Salem Elder Corner

April 20, 2022

Dear Salem Church Family,

Earlier in the month we invited all Salem attenders to complete a questionnaire to help us get a snapshot of our church family at this time. For this month’s Elder Corner, we would like to report back some of what we have learned. First we want to thank those of you who completed the questionnaire. Similar to how Paul celebrated news he received about the believers in Ephesus in Eph 1:15-16, since reading your responses, "We have not stopped giving thanks for you, as we learned about your faith in the Lord Jesus, your love for all of God’s people, and your desire to serve others."

We were pleased to have about 53% of our active attenders respond. Although it doesn’t represent everyone, it is a high participation rate for questionnaires of this nature. The largest number of respondents were from those over age 55, but we also had 75 respondents between age 35-54, and 37 respondents under age 35, which is enough to give us a good picture of those age cohorts as well.

Attached is a summary of some of the findings. We tried to create this in a visually appealing manner, focusing on only a portion of the findings that we thought stood out the most. These results will be discussed in person at the Salem Business Meeting on Sunday May 1, at 12:30 pm.

As stated in the cover letter for the questionnaire, we believe these findings will help us better serve our church family, and better discern God’s leading of Salem at this time. Here are ways we hope to use these results:

• Help us know our church family better
• Learn the spiritual practices and habits of our attenders
• Serve our people better by providing opportunities for growth and development in areas where people desire growth
• Inform the visioning process the elders are going through presently

Here is the plan moving forward:

• Please review the attached summary. You might consider discussing it with the members of your Life Group or your ministry team. It can also serve as a prayer guide as you pray for our church and seek the Lord’s leading for our church. 
• Some of you will want to see the breakdown of all the items. You can request a complete copy of all the results by emailing Gina Cass at Gina.Cass@salemefc.org 
• This summary and additional findings will be discussed in person at the Salem Business Meeting on Sunday May 1, at 12:30 pm.
• The pastors and elders will be using the results in the visioning process.

Of course no questionnaire can replace personal conversations. But we believe this has been a good way to hear from a large number of people, on a wide range of topics, and it is a good complement to what we share together in person. Thank you for your commitment to the gospel and to Salem.

God bless,

The Salem Elder