement. It seems like a good percentage of pastors have the American mindset that once they hit a certain age, they can "retire" from the ministry.

By Evan Blackerby on September 18, 2008 9:02 AM

What occupies your time?

Does church conflict occupy more of your time than reaching out to skeptics around you?

Do you understand your own strengths (and weaknesses)?

Are you easily able to delegate your weaknesses?

By Josh Benfield on September 18, 2008 9:12 AM

I would like to ask pastors how much they pray and when they pray for how long. The subject is very interesting and I wonder about the correlation between a praying pastor and a growing church or a church that is more missional in its outlook.

By Dan on September 18, 2008 9:34 AM

What criteria do you use for your sermons?Do you use Surveys to plan your next sermon or are you led by the Holy Spirit. Or does the Southern Baptist Asociation, Lifeway, dictate your next sermon? Do you use the current "marketing plans" or do you allow the church to grow by preaching the Biblical truths ? And allowing the Church to grow the way God's word stated it would. Are you after member increases or are you sharing the true gospel ?

By Gary Taylor on September 18, 2008 9:41 AM

How large is your church?
# = _______

Do you feel it is danger of dying?
Yes or No

Which option would your church choose?
Purposeful decision to close
Slow decline until death
Try to turn-around gradually
Attempt a restart

By Chris Meirose on September 18, 2008 9:54 AM

In an average week, how many hours do you work?

Do you feel your work takes away from family and personal time?

Have you had conflict with a spouse or family member related to your work schedule?

By Dave on September 18, 2008 1:52 PM

Here are some ideas that I haven't seen come up yet.

Does your church have a team dedicated to seeing every-member involvement in finishing the Great Commission?

Is your congregation trained to recognize and embrace one or more of the following roles in missions: goer, sender, giver, pray-er, mobilizer and welcomer (of int'l students, refugees & immigrants)?

Is your church actively praying for, recruiting and sending your own members as frontline and support missionaries?

Does your church have a strategic plan for how and where your resources (both personnel & finances) are invested in the Great Commission?

By Karen Norman on September 18, 2008 2:41 PM

Do you ever feel that you missed God's calling on your life?

Do you have someone that can minister to you when you are discouraged, tired of being in the ministry, and just plain sick of your congregation?

By jonathan jordan on September 18, 2008 2:47 PM

What are 4 ways you could use Sunday School, small groups, whatever... to move your church to be more "mission" oriented, (not to be confused with missions)?

If you had to cut 3 PROGRAMS from your churches calendar, could you, and what would they be?

By joey on September 18, 2008 4:11 PM

do you consider Islam a threat to the kingdom of God?

By Nolan on September 19, 2008 12:35 AM

Here's a question that I'm not sure has been asked yet.

How often do you read your bible a week without the intent of using it for a sermon?

A. Not often enough
B. Once a day
C. 3-5 Times a week
D. 1-2 Times a week

By Glen Davis on September 19, 2008 10:07 AM

Did you go to a Bible college or a secular university for your undergraduate degree, if any? Graduate degrees, if any?

By Stephen Berger on September 21, 2008 9:35 AM

Ed,

I would ask some questions going in 2 directions:

1. How in touch and directed in their ministry planning are pastors by outcomes in the lives of their people?

2. What are the dynamics and forces that limit or allow pastors to be innovative (looking for the corralaries to recent Harvard Business School research on how organizational structures prevent needed inovations and change).

Some questions might be:

1. Do you track the life outcomes of your highschool graduates 3 and 5 years after graduation?

2. What is more important when evaluating the performance of the youth pastor?
a. Satisfaction of the parents.
b. Life outcomes of past graduates.

3. How unified are you with your church board and lay leaders?

a. Very unified
b. Somewhat unified
c. Neutral
d. Somewhat in conflict
e. Deeply conflicted

4. When evaluating the effectiveness of different ministry areas we usually:

a. Compare ourselves to other churches we are aware of.
b. Compare the results of the ministry to the desired results for that ministry.

5. For teens and young adults in your church how would you say their lives compare to the general population:

a. Much better than average
b. About the same
c. Worse than average

6. For long time members in your church how would you say their lives compare to the general population:

a. Much better than average
b. About the same
c. Worse than average

7. How would you respond to the statement, "We frequently get positive comments from those outside the church about the love and warmth observed between our staff, lay leaders and long time members."

a. True
b. False

By John Alexander on September 22, 2008 1:15 PM

One small suggestion: Please include email as a tool for reaching pastors. Caller ID and "do not call" lists will eliminate many prospective pastors from participation. Personally, if I don't recognize the identity of the caller, I don't take "telemarketer" calls.

By Jordan W on September 23, 2008 10:52 AM

Well I'm not a pastor, I'm only 20 but I am very interested in missions work and I would ask a few questions:

1. How important is missions work to your church?
2. Do you send out missionaries or support missionaries?
3. How important is it for you to keep your church updated on how the missionaries you support are doing?

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