Hartford Institute's Pastoral Search Inventory Sample
A church that chooses to offer the Inventory to its members to do completely online, or online with an option to have members fill out a paper copy which the church then enters online. Additionally we can customize the look of the survey somewhat, add a logo or photo, change the introduction and concluding remarks, select which questions are asked and even include additional open-ended questions if you are interesting all for the same price. Requests for extensive alteration of the survey may require additional charges.
The cost of this basic service (which includes several reports produced by the online software program and additional materials about interpretation of the results) is a church $300.00 no matter how many questionnaires are entered. The raw data can be given to the church in a tab-delimited, Excel or other format for additional processing by persons at the church skilled in statistical analysis.
The following introductory text can be customized to fit your context
The call of a new pastor is a critical event in the life of a congregation. It is a time of making a choice about our collective future. This moment provides an important opportunity for us all to share together in assessing who we are and where we see ourselves going.
This survey is designed to assist in this task. This survey was developed by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Connecticut (www.hartfordinstitute.org).
The survey not only asks several sets of questions about our congregation's current ministry and your
own involvement, but also seeks your input on pastoral leadership and your vision for our future.
Completing this survey ensures that your views have been heard and it will give us a baseline from which to measure whether we are moving in directions that we think are important. We ask that each member of your household over the age of 15 complete the survey.
You may complete this survey online at this site or on paper.
If you choose to fill out the survey online, please try to complete it in one sitting. However if you are disconnected or are otherwise interrupted, you won’t lose any of this information as it is automatically saved. To complete the survey, you can begin a new questionnaire and page forward to pick up the survey where you left off.
If you complete the paper survey please return it to the church so that your responses can be entered into the computer. This survey will take approximately 30 to 45 minutes to complete.
When answering this survey, please check the appropriate box or supply the required information as indicated. If answering questions with a limited number of choices, please choose the answer that comes closest to the right answer for you, even if it does not fit perfectly. Unanswered items reduce the usefulness of the inventory. It is important that everyone participate in this survey!
Your responses are anonymous. Thank you for your cooperation. We hope you enjoy filling out the questionnaire and that in addition to assisting our church, you find this process helpful in reflecting on your faith, the meaning of your church experience, and your hopes for the future.
If you have any questions about the survey, please contact the Search Committee at [email address].