Peace and Justice Ministry TeamSurvey Report

March 23, 2013

2

Survey Process

• The St. Andrews’ Peace and Justice Ministry Team met in January 2013 to plan its activities for the year.

• Continuing support for the Immigration initiative begun last year was reconfirmed.

• Additional topics of interest were identified via a forced ranking exercise; the top two were Poverty/Inequality and Education.

• A survey was sent to the congregation in February 2013 to engage them in the activities of Peace and Justice as well as to gain their point of view on various issues. 48 participants responded to the survey. This document is a report of those findings.

• The number of participants, who responded, are noted for each question.

3

Distribution of survey respondents

3774

4

Current Involvement

811

24

5

5

Level of Commitment

11161281

6

Focus of Peace and Justice Efforts

23

15

5

11

2315

7

Where Should Efforts be Focused

32

44

20

1616

8

Interest in Participation

10141436

9

Ways to Participate

15

20

9

27

7

4

12

10

Type of Involvement

8

27

14

24

11

Timing of Involvement

11

23

17

4

12

7

9

12

Observations

• Survey participation was sufficiently robust to allow for substantive conclusions.

• 40% of respondents identify themselves as active members of the Peace and Justice Ministry Team or occasional participants. 60% have not been involved in these activities.

• 56% of respondents describe themselves as “very” or “somewhat” committed.

• Among all respondents, “Poverty/Inequality” and “Culture of Violence” are the top two topics of interest. Among the very/somewhat committed the top two topics are “Poverty/Inequality” and “Christian Responses to Differences” (in opinion, religion and sexual orientation for example).

• Respondents favor a focus “within the community” or “within the congregation” over a broader focus.

13

Observations

• 80% of all respondents have “strong”, “moderate”, or “some interest” in participating the in activities of Peace and Justice.

• As ways to participate, both the “committed” and the balance of survey respondents favor “prayer”, followed by “focused volunteer events” that are “year long.”

• Participants favor “discussion groups” and “active involvement in teams/groups” over other types of involvement.

• “Mid-week”, “evening” and “mid-day” were the preferred times for involvement.