A very patient minister returned a survey to us not long ago, with a note saying that it was the fifth survey she has completed in the last year. "Am I just lucky," she asked, "or does everyone get five surveys in a year?"
She's on to something. The number of surveys sent out by Research Services has increased, but purposive action, not luck, is behind it. Research Services is in the early stages of a General Assembly-mandated program to evaluate all the offices and programs at the Louisville offices, and to do that effectively, we need to contact the people who use the services and benefit from the programs that are directed out of 100 Witherspoon.
Here's how the evaluation process works: First, we learn what each office or program does, what its goals are, and how it tries to achieve its goals. Next, we write one or more surveys designed to gather relevant feedback. Because one office may coordinate several programs, and those programs, in turn, may have numerous features, the result is often an array of surveys. Many questions are similar from survey to survey, but each is targeted to a specific group within the larger constituency. A person whose only connection to a program is having attended one its training events would receive a survey focused on that experience. Someone else who went to the training event but who also serves on a governing board and is a member of a related network might receive multiple surveys.
Other programs serve a large or diffuse clientele, and the potential evaluators are either very large or unknown. In the case of, say, an office that makes resources available to all (11,200+) PC(USA) congregations, we might design a research instrument that would be sent to a representative slice of congregational leaders (e.g., a random sample of pastors, or clerks of session), asking for their experiences and assessment. We also nearly always ask middle governing body representatives to add their opinion to each evaluation, both because of their broad familiarity with the church but also because many of the offices or programs at 100 Witherspoon serve them as well.
So, there's logic behind our design: to evaluate each program, we're seeking feedback from the people who have knowledge of and experience with that program. The more people who fill out and return the surveys to us, the more we learn about the effectiveness of the office or program. And the more involvement you have had with various General Assembly Council entities, the more likely you are to hear from us-- perhaps more than once--over the course of the evaluation project.
Once surveys are returned and analyzed, we report the findings to both elected and staff leaders, including division heads and the Executive Committee of the General Assembly Council. Ideally, the results tell offices or programs whether or not their efforts have been effective, including what they are doing well and what they may need to improve. As designed, the program is a constructive one seeking to strengthen the programs of the General Assembly Council.
Our evaluation continues for another two to three years. Each year, we evaluate a portion of the Congregational, National, and Worldwide Ministries Divisions and other GAC entities. So far, we have completed only a small number of evaluations; a few others are currently in process. We estimate the total number of individual offices and programs at 150, so much work remains.
Hence, if you open your mailbox one day and find an envelope--or two--from Research Services, think of it as your lucky day. While it's not quite the same as having Ed McMahon arrive at your door in the Publishers' Clearinghouse van, it is your chance to help chart the future of ministry in the national offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Your willingness to participate will go a long way toward making the elected leaders and staff in Louisville as faithful and responsive as possible.