Thank you to everyone who completed our second congregational survey. After several deadline extensions, we received 163 responses, versus 159 in 2018.
The survey is important because it provides the Board of Trustees information to help represent the congregation well and allocate resources accordingly, and it also gives First Church staff information to help serve us all.
Here are some preliminary highlights:
- Over 26% of respondents said they are very or extremely familiar with First Church’s Ends statements, or goals, that guide our congregational commitments and actions. Roughly 32% of respondents were not at all familiar with the Ends, while 41% were somewhat familiar with them.
- Respondents indicated that our congregational actions better reflect our Ends today as compared to 2018, which shows that people feel we are making progress towards our goals.
- In both 2018 and 2020, the respondents think we do the best at End 4 — “generously give and receive support, connection, and care in times of joy and challenge.” End 4 was viewed as the most important goal in 2020, while it ranked second in 2018.
- In 2020, respondents think we need the most improvement in implementing End 8 — “Create accessible, courageous, and innovative welcome to people who might find a sense of belonging and a spiritual home with us.” End 8 was seen as the second most important goal in 2020, while it ranked first in 2018.
- The difference between how well we do in living our Ends versus how important we think they are is largest for End 8, followed by End 3, “Follow the leadership of people most affected by injustice, partnering to move the Milwaukee community toward justice.”
- In 2020, respondents thought almost all of the Ends are more important than they did in 2018.
It will take some time to do a more thorough analysis of the survey results, and we will share them with you in a future article. Again, thank you for participating; you have provided us great insight.
Jane Cliff, Vice-President of the Board of Trustees