St. Matthew’s Parish Survey

1. St. Matthew’s Parish Survey St. Matthew’s Parish 36 New Canaan Road Wilton, CT 06897 October, 2011

2. Survey Objectives • Track the demographic and church attendance behavior of our Parishioners. • Understand how our Parish community best nourishes and comforts its members, and how it can improve its efforts. • Determine what parishioners believe are useful avenues to “proclaim the good news” to all within and outside our Parish family. • Determine impressions of newcomers (2 or fewer years in Parish), and identify opportunities to improve newcomer relationships. • Determine parishioner attitudes toward parish communications, and help determine ways to improve them. • Understand parishioner attitudes on wardenship; vestry service. • Understand parishioner attitudes toward children and youth programs.

3. Survey Method • The survey was launched via email to all Parishioners with email addresses (approx. 90%) during the week of May 16, 2011: approx. 185 of the 206 pledging units. Approx. 20-25 received a hard copy in the mail or at church. • A cover note from the Rector and Wardens was included. • Weekly reminders were made in Church and via the email addresses. • Returns by Gender and marital status are, as follows: *206 households • A copy of the questionnaire and resulting tabulations are available at the church office. A comment on the sample: These are current parishioners. “Past” parishioners, those who have left for one reason or another, are not included. So some care should be given to these results. However, it might be reasonable to use reasons for positive and negative reactions to various things among current members as strong inferences to unhappy departures.

4. 1. Track the demographic, church attendance behavior of our Parishioners: 1992 > 2011.

5. The Parish Profile: Spring ’92 > Spring ’11Demographic Profile

6. The Parish Profile: Spring ’92 > Spring ’11Demographic Profile (cont’d)

7. The Parish Profile: Spring ’92 > Spring ’11Church Activity Characteristics

8. 2. Understand how our Parish community best nourishes and comforts its members, and how it can improve its efforts.

9. Reasons for Becoming and Remaining a St. Matthew’s Parishioner (n = 180) *Sunday school (for families with kids), fellowship, the music program and the open and accepting nature of the Parish, along with geographic convenience, are, by far, the most frequently mentioned reasons for becoming a member and the first three, for remaining one.

10. How Good a Job is St. Matthew’s Doing(n=150) • Relative to all the reasons one has to be a member of the Parish, almost 6 in 10 feel St. Matthew’s is doing a “very good” job at it. • Virtually no one (3%) says it’s doing a “fair” or “poor” job.

11. How Good a Job is St. Matthew’s Doing • The Children’s programs are a great driver of positive opinion.

12. Reasons for Remaining a St. Matthew’s Parishioner(n = 180) • Church school, the Sermons and the open/accepting nature of the Parish are the strongest drivers of positive opinion of the church.

13. Additional Programs Needed? • ¾ of parishioners see a need for one or another new program. Additional Adult and Outreach Programs are more likely to be sited as needs among those with less than a “very good” opinion of the Parish, overall. • It’s probably relevant that these two don’t include children.

14. Spiritual Journey • 4 in 10 Parishioners site the need for help in their “spiritual journey.”

15. Where are you on your Spiritual Journey? (By Church Attendance) • Church attendance regularity coincides closely with the spiritual journey path. Hard to know which causes which.

16. Attribute Importance St. Matthew’s Parish Programs More Important andWell Delivered More Important andLess Well Delivered % Very Important Less Important andWell Delivered Less Important andLess Well Delivered

17. Delivered Above Strength Target The Choirs The Auction Sunday Coffee Delivered on Strength Target Financial Management Preaching Church School/Confirmation Program Stewardship Mgmt of Joint Facilities Community Projects Delivered Somewhat Below Strength Target Attracting and Welcoming New Members Pastoral Care Day-to-day Operations Hands-on Outreach Nursery Delivered Below Strength Target Planning for Future Needs 6th, 7th, 8th and High School Youth Groups New Member Involvement On-going Member Involvement Public Communications Attribute Importance Vs. Delivery The More Important Attributes

18. Parish Characteristics with Greatest Leverage for Improving Overall Attitude • Of the 54 traits measured, the above 10 have the greatest relative leverage driving toward “very good” parish opinion – “preaching”, having the most leverage of all.

19. Timing for an Additional Service (n=180) • About ½ of parishioners see a need for an additional service, the great plurality being a 5pm service on Saturday.

20. Who wants additional service? • Weekly attendees: no extra service necessary: 80% • Importantly, weekly attendees are far less likely to see the need for an additional service – so the additional service is that much less likely simply to sub for the 10am Sunday service. • Members 40-49 who have attended for 3-9 years are most likely to see this need.

21. Willingness to Participate (n=94) • Among those who were interested in another service… • 14% were willing to serve on the alter guild • 24% would LEM • 68% would be willing to read

22. Fellowship Involvement • Regarding fellowship involvement, new members can be split into two groups: those “somewhat” involved and a smaller group “not at all” involved. As they become longer term (3-9 years) members, each group seems to move up a notch. So, it’s important to get at least some level of involvement soon on.

23. Number of Fellowship Activities (n=150) • The current level of overall fellowship activity is seen as “just right” by 6 in 10 parishioners.

24. 3. Determine what parishioners believe are useful avenues to “proclaim the good news” to all within and outside our Parish family – both by words and deeds.

25. “Good News” Proclamations: The Words (Importance and Strength) (n=150) • To parishioners, pastoral care and the public communications of St. Matthew’s Parish are, by far, the most important “word” proclamation programs – the later poorly delivered. • Arts at St. Matthew’s and pastoral care are, by far, the best delivered. • St. Matthew’s could use better public communications

26. St. Matthew’s Outreach: The Deeds (Importance and Strength) (n=150) • Hands-on outreach and community projects like the Tagless sale are, by far, the most important “deed” proclamation projects. • Community projects and the seasonal programs are the best delivered. • As with the “word” path, the “deed” path, especially for Hands-on and agency financial support need better PR

27. 4. Determine impressions of newcomers (2 or fewer years in Parish), and identify opportunities to improve newcomer relationships.

28. Term of Parish Membership (n=180)

29. How Good a Job is St. Matthew’s Doing • Member opinion gradually deteriorates over time. New members are the most satisfied.

30. New Members Importance and Strength (n=16) • Newcomers see the attraction, integration, welcoming and involvement of new members as far above average in importance. • Attraction, welcoming and integration are delivered on a par with other St. Matthew’s traits, while involvement is far below average.

31. Sufficiency of Number/Type of Newcomer Events • Generally, the number and type of events for newcomers is seen as somewhat insufficient. This is especially true among newcomers.

32. 5. Determine parishioner attitudes toward parish communications, and help determine ways to improve them.

33. Overall Opinion of St. Matthew’s Communications With its Members • About ½ of parishioners respond that the communications within the church are “very good”. Only 10% say they are “fair” or “poor”. The response becomes significantly more positive the newer and younger the member. Significantly better than those with the community at large.

34. Frequency of Reading Parish e-mails • Parish e-mails are frequently read by all in the Parish (84% every/most times), especially by newcomers (100%).

35. The Usefulness of Parish e-mails • ¾ of parishioners find the e-mails useful; 9 in 10 among newer members. • The number of emails received is considered “just right” by 9 in 10 parishioners.

36. St. Matthew’s New Website Visits • About 3 in 4 parishioners have visited the site; among visitors, twice a month is the average frequency. • 2/3 rate it “very good” or “good”.

37. Social Media Use (i.e., Facebook, Twitter) • About 4 in 10 parishioners claim to currently use social media. Its use is far more common among younger parishioners, and those with children.

38. Is St. Matthew’s Use of Social Media a Good Idea? • Only 3 in 10 think the social media is a good fit for the Parish. So, from parishioners’ view it’s probably true that the time has not yet come for St. Matthew’s and Facebook. This pretty much goes across age groups.

39. 6. Understand parishioner attitudes on Wardenship; vestry service.

40. Parishioner Understanding of Vestry Role and Church Governance • Clearly, there is a learning curve regarding Vestry/Governance understanding, with only 1 in 4 newcomers feeling “informed” as contrasted to almost 7 in 10 among veterans.

41. Are you engaged in decision-making to the extent you’d like to be? • The relative satisfaction with decision-making engagement does appear to lead to a better opinion of the Parish, overall.

42. Interested in Leadership Serving in the Future (n = 180) • There doesn’t appear to be a keen interest in future leadership among St. Matthew’s parishioners.

43. 7. Understand parishioner attitudes toward children and youth programs.

44. The Parish Profile: Spring ’92 > Spring ’11 • 60% of Parish families have kids – about the same as 20 years ago. However, we have far more 6-18 year olds, netting out to 2 kids per family – double 20 years ago.

45. Reasons for Becoming and Remaining a St. Matthew’s Parishioner (n = 180) • Sunday school (for families with kids), fellowship, the music program and the open and accepting nature of the Parish are, by far, the most important reasons for remaining at the Parish.

46. How Good a Job is St. Matthew’s Doing • The Children’s programs are a great driver of positive opinion.

47. Reasons for Remaining a St. Matthew’s Parishioner (n = 180) • Church school, the Sermons and the open/accepting nature of the Parish have the greatest leverage to drive positive opinion of the church.

48. Delivered Above Strength Target The Choirs The Auction Sunday Coffee Delivered on Strength Target Financial Management Preaching Church School/Confirmation Program Stewardship Mgmt of Joint Facilities Community Projects Delivered Somewhat Below Strength Target Attracting and Welcoming New Members Pastoral Care Day-to-day Operations Hands-on Outreach Nursery Delivered Below Strength Target Planning for Future Needs 6th, 7th, 8th and High School Youth Groups New Member Involvement On-going Member Involvement Public Communications Attribute Importance Vs. Delivery The More Important Attributes

49. Some Conclusions

50. 1. Track the demographic, church attendance behavior of our Parishioners: 1992 > 2011 • The basic internal demographic and “Activity” structure of the Parish has been stable over the past 20 years. Of the nine characteristics measured, only two showed significant change: • Parish families are more likely to have children in the 6-12 and 13-18 age range, leading to a net growth from 1.0 to 1.8 kids 6-18 living at home: +80% increase in the prime children/youth church program range. • Secondly, the religion in which the parishioner was raised was significantly more likely to be Catholic (27% vs. 9%), and less Episcopalian (43%. Vs. 55%).