Holy Cow indeed!
On Monday evening, June 7th, a group consisting of the Church Council and the Designated Term Search Committee met (by Zoom) with the Rev. Dr. Tom Clough, a trained interpreter for the Holy Cow Consulting group. He spent 90 minutes reviewing and synthesizing an extensive report on our survey responses, and it is fair to say that for many of us, that time flew by!
First off, we are blessed. The survey clearly points to the health and vitality of our congregation, and made us proud to be a part of such a spirited church community. It is too soon for me to summarize all of it given the depth and breadth of the information gathered., but for now, here are some highlights:
- Thank you to the almost 70 people who submitted surveys. Rev. Clough was impressed with the level of responsiveness and indicated that this gives us a good representative set of data.
- The Designated Term Search Committee will have ample feedback about our congregation to begin their discernment of our next steps toward calling a Settled Pastor. And whether that is Pastor John or somebody else, there are opportunities for us to consider the kind of church we want to be going forward.
- The term that Dr. Clough and the Holy Cow Congregation Assessment Tool used to describe our church is “Transformational,” meaning that we embody a high level of energy and a high level of satisfaction.
- Dr. Clough expressed effusive praise for the quality of our online services, noting that it is among the very best of all of the different places he’s experienced.
And he also warned us that this is not the time for complacency. It will be vitally important for us to continue to grow our congregation and to reach out to people in as many creative ways as we can.
You will be hearing more from many of us in the coming weeks and months about the things we have learned from these surveys. If you are interested in hearing more, please be in touch with me ([email protected]) and we can discuss ways that you can tap into the survey responses.
For now, I am eager to help all of us be the church we want to be, and appreciate the opportunity to serve as your Moderator.
Gratefully,
Betsy
Report on the survey of Salisbury UCC, June 2021; click to view video