Westminster Presbyterian Church Discernment Process TEAM B

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1 Westminster Presbyterian Church Discernment Process TEAM B Mission Start Building and document a Congregational Profile and its Strengths which considers: Total Membership Sunday Worshippers Congregational Input Write a Report that compares Westminster Presbyterian Church to (1) Other Churches with Congregations > 350 (2) National Average for Presbyterian Churches Write a Final Report for the Session, and the congregation based on Team B findings and input from the focus group and any and all members of the congregation wishing to contribute. Tools US Congregational Life Survey WPC Ten Year Trends Focus Group Input Cynthia Woolever and Deborah Bruce, A Field Guide to U.S. Congregations: Who's Going Where and Why (Second Edition) Westminster John Knox,2010 Cynthia Woolever and Deborah Bruce, Beyond the Ordinary: 10 strengths of U.S. Congregations, Westminster John Knox, 2010 Comparisons: 2008 National Average of churches with congregations > 350 and 2008 National average for Presbyterian Churches Points to Consider We will build, tweak, change, and reflect upon the Profile as we present, listen, discuss, and discern. The survey responses are from the worshippers at a particular Sunday, at a particular time- A Snapshot in Time if you will! Total church membership approx On the day of the Survey: Attendance: 405 Surveys Turned In: 341 Surveys completed: 320 Surveys not counted (incomplete): 21 Questions for Congregational Consideration Would feedback from members that did not take the survey differ significantly from those that did? Why? Who are these silent members? Where are they? Why do they not regularly attend worship? What do they believe? Would they significantly change our Profile? How do we value input from those that attend worship- versus those that do not? What will shape our future?

2 A Word about the U.S. Congregational Life Survey The U.S. Congregational Life Survey is a project that is funded by grants from the Lilly Endowment Inc. and the Louisville Institute. The studies provide the largest and most representative profile of worshippers and their congregations ever developed in the United States. More than 500,000 worshippers have filled out a survey during religious worship services. The survey is designed to explore four dimensions of congregational life: spirituality and faith development, activities and relationships within the congregation, community involvement, and worshipper s vision for the congregation s future. The survey that Westminster Presbyterian Church participated in on March 25 th became part of the nationwide survey project and the results from the questions we answered were statistically analyzed and reported according to the pre-defined methodologies used and proven by the survey company. Nothing in the basic questions was customized just for WPC. Team B received the analyzed results from the survey company at the beginning of May The results were delivered in several formats: 1. Team B used our congregation s answers to the questions to initiate the building of a WPC Congregation profile. No comparisons were applied in this segment of the profile- just basic answers to the questions. 2. Next, the survey company, based on their experience and proven analytical methodologies grouped questions to form the basis for reporting comparisons to other churches in the following areas: Spiritual Connections, Outside Connections, Inside Connections, and Identity Connections. 3. Finally, again using the predefined statistical methodologies, the survey company grouped questions and selected answers to support how WPC compared to other churches in the Ten Strengths of U.S. Congregations. These strengths are what the survey project has defined as a measuring barometer for successful congregations and ranks all participants in the survey against the same strengths using the same selected answers from the same grouped questions: Growing Spiritually Meaningful Worship Participating in the Congregation Having a Sense of Belonging Caring for Young People Focusing on the Community Sharing Faith Welcoming New Worshippers Empowering Leadership Looking to the Future

3 According to the Survey Project, every congregation is strong is various ways. Every congregation has a mind, heart, and courage: MIND: HEART: COURAGE: Evaluating strengths through rationale, analytical approaches Respond with feeling, intuition, or imagination with openness to future possibilities to face both the present and the future in spite of doubts, fears, or uncertainty As you review Team B s summaries you will find that comparisons to other churches are classified as not significant or significant. The survey company s definition is as follows: In General differences of 3% to 5% are considered statistically significant differences. That means that any difference less than that amount may be due to random variation in the measures.

4 Congregational Profile Summary Who We Are! Our Congregation is 97% white or Caucasian, with 3% diverse races or origins. For the most part, we are born in the USA, few of us have children of any age living at home (18%), and we tend to live in the southern suburbs of Dayton and drive further than most other comparative congregations. We are a highly educated congregation- with 83% of us having a college degree or higher We tend to represent a mature segment of our population with 55% of us age 65+. Our theological beliefs and views of the Bible seem to be evenly split between those of us with conservative, liberal, and right in the middle biblical beliefs. We are also evenly split between those of us who view the Bible as the word of God to be interpreted in light of its historical context and the church s teachings, and those who view the Bible as the word of God to be interpreted in light of its historical and cultural context. Our annual worshipper income is substantial, our financial giving is somewhat above typical while tithing is slightly below typical We don t seem to feel the church is ready to try new things, or at least unsure if we are.. Most of us do have a strong sense of belonging.. Most of us Joined Westminster Presbyterian Church from another congregation, and almost half of us came from a Presbyterian Background We prefer Traditional or classical music during the worship service and 81% of us feel our spiritual needs are being met. We will talk about our religion if it comes up.. We do take part in community activities, however the majority of our efforts are not through this congregation.. Many of us attend services every week, and 41% have been attending for more than 20 years.. 75% of us are involved in some group activity, and we are very pleased with the Youth programs at WPC..

5 WPC 10-Year Trends Summary We began with 10 years of data, for 2000 through Subsequently, we obtained data for For the most part, we show 11 years of data. Membership numbers include active and inactive [dropped out, in long-term care facilities, living elsewhere (elderly living with out of state relatives, military and business transfers, etc)]. There were Membership Roll Reviews in 2001 and Westminster s membership declined 6.2% from , whereas other PC (USA) churches membership declined 19.2% between the years 2000 and Worship Attendance currently comes from the pew attendance pads. Not everyone signs them, but the assumption is the percentage is similar year-to-year. Westminster s Worship Attendance declined 30.1% over the 10-year period , where other PC (USA) churches membership remained relatively stable over the period Annual contributions increased 21.4% over the 10-year period This increase in annual giving comes despite the decrease in membership AND the effects of the recession. Many experts recommend using the average contribution per worshiper as a metric. We chose not to do so -- since so many WPC members give by electronic deductions, we felt there wasn t a strong correlation between attendance and giving. Generational Giving Pattern: The GI generation s birth years are , Silent: 25-42, Boomer: 43-60, X: 61-81, and millennial: We have three snapshots in time over 10years: 2001, 2009 (8-yrs later), and 2011 (2-yrs later). As you would expect, the percentages of membership and giving of the GI s are dropping. Interestingly, the percentages of membership and giving of the Silent s are increasing, as they are for the Boomer s with the exception for a small drop in membership percentage from 2009 to In 2011, the Silent Generation contribution was 24% membership and 35% giving, and the Boomer s was 31% membership and 50% giving. Combined, a retired generation and a rapidly graying and generation entering retirement funded 85% of WPC s contributions with 55% of the membership. The link for this information is

6 U.S. Congregation Life Survey Connections Summary of Significant Differences for WPC Spiritual Connections Our worship experience scores are an average of 10% lower than our comparison groups. Our personal spiritual connections are not significantly different than the comparison groups. Inside Connections Westminster members feel highly involved in group activities, as leaders and in friendships. Our percentages were higher than the comparison groups here. Westminster giving of 10% or more (tithing) was lower than comparison groups even though our overall giving is up. Outside Connections We are fairly comfortable inviting others we may know to worship, but not in reaching out to the broader community. A large number of members serve the community through organizations outside of the church. Most of our members have attended Westminster for 10 or more years. Most NEW people attending have come from another faith tradition or church. We drive a greater distance to worship at Westminster than our comparison groups Identity Connections Westminster is classified as a large church which represents only 8% of all congregations. We have more women than men and our largest age group is 65 and above. A much larger than average number of Westminster members has a college or graduate degree. Over half of the congregation is married but only 20% have children at home.

7 Questions for Congregational Consideration Spiritual Connections How can we offer to meet the spiritual needs of those who do not attend here or who are non-attending members? How can we build on our spiritual strengths? Inside Connections Though this connection area is one in which we showed highest comparison percentages there is always room for improvement. Which area concerns us the most at this time? Outside Connections Are there gaps in our community connections? Is it a positive or a negative that we tend to volunteer less with WPC community outreach efforts than on our own? Are our results in this area what you expected? Identity Connections How does our identity profile compare to how you picture our congregation? Is this profile who we want to be?

8 The Ten Strengths of U.S. Congregations How WPC Compares Results from the U.S. Congregational Life Survey were used to compare Westminster Presbyterian Church to other large churches (> 350 worshipers) and to other Presbyterian Churches in ten areas of strength. These comparisons do not directly indicate whether or not WPC is doing well in these areas. Rather, they indicate how WPC is doing relative to other congregations that are similar in size or in denominational characteristics. [How WPC is doing in these strengths in an absolute sense is addressed in the Connections summary.] The purpose of these comparisons is to help us understand if there are structural or denominational reasons that explain how we are doing in each strength. Growing Spiritually: WPC does not differ significantly from other large churches or from other Presbyterian churches. Meaningful Worship: WPC does not differ significantly from other large churches or from other Presbyterian churches. Participating in the Congregation: WPC is significantly stronger than other large churches in this strength. This reflects a denominational trend as WPC was not significantly different from other Presbyterian churches. Having a sense of belonging to the Congregation: WPC does not differ significantly from other large churches or from other Presbyterian churches. Caring for Children and Youth: WPC was significantly stronger in this area than both other large churches and other Presbyterian churches. This mainly was due to the high levels of congregation satisfaction with our children s and youth programs. Focusing on the Community: WPC is significantly stronger than other large churches in this strength. This reflects a denominational trend as WPC was not significantly different from other Presbyterian churches. Sharing Faith: WPC does not differ significantly from other large churches or from other Presbyterian churches. Welcoming New Worshipers: WPC was significantly weaker than other large churches in this strength. We also were weaker than other Presbyterian Churches although this difference fell just short of being significant. The only measure of this strength/weakness of Welcoming New Worshipers was how many new worshipers attend worship at WPC. This value of this one criterion could be challenged- yet the category itself merits evaluation.

9 Empowering Leadership: Although WPC was categorized as significantly weaker than both other large churches and other Presbyterian churches by the survey results, the methodology used by the survey company considered only the responses of strongly agree and great extent which may have diminished our overall ranking. By adding all of the positive results together our ranking is more in line with other churches that participated in the survey. As we move forward in the discernment process, how we empower leaders in the future should be an area to further evaluate and explore in more detail for possibilities. Looking to the Future: WPC was significantly weaker than both other large churches and other Presbyterian churches. One of the questions that contributed to this weakness was whether or not respondents feel the congregation is currently moving in new directions. Responses to these questions may have been strongly influenced by our current transition process resulting from Sandy s impending retirement and may not reflect the long-term trend at WPC.