One person in your congregation must be responsible for coordinating the
process. This person is called the "Profile Coordinator". These instructions
are for the Profile Coordinator.
- Contact your congregation's coaching contact person and obtain your congregation's "Congregation ID" and "Congregation Password". These are your keys to accessing the Profile survey on the Internet.
- Contact each of your congregation's:
- Pastors
- Paid Program Staff (such as Youth Director, Music Director, Christian Education Director; not administrative staff such as secretary, office assistant, bookkeeper)
- Lay Leaders (usually elected by the congregation or appointed by the staff, serving in positions such as President, Treasurer, Committee Chairperson, Council/Board Member, Team Leader, Small Group Coordinator, etc.)
Ask each of them to go to www.VitalEvangelicalLeadership.org on the Internet and follow the links for the Vital Congregation Profile. Give them the Congregation ID and Congregation Password so they can type them in to access the correct Profile survey. Finally, ask them to complete and submit a Profile survey.
The goal is that all pastors, paid program staff, and lay leaders complete and submit a survey.
- Obtain a list of your congregation's active members/participants age 15 and older. By "active" we mean they generally have attended worship at least three times a month over the past year.
- Take the total number of members on the list, and divide that number by 70. Round that number down to the nearest whole number. We'll call that number N. For example, say you have 457 active members. 457 divided by 70 equals 6.53. Rounding down gives the number 6. N is 6 in this example.
- Start at the top of the list and count down N people. Mark that person. Then count down N more people, and mark that person. Keep counting down N and marking people until you have gone down the entire list. The approximately 70 people you have marked on the list are the "Profile Sample".
- Contact each person in the Profile Sample. Ask each of them to go to www.VitalEvangelicalLeadership.org on the Internet and follow the links for the Vital Congregation Profile. Give them the Congregation ID and Congregation Password so they can type them in to access the correct Profile survey. Finally, ask them to complete and submit a Profile survey. The goal is that at least 50 active members complete and submit a survey.
- For best response, we recommend the following:
- Ask the senior pastor to announce during worship that "some of you will be receiving an invitation to complete a survey regarding our congregation. This is crucial to our future together, so please complete the survey. It will take only about 30 minutes of your time." This sends a message that this is important and that it is endorsed by the leadership.
- If possible, make a personal contact with each potential respondent. By a phone message or email, send just a simple, personal note that says, "I would really appreciate it if you can complete this survey about our congregation. It's a simple, confidential survey that you can do online in about 30 minutes. Would you be willing to do this? If you have any questions, please call or email me." (See the Profile Background page for more information to help you answer questions that arise.)
- Email or mail a letter of invitation from your church to each potential respondent.
- Email or mail a reminder letter about 10 days later, thanking them if they have already submitted a survey, and encouraging them to complete one if not.
- If some people do not have access to the Internet, you can set up a computer station in a private room near your worship center. You can ask them to come before or after worship or at another time to complete the survey. You may need to ask a volunteer to be available, just in case someone does not know how to use the Internet.
- Optional: As a way of tracking who has completed the Profile, ask each person to send you an email or mail a card that says "Profile Completed" and their name when they have submitted their survey. Giving each person a self-addressed, stamped postcard will encourage them to follow through!
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