IMNA Survey Results
Thank you to all our church members who stayed after services last Sunday to listen to the IMNA results presentation. Based on the number of bodies in the pews it’s obvious that this was of great interest to the congregation. Here is a quick summary of the results:
- We feel connected to our church, with strong ties to both Maple Grove and the United Church in general.
- We value Belonging slightly ahead of Behaving and both are ahead of Believing.
- Curiously, we place a high value on diversity, but not on questioning, debate, experimentation or change.
- Our ideal church creates a culture of hospitality and belonging. It is inviting, welcoming, compassionate and respects all diversity.
- We are very traditional in what we consider important for meaningful worship; hymns, preaching, children’s time and anthems being our most important aspects.
- Our top priority is the increase of children and youth, both in numbers and in their spiritual development, followed by increasing the number of adults.
- We also require improvements and/or new strategies in the areas of recruiting, training and prevention of burnout for our lay leaders.
If you wish a copy of the entire slide presentation please e-mail Andy King at aking10@cogeco.ca.
Next Steps
The United Church of Canada has a comprehensive plan in place to address the issue of significant decline in membership, attendance and Sunday school registration of the past 10 years. It is their IMNA survey model that we used as our first step. We have also completed a property scan and an “Environics” report (a comprehensive report detailing the makeup of our neighbourhood). Our next step is to participate in a series of Table Talk discussions.
When: These will take place after our 9:30 services between May 21st and June 25th except for
Sunday June 18th due to the annual general meeting. Instead, we will be holding discussions on Wednesday June 14th from 7:30 to 8:00 pm in the Friendship Room.
What: Each week we will be given 2-3 questions by the consultants hired by Halton presbytery. These questions will be generated based on our survey results.
Who: Every member of the congregation is encouraged to take part in one of two ways.
- Sign-up to be a recorder of people’s opinions for at least one of the sessions.
- Participate in at least one of the discussions.
The time commitment is minimal, just get your tea or coffee after the service, sit down at one of the designated tables and either give your opinion or write down someone else’s. Easy! The results of these sessions will determine the course future steps, to be decided on in the fall.