Corporate Worship Values Survey

I wanted to provide everyone with the results of the survey I posted on Facebook.  There are four things that I am going to give you.  First, I am going to provide the percentage results of the responses.  Second, I will give you a visual graph of the responses.  Third, for the value questions, I will give you the values points awarded and the value rating for each category. I hope this generates some discussion.  I would love to hear your interpretation of this very basic data. So, lets begin with the demographic stuff:

Age:


Gender:


Association to the Church:


For those respondents who are pastors:


Affiliation:





Ok, let's start looking at the value sets.  These were the instructions: "You are being asked to participate in a worship values clarification survey. For each question, you are provided four ratings at the top of the rating scale for two value options. Please select along the rating scale which option you value more compared to the other item. For example, if the two options were Chocolate & Vanilla, you will rate which you value the most compared to the other. If you choose "3-Chocolate" you are saying that chocolate is a "3" and Vanilla is a "0" (you don't value vanilla at all). If you like chocolate a little more than vanilla, you would choose "2- Chocolate". If you value vanilla a little more than chocolate, then you would choose "2-Vanilla." If you love vanilla and would not value chocolate at all, then you would choose "3-Vanilla."

Truth vs. Meaning

1.  The first values clarification question I asked was: "Which is more important to you, the preacher proclaiming the 'Truth' in scripture or the preacher guiding you to find 'meaning' in scripture for your life right now?"  Here are the responses:

33.3% of respondents value "Truth" in preaching from scripture and assign no value to discovering meaning.
33.3% of respondents assign value to finding "meaning" in preaching from scripture but feel that the proclaimed "Truth" of scripture is more important to them.
20.8% of respondents assign value to "truth" but feel that finding "meaning" in scripture through preaching is more important.
12.5% of respondents value finding "meaning" from scripture through preaching and assign no value to "Truth."

Value points:  Truth - 96 Points
                     Meaning - 34 Points

Value Differential- 62 Points in favor of truth

2.  The second values clarification question I asked was: "Which do you value more compared to the other option: a worship service that appeals more to those outside of the church or a service that appeals to those that are already members/regular attenders of the church?" Here are the responses:




12.5% of respondents feel that a worship service should be designed sole for the purpose of appealing to outsiders.  They assign no value to designing a service for members/regular attenders.
25% of respondents feel that designing a service to appeal to members/regular attenders is important, but feel that it is more important to design the service to appeal to outsiders.
47.9 % of respondents feel that appealing to outsiders is important, but it is more important to design worship services to appeal to members/regular attenders.
14.6% of respondents feel worships services should be designed to appeal solely to the members/regular attenders of the church.  They assign no value to outsiders.

Value points: Outsiders - 65 points
                    Members/Regular Attenders - 79 points

Value Differential - 14 points in favor of members/regular attenders

3.  The third values clarification question I asked was: "Which do you value most, spontaneity (flowing in the Holy Spirit) in a worship service or an orderly, pre-planned worship service?"  Here were the responses:


 22.9% of respondents value spontaneity in worship and assign no value to order in worship.
37.5% of respondents feel that order in worship is important, but it is more important to be spontaneous in our worship.
29.2% of respondents feel that spontaneity in worship is important, but it is more important to have order in worship.
10.4% of respondents value order in worship and assign no value to spontaneity.

Value Points: Spontaneity - 83 points
                     Order in Worship - 61 points

Value differential - 22 points in favor of spontaneity in worship

4.  The fourth value clarification question I asked was: "Is it more important to you to have people in the church band/orchestra that are willing but not necessarily skilled or is it more important to have skilled singers/musicians?"  Here were the responses:


This is an interesting one, because there is no differential in value.  The respondents are divide equally on this issue:

12.5% of respondents value the willingness of individuals to be in the church band/orchestra.  They assign no value to skill in music.
37.5% of respondents feel that being musically skilled is important, but it is more important to allow people in the band/orchestra due to their willingness.
37.5% of respondents feel that being willing but not necessarily skilled is important, but it is more important to be a skilled musician.
12.5% of respondents feel that it is important to only have skilled musicians in the band/orchestra and assign no value to willingness.

Value Points: Willingness - 72 points
                     Skill - 72 points

Value differential - 0 points

5.  The fifth value clarification question I asked was: "Is having a powerful altar service more important to you or is having preaching more important to you?"  Here are the responses:



6.3% of respondents feel that a powerful altar service is very important and assign no value to preaching in a worship service.
18.8% of respondents feel that preaching is important, but it is more important to have a powerful altar service.
47.9% of respondents feel that a powerful altar service is important, but preaching is more important.
27.1% of respondents feel that preaching is most important and assign no value to an altar service.

Value Points: Altar Service - 50 points
                    Preaching - 94 points

Value Differential - 44 points in favor of preaching

Now, let's compare the value differential for the highest value categories:





So, there you have it.  Now, let's hear some of your interpretations from this simple survey...