I Took A Survey On Sunday.

Is there anybody out there who may actually know the reason for this?
How do you feel about this?

On sunday at church we were all given blue cards with questions on them, the cards would be anonymous.

....How old are you?
....How many years have you come to this church?
....What other church demonations have you been affiliated with before you came to this church?
....What nationality/ethnicity are you?
anglo, hispanic, black, american Indaian, Asian,
Other...?
....What is your annual income? giving ranges to check.
....What is your marital status?
Single____Married (first spouse)____Divorced___
Married but previously divorced___Widow/Widower Now married___Still Single___

....What Strengths, Name one, Positive do you see in this church?
....Name Something that could be improved?
....What conscerns you the most?

That's about All I can remember, the few people I talked to about it who took the survey weren't too pleased about it..
Any Thoughts?

the reason that comes to mind is that the church left God and are not under his guidance and therefore they can not ask God what he would like to see changed in church so they focus to give people what they want so they will come and give their money so "church" can go on as usual.

If the leadership in the church where in contact with the living God they would ask him and he would show them through his spirit and through his word what should be done in the church.

But.... that is just my opinion, i suggest the people that dident like this make a similar card for the leaders to fill out. Anonymous of course...

Sounds to me:
1.like the leaders do not know their parishioners.
2.like this church is run like a business

A shepherd will know his flock.

And BTW, why do they have to know your income?

ginnyrose

The questions miss the mark altogether. What
matters to GOD is where you are at in your
relationship and walk with HIM!! Are you
bearing fruit?? Are you growing in His grace??
Are you denying yourself, taking up His cross
to follow HIM??

Was not King David reprimanded by making a census?

I would not readily submit to this kind of activity. Well, maybe the leadership does have good reasons, but what could that be.

Any Thoughts?

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

white stone

Some of the questions seem a little strange at first glance, but perhaps the leaders really do have a good reason for asking such things. We on SermonIndex, who know nothing about this church, don't have much right to discuss its spiritual health based on this single survey.

For instance, the questions regarding income and then combining them with questions about concerns may help the leadership identify disconnects that the poor (or rich) believers feel with the church. Perhaps the leaders notice a trend that those who indicated a lower income often indicate that they feel neglected by the church. Perhaps this will allow them to identify that problem and better minister to the poor?

Or, maybe they notice that those who indicated they were single feel disconnected because most of the other members are married? Just some possibilities.

So, maybe you should simply ask your leadership what the reasoning was behind the questions. I'm sure they would be glad to talk about it with you.

With care in Christ,
Taylor

Thanks for the responses,
I will ask the question,
my best friend is a deacon and he had no idea about it, so this is a pastor driven thing.
I'll see what he says.
But I had this uncomfortable feeling when filling it out; and so on the card I said that those who are led by the spirit of God are the sons of God.
I love my pastor, and would like to consider him my friend, but he is so business oriented, and just loves the purpose driven mentality. I don't know how to get him to think any other way.
It's as if were not being led by the spirit, but we try one thing then another thing and on and on it go's, with no fruit.....
In the last three years we have had since he hired on to our church, only one conversion and one baptism. Thats it, and it concerns me deeply.

Hi poet...

Yes, that is a strange thing to do. Perhaps you should ask your pastor(s) about this...since they are the ones responsible for the survey. They can fill you in more than we can about it...because all we can do is guess their motives.

I know that I used to attend a church that had "visitor cards" that asked strange questions (name, address, age, race/ethnicity, gender, marital status, number/ages/genders of children, etc...). I actually asked the pastor about it, and he admitted that they had purchased a 10,000 cards from a supplier...and they received the wrong ones (or they had ordered the wrong ones). They just wanted info so that they could try and better minister to the needs of each visitor and their family (and, I suppose, they thought that a little info card would help).

I suggest speaking with the pastor about this thing. Regardless, I will be praying for you and the congregation that you attend.

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, [b]and that ye receive not of her plagues.[/b]

When we "join" something, we are also enjoining ourselves to the judgment of that thing, so we best take great care about that which we join.

I was at a church once where I was given a card to fill out with the same type of questions. This was about three years ago.

I wasn't happy about it, because in my opinion they wanted to know who their congregation was so that they could be "relevant"..

So much seems to be said about "targeting your audience" or "know your audience" ...

I hope that was not their reason for the survey, but that is what I took it to be.

B.