When I Survey the Wondrous…

            I admit that I am not a big fan of all the telephone or online surveys that pop up in front of my face.  For most, I tend to hang up or click the window closed with no twinge of guilt!  Some seem worthy, and I will do them.  I was selected one year as a pastor respondent to the Presbyterian Panel, for which questions ranged from “what statement best matches your theological perspective,” to how often you exercise and do you have pets.  If a company I do business with asks, or certain organizations ask and really make a good case that my input matters, I will make an effort.  And, honestly, if filling out a customer survey on a register receipt might get me a gift certificate or enter me into a drawing for a free iPad, I’ll do those, too.

            The U.S. Congregational Life survey we will take this Sunday during worship falls into my well-worth-doing category.  It is a clear, relatively short, well-normed, broadly-based instrument which will give us not only useful demographic data but a very useful thumbnail sketch of our congregation, our composition, and our thoughts about our faith community.  What sets it apart from most other processes is that it shows us where we are on the spectrum for several key factors.  We see where we fit among other congregations and denominations in the U.S.  I find it one of the clearest, sharpest mirrors in which to see ourselves and our expectations.  As I have said often, the Ithaca community is rather unlike most other communities(!), and this survey gives us a national baseline to measure ourselves against as we prepare to undertake a national search for a pastor.

            The survey will have great utility for the search committee when we elect one, perhaps more than most surveys.  It will really help our self-study and our search to have the best information possible, and this has a lot of value for our process, so I really encourage you to add your information to our data.  Your input matters.  Really!  The more who participate, the better our results will be.  Yes, it is worth your time.  It will help!  It will give back a lot more to our congregation than a coupon for a beverage from doing a fast-food survey.

            Most people who have taken this survey have found it interesting and somewhat thought-provoking, and it is pretty quick to take.  Quite a few have mentioned, “I hadn’t thought of it that way” about some of the questions.  I was the interim at a church which needed to do a self-study survey, and while we were considering options, we were randomly selected by the U.S. Congregational Life Survey computer to be part of the original norming.  Providence.  After church, several of the members were so impressed by it that they came back on Monday to hand tabulate the questionnaires before the UPS truck came for them on Tuesday.  They didn’t want to wait the extra time for the computer to crunch all the national data!  Since then USCLS have even added powerpoint presentations of results to their excellent reports and charts. I have had very good experience with this and wish to reinforce how useful it is, even to a reluctant survey-taker like me!

            Well, yes, maybe sticking in a “Golden Ticket” in one survey for an Equal Exchange chocolate bar is more for fun than an actual bribe, but I truly encourage you to attend worship Sunday and help all of us view more clearly what and who we are as First Congregational.  We’ll see you then!

                                                                          In Christ,
                                                                          
                                                                                    David


Texts For Sunday Worship:

      From the Hebrew Bible          Isaiah 65:17-25
      From the Epistles                   2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
      From the Gospels                   Luke 21:5-19