Is there a criteria for completing a survey?

There are three criteria for selecting lay people to complete the participant survey form. The survey participant group must be...

• actively involved in ministry performing a regular task, and
• members of a small group/cell group/home group, and
• representative of the various demographics of your church (gender, age, race, etc).

How many surveys do we need to complete?

All of your senior pastoral staff should complete a participant survey form. In addition to this, 30 lay people from your church should complete a participant survey form (you can survey more than 30 as long as the participants fulfil the above criteria). This will ensure you gain a statistically accurate picture of the health of the core of your church.

If you have less than 30 lay people who fulfil the above criteria, survey all of your senior pastoral staff and all lay people who fit all three criteria.

For example:
2 senior pastoral staff + 29 lay people who fit the criteria = 31 participant surveys

or (if you had only 16 congregation members who fitted the criteria)
1 senior pastor + 16 lay people who fit the criteria = 17 participant surveys

The participant form download is at the bottom of this page. Ensure you print all four pages for each participant.

When should we complete the survey?

We strongly recommend that you call a meeting rather than sending surveys home with people, as it is important for statistical reliability that you get the appropriate number of surveys returned.

Seeing the NCD Survey within the broader context of church life helps you decide the best time to do it. For example, does it fit best with:

• launching the new year
• an annual planning and goal setting session
• a church review and new visioning process
• an end of year health “stocktake”
• preparation for a leadership retreat

If you are intending to tie the Survey in with other activities, make sure you have left sufficient time for processing as well as reflection and consultation on the results.

Who should complete the Facilitator's survey form?

The facilitator’s form covers demographic and background information and is to be completed by the senior pastor (in addition to a participant survey form).

If your church does not have a pastor, a member of the church leadership should complete the facilitator form. (In this case, some questions will not be relevant and should be left blank.)

It will not be possible to process your NCD Survey results without the information on the facilitator’s form. Only one facilitator’s form is to be completed per survey set.

If you are completing multiple NCD surveys across different congregations at the same time, complete one facilitator survey form in its entirety AND complete a facilitator survey form for each other survey group making sure to indicate (at a minimum) the unique name of that congregation (question 1), the pastor's details for that congregation if different (questions 4-20), the attendance figures over the past 5 years for that congregation (questions 21-24), and the survey number for that congregation (question 38).
Keep a copy of the facilitator’s form for your records as it will be a helpful reference when completing your next NCD Survey.

What steps are important in the survey completion meeting?

• If you haven’t already done so, it is helpful to explain the NCD process to the survey participants. This may include briefly introducing the principles of NCD and explaining why you are asking them to help assess the health of the church.
• Distribute the surveys and allow about 40 minutes for completion. Most will finish much sooner than this.
• Please refrain from broadcasting interpretations of the questions to the whole group as the questions are designed to be answered spontaneously. Assist individuals on an as required basis only.
• Collect all of the survey forms ready for processing.

How do we enter and process our survey forms on the web site?

Go to the Start a survey page above to enter your survey forms and step through the process. The final step will be producing your Basic Profile. If you haven't already, you'll need to request a token from your vendor before you will be able to calculate your result.

How do we produce a more detailed profile?

Once you have entered your survey data and produced your Basic Profile, visit the Results / Create Advanced Profiles page. There you will be able to select your new survey result (and some previous surveys you may have done for comparison purposes) to produce one of the advanced profiles listed at the bottom of the page. Again, you will need to ensure that you have the necessary token for such a profile (if applicable).

What if we have any difficulties?

If you have any difficulties with the survey system or process, please ask for help using the contact form at the bottom of this page.

For assistance in working through your NCD results, contact your denominational NCD consultant or your NCD National Partner.