LCC ASSESSMENT RESULTS
December 4, 2011
THE CURRENT REALITY
This past Spring you voted to hire Kairos and Associates to conduct a listening process to gain a deeper sense and understanding of how you feel about the LCC ministry and the future needs of our church. The listening process conducted by Kairos included a survey, listening groups, and individual interviews all of which helped the leadership understand how you would like to see LCC progress. The individuals who served on this assessment team along with Kairos were: Jane Olson, Chad Knudson, Jamie Binstock, Lisa Sluke, Kim Alberty, Pastor Bill, Pastor Joel, and church staff.
The ELCA has historical data that indicates to sustain a healthy church it’s necessary to keep growing. Growth can mean many different things – growth in programs, growth in outreach, growth in members, growth in financial support. Churches that don’t grow or want to simply maintain the size of their congregation and program offerings will lose members, experience a decline in financial giving, and lose the vitality needed to keep a church alive.
Based on the results of the process we have gone through with Kairos it is the understanding of the leadership at LCC that we are a church that wants to grow. Below is shared a summary of the information gathered during this listening process. This information includes:
- Our Current Position
- Key Learning from Church Assessment Summary (referred to as CAT), listening groups, and interviews
- Celebrations
- Opportunities
- Forward Priorities and Recommendations
- Holy Cross Catholic Church Exit, Impact, and Options
OUR CURRENT POSITION
LCC Statistics
- 622 households as members
- 365 giving households (59% of total)
- Annual church income for 2010 was $418,000
- We have $570,000 in long term mortgage debt
LCC Current Reality
- We are a growing congregation of people who love our church and our staff.
- Having Holy Cross Catholic Church as our sister parish we have become known as an ecumenically-minded faith community. With the unexpected announcement that Holy Cross will be vacating their portion of our shared building, we are faced with unknowns regarding timing of their departure, the possible purchase of the other half or a portion of the facility, assessing the use and retrofitting of space of such a purchase, as well as pressing ministry needs.
- It was made evident through the Church Assessment Survey, the listening groups and interviews that a strategy needs to be developed to address ministry and facility needs.
- Being a very young and somewhat rapidly growing church we are at a crossroads in which we are needing to address both our need for additional space as well as to discern and articulate a clear sense of vision and mission moving forward.
- Attention to a Stewardship Ministry Plan that matches our member’s desire to grow in generosity.
KEY LEARNING FROM THE CAT, LISTENING GROUPS, AND INTERVIEWS
Church Assessment Tool Statistics
- 220 individuals responded to the CAT Survey
- 46% of our average attendance
- Church Assessment Tool Key Indicators
- Overall satisfaction – High
- In response to the statement: On the whole, I am satisfied with how things are in our church; 66% clearly agreed they were satisfied
- Overall energy – Average
- In response to the statement: It seems to me that we are just going through the motions of church activithy. There isn’t much excitement about it among our members; 58% were on the fence; 26% clearly disagreed with the statement and 16% agreed with the statement.
Top 3 Priorities
In response to the question: Where would you like additional energy placed to expand or improve our ministries; the following were identified as the top 3 priorities:
- Develop the spiritual generosity of the people to financially support the ministry of the church
- Create more opportunities for people to form meaningful relationships
- Enlarge or improve the physical facilities of the church to expand or enhance our ministries
CELEBRATIONS
As a result of the CAT Survey, listening groups and interviews conducted, Kairos identified the following highlights:
- A deep appreciation for the LCC Staff. Especially noteworthy is the widespread and deep affinity with Pastor Bill, particularly his engaging and authentic personality, sense of welcome and acceptance, his preaching ability that connects to people’s lives making their faith relevant, and proclaiming a theology that includes all people and faith expressions. Because of Pastor Bill’s long tenure, these characteristics are significant in what has influenced and developed the DNA Of LCC.
- Great excitement for the new leadership of Pastor Joel.
- A significant amount of affirmation for the work that Jamie and team has done with the Children’s Ministry. Of all the ministry that LCC does, Children’s ministry is by far the most celebrated and acknowledged.
- An appreciation for the ecumenical identity of being connected with Holy Cross and the hope for this to continue in great and more diverse ways with other church bodies.
- A nearly universal understanding that space is an urgent need. Exactly what and how this need can be addressed lacks clarity, but not the fact that something is desperately needed to simply meet current needs, let along handling future growth to support expanded ministries.
- An expressed longing from all age groups to have LCC create meaningful opportunities for developing relationships. This was not only clearly expressed in the CAT but was a strong voice coming out of interviews and listening groups.
OPPORTUNITIES
In addition to the celebrations identified, there were areas where LCC has the opportunity to improve on.
- We need to establish a mission and vision of what we want LCC to represent going forward. This needs to be something that all members of the congregation can articulate. How do we want others in the community to see us as.
- Provide transparent communications with members
- Develop new offerings and/or programs to engage people at LCC that will incorporate faith in their life and develop relationships with other members. 40% of respondents indicated that faith is important but they have more pressing needs at this time.
- Create an opportunity for a high school youth ministry to be more present and engaging.
- A lean and efficient staff has met our needs to date, but we don’t have the ability to grow with what we have for current staffing. In comparison with local churches, a congregation our size would have 2 to 3 times the number of full-time staff that is currently in place.
- Cultivate a culture of generosity. As mentioned earlier, the CAT survey indicated our members felt a desire to grow in generosity. We need to build a plan with the help of Kairos to make that happen. The Congregational Assessment Tool survey showed our giving is trending below both the local and national norm at .7%. This is based on our total church income and contributions per household. ELCA stats show that on average a household gives 1.7%. LCC is well below this average. Our percentile rank was at 1. This means that out of all other ELCA churches within the United States 99 percent of them give more per household than our congregation does. The typical ranking for a congregation is 2. Based on the stats of a medium income and contributions identified through the assessment process and the averages just shared we have the capacity to do more. If we would simply meet the average of giving, we’d have more than enough funding to meet our needs for space and expanded ministries.
FORWARD PRIORITIES & RECOMMENDATIONS
So where do we go from here …
- As a result of the CAT Survey and listening process … it was made clear that we need to initiate a plan for long term growth that is focused around what we want LCC to be, moving forward. LCC needs to move away from being known as the church associated with HCCC and also a church built around our affection for Pastor Bill and how his presence has shaped the culture of this church.
- We start this next phase of our journey with a visioning process that would build on our existing strengths while dreaming together about where God is leading LCC into the future.
- We need to explore our current and future facility and expanded ministry needs and solidified a plan to address both.
- As we move forward, it is critical to Design and deliver a comprehensive communication plan keeping all LCC members informed on progress made during this transition and share any next steps needed to be taken.
- Our second priority is to Development of a Culture of Generosity to get our giving up to a national average.
THE “KNOWNS AND UNKNOWNS”
While preparing this recap of the LCC Assessment in late November, Pastor Bill and Pastor Joel received the appraisal for the Holy Cross Catholic Church (HCCC) space. This appraisal was for their entire building site and adjoining property which they currently own. The appraisal came in at $2M dollars. Keep in mind that this is an appraisal, not the asking price. Here is what we know and don’t know as of December 7, 2011:
The “Knowns”
- Appraisal Price of HCCC
- HCCC owns the entire Crossway Center fellowship hall, the bathrooms, kitchen, upstairs storage, and 6 class rooms along the south hallway.
- LCC is out of space and land-locked
- Statistics show we have capacity for financial giving and growth
The “Unknowns”
- Asking Price of HCCC
- Are they willing to sell only portions of the property?
- How would we utilize HCCC space?
- Congregational support for future growth and vitality?