st.pauls chester green
listening questionnairesummer 2004
St.Paul’s Church is your local Anglican church. It has been in the community since 1850. In the last six months a number of new people have joined the church to help support those who have been part of the church for many years, and there are signs that it is now coming back to life. It’s at this early stage of its renewed growth that we would like your help. We want to be a listening church – that is, one that chooses to shape its life by listening to the community that it serves. In other words, we don’t want to simply do church in the way it’s always been done. We are keen to make it one that anyone can feel at home in. We therefore enclose a listening questionnaire to help us find out your views. We are aware that large numbers of unwanted questionnaires come through our letterboxes, and can well understand if you have already thrown this one in the bin! However, we hope you could take a few minutes to fill this one in, because by doing so you will help us to grow a church that will benefit Chester Green. If you are already belong to another church, you may wish to use these questions to help you reflect on how your church is developing its life and ministry.
There is no need to respond to all the questions – choose those that interest you most. There are two ways of returning the form: Either post it back to the Vicar, Revd Michael Mitton, 50 Kedleston Road, Derby, DE22 1GW. Alternatively, you can visit our website at and go to the Listening Church page download the questionnaire, complete it and email it to Michael at . If you want to write more than the space allows, then please do so. We shall be assessing the response during the early autumn.
A. SPIRITUALITY
1. Are you among the 76% of people who are interested in spiritual issues (e.g. prayer, life after death, spiritual experiences etc)?
2.If so, is there a particular area that interests you?
3.Would you be interested in meeting with a group of others from Chester Green who are also interested in these things?
4.If so, what’s a good time for you?
5.Would you prefer to meet
- in someone’s home
- in a pub
- in the church
- don’t mind
6.The side-chapel at St.Paul’s is reserved for private prayer. Would you like access to this chapel to light a candle and write a prayer for the prayer board? (see also our website on the Prayer Page)
B. CHURCH
- Have you been to church in the last 10 years for a Sunday service (apart from a wedding or funeral)?
Yes/No
If ‘yes’:
a) What parts of the service did you appreciate?
b) What parts of the service made not much sense?
8.If you are not a regular churchgoer, what would church need to be like to make it meaningful for you:
a)Style of music?
b)Music led by organ or other instruments?
c)Sermon – would you want one?
d)If ‘yes’, what kind of themes would you want the preacher to speak on?
e)Would you like to interact with the preacher, interrupt, ask questions etc.?
f)What time suits you best for a church service:
Day of the week (doesn’t have to be Sunday!)
Time of day
g)Do you think the clergy should wear robes?
h)Do you like the service to be Holy Communion or not, or doesn’t it matter?
i)If you have children, what kind of church service would they like?
C. CHURCH AND THE COMMUNITY
At the moment, the church is quite small and both the clergy are part time, so realistically we can’t do a lot in the community. However, as the church grows, so we will be able to do more, and your response to the following question will help us in our planning:
- What could St.Paul’s be doing to help the community in Chester Green?
D. DETAILS
10.Please indicate your age:5-15 16-17 18-25 26-39 40-59 60+
You may wish to remain anonymous, but we’d love to have contact with you and know who you are and where you live. If you’re happy to tell us, then please include your details here. In accordance with the data protection act, we will not pass on these details to anyone else.
name:
address:
post code:
email: