Area Christians Together in Service: Active Members

Virtiqua Robinson, Chareva Myles, Hunter Hagan,

Mathew Johnson, Maxwell Marshall

A.C.T.S. History● Founded 1999

● Reasons:

○ Area churches recognized numerous people asking for emergency support

○ No one church could meet the need being presented

○ Some people were being helped by multiple churches, while others could not get the assistance

● ACTS was formed to combine the strength of fourteen churches and also to track assistance so that it is more fairly distributed.

Research Objectives● To classify the level of awareness of ACTS inside the specific church/ organization

● Analyze existing attitudes/ perception toward ACTS

● The intentions of increasing or decreasing donations and volunteers

● Knowledge on any other organizations where ACTS can send their clients for additional

assistance.

Research Methods: OverviewQualitative Research

● Face -to-face in-depth interviews were conducted at the active members

church or preference of choice.

○ Interview with: Ed Newbert of Cornerstone

● Quantitative Research:

○ 15 Completed Surveys

Qualitative Research Method

Total Number Interviewed: 1

Total Number Contacted: 6

Qualitative Research MethodThe interview was conducted February 29, 2016 on a Monday at

9:50am.

The objective of the questions were focused on how much participation ACTS members have with the program as well as how much communication ACTS members have with each other and the program itself.

Relationship with ACTS and ACTS MembersWhat’s your current relationship with ACTS? How do you

feel about it?

…...we’ve supported ACTS through the years and one of our monthly contribution goes directly to ACTS. We feel although a lot of our finances are give and go’s to foreign missions, we believe that local missions are important as well to meet the needs of our local community.

How do you believe they’ve treated you? Has it been positive? And how would you say they’ve communicated with you overtime?

We have several people in our church that work with them and we get the feedback from those folks, I've known them for 15 years, never heard anything negative about it, it's just a great community resource so we’re very happy about it.

Business with ACTSHow would you say you interact with other churches that are in ACTS?

….I know a lot of the pastors within the community, but there has not been an exchange of information about ACTS itself, in other words pastors don't gather to discuss ACTS and its activities, we just have faith that they have a board.

Do you know of any other organizations that ACTS goes to when theyneed those resources?

I do not know, well I should say this. There is the local foodbank, I did meet with the mayor to discuss food for the homeless….

How much have you actually given to ACTS? Last year or so?….each month the offerings are about 300 to 400 dollars, that would be a yearly

contribution.

So that is just voluntary donations?Yes, yes. And we find it is very effective with people putting some extra change in.

Future with ACTS?Would you ever be willing to increase the amount that you wanted

to give to ACTS, or maybe ask for a little more from your volunteers?

Yes, but it's very much dependent on their willingness to give to different areas.

So you think ACTS is a repeat of a current situation, a vicious cycle?Yes, I suppose they would put that responsibility back on the churches.

So it seems like from all that we have said today you feel that ACTS isa very profitable organization but still has a lot of work to do.

Yeah …. but there may be a need for a little more cooperation with the churches and them.

Are you planning to remain an ACTS member?Yeah so far I feel that it is a very viable and important social service to the

community.

Recommendations for InterviewTypes of things can do better with interviews

Research the person or people with whom you’ll be speaking with.

Meeting subjects on their level. That means matching their mood, energy level, language style, even body language.

Active/flexible listening-If done right it can let the them know when to move on to a new subject and it can let you know as the interviewer when to probe and ask a more in depth question.

Ego Suspension- to encourage the other individual to talk about his or her story, neglecting your own need to share yours, showing true desire to hear what they have to say.

SurveysObjective: The ACTS Survey objective is to measure “Current

Members”

How many “Active Members” are currently giving money to the program (Q. 3)

How long have they been members (Q. 12)

Have any “Current Members” recommended ACTS to anyone in need or to another organization (Q. 10)

Are the “Current Members” satisfied with ACTS performance and work ethic (Q. 14)

Total Number of Respondents (N)

N=15

Survey Instrument

The survey instrument used was Qualtrics

Qualtrics was given to us to use through Georgia Southern University

Survey: Who are we Dealing with

According to the Survey we had 3 different groups to take the survey;

Current Donating Members

Have Never Partnered with ACTS

Former members (no longer donating to ACTS)

Survey: Profiles of Active Members

According to the Survey we had various types of workers in the church who were “Current Members” to fill out the survey.

57.14% were apart of the administrative staff

14.29% were Deacons of the church

14.29% were regular church members

7.14% were Other or the Associate Pastor

Current Members Giving DonationsFindings of do the organization of the “Current Member” give donations to charity

According to our Findings, 93% (or 14 out of 15) of our respondents give to charity or donations to different organizations.

Longevity of Active MembersFindings of how long have our

“Active Members” been active

According to our Findings

more than half of our Active Members have been with us for over 10 years

5-10 year members and less than 5 years are equal.

Active Members Recommending ACTS Findings of our “Active Members”

recommending ACTS to someone

Out of 15 respondents, 12 checked the “Yes” box.

2 respondents responded with “No”

Satisfaction of Active MembersFindings that our “Active

Members” of ACTS are satisfied within each category

It seems, if there is high “extremely satisfied” in every category.

“Somewhat Satisfied” seems to increase in the two categories of communication.

Association Chi-Square Test

Survey: Recommendations

Our recommendations for ACTS are;

1.Create a more efficient and effective way to communicate with other members across Statesboro, GA.

2.Members who are 10 years and over should receive more incentives or a gift for their service with ACTS, this will increase membership rates in the future.

3.Let’s appeal to the other church members in the organization

Limitations and Future Research- A.C.T.S. is very limited in its ways to spread its message and

existence

- A website would give a face to A.C.T.S.

- More money into spreading information

Conclusion- There is a good base for a great organization

- Better way to communicate amongst members and to the community

- Substantial room for growth

- Need a face for the organization

Appendix: Interview Guide● How did you first hear about ACTS?

○ Where did you hear it and from who?

● What got you involved with ACTS?

● Do you think ACTS is a good service to provide?

○ If so, why?

● In what ways does ACTS communicate with you?

○ Do you like the way ACTS communicates with you?

○ If not, why?

● What are your expectations about communication with ACTS?

Interview Guide Cont.● What do you know about ACTS?

○ What don’t you know about ACTS?

● Are you aware of how many churches are participating?

○ If so, what churches?

● Do you know of other organizations that ACTS clients can go to to receive help?

● Are you planning to remain a member of ACTS in the future?

● How has your experience with ACTS been? Any positive or negative experiences that you would like to discuss?

● How do you think ACTS could benefit from an annual or a bi-annual newsletter?

● What information would you like included in the newsletter? Expenditures? Testimonials?

● Why have you decided to remain an active member of the organization?