Over the next few weeks in Kentucky, I will be mailing Sunday School surveys to pastors or Sunday School directors in about 1,400 Kentucky Baptist churches. The survey was designed to be completed by the pastor, Sunday School director, or an education staff person (one survey per church). Responses will be anonymous. A return postage-paid envelope will be provided with these surveys to make return of the survey more convenient.
The survey measuring Sunday School practices contains 56 questions and should be able to be completed in about 15 minutes. The survey is designed to be scannable so the data can be gathered more quickly. The findings from the data have great potential to influence conferences and consultations, blog and book writing, and planning for a training event called the Sunday School Growth Academy. Following the event, I would be available to share with my interpretations of research results in regional and associational events.
CRITERIA TO PARTICIPATE. In addition to this research, I would like to broaden it beyond Kentucky Baptist churches. If you are interested in participating, check these criteria to be included in the research:
- cannot be a Kentucky Baptist church (since I am already surveying many of them by mail)
- can be a church from any denomination or be nondenominational (can even be Baptist as long as not a part of the Kentucky Baptist Convention)
- can be a church in Kentucky or any other state in the United States
- must have Sunday School (can be called by another name, but must have classes meeting on Sunday)
- in addition to any younger classes, the Sunday School must also have one or more classes for adults
- only one survey may be completed per church
- must be willing to complete and return the survey in a timely fashion (by December 31, 2010).
OTHER CHURCHES. Here is how it would work. To save a potentially large postage bill, I plan to email this group of surveys. Completed surveys would need to be returned by mail (there is no way accurately to complete the survey electronically since it has been created in a scannable version–sorry!). To avoid duplication, I would need four pieces of information: church name, city, state, and email. The only time that information would be used is to make sure that only one survey is sent for each church. As another measure of anonymity, when you return the survey, you don’t have to list your church or address on the envelope.
OTHER DENOMINATIONS. I am also open to other denominations using this survey, but it cannot be used without my permission. I would simply ask you to contact me. I would even be willing to negotiate a fair arrangement for scanning surveys from your churches and summarizing the data in an Excel file. Interpreting the results and making a presentation about the results of your denomination’s surveys would also be an option. Goal: I would love to have 400 or more participants. Would you be one of them?
REQUEST TO PARTICIPATE. If you are interested, email your request to sundayschool@kybaptist.org. Remember to include your church name, city, state, and email. Please be patient, since there may be a brief lag on emailing the survey since it will save time to send out several at the same time rather than one at a time. Thank you in advance for your willingness to participate. Assuming I get a significant number of participants, I look forward to being able to share the results here on the blog.
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