I Love Survey Monkey!

If you ever need to get some information from a group check out surveymonkey.com

I wanted to get detailed information on how our Connection Groups ran this past semester. It was our first attempt at running home groups in a semester format. And while I'm biased to want the semester format work, I wanted some honest feedback, insight and response.

Of course you can please everyone all the time. This was never my intent. But with the survey I hope we can make the semester approach approachable and understandable for the most people.

Anyways, the results that are coming in are great. A few surprises, but mostly conformation that we are headed in the right direction. Here are some of the initial results...

• Most people were totally committed to their group.
• Most people had an amazing or great experience.
• Unfortunately a few people had a lousy experience.

Now some interesting analysis...

• Nearly 100% of the folks that reported a great or amazing experience also reported a very tight or strong connection with God.
• Nearly 100% of the folks who report a strong connection with God reported strong relationships with the people in their group.
• And, as you can guess, those that reported the strong relationships in the group had teh best overall experience.

What isn't surprising is the correlation between the overall experience and relationships in teh group. What is more interesting is the strong correlation between interpersonal repationships and feeling a connection with God.

What I didn't have space to ask this time, which I will next time, is to gauge a correlation between the Sunday worship experience, Connection groups, and how folks gauge their relationship with God.

Other interesting things:

• Considerations in signing up for a group from most to least important:
• Day- Time- Location- Leader
• Most folks are signing up again! Sweeeeeeet!
• Some of our leaders need a break, and the semester format is an easy way for them to step out for a term.
• While it wasn't a direct question, because it's not up for grabs, many folks added they liked the sermon-based curriculum.
• A few folks did indicate that a "focus" group would better serve their needs. Some want an age or stage specific group, others would like a more "academic" curriculum. While sermon based, intergeneration, community centered groups will be our "standard," we will be offering some other groups as folks step up to lead.

That's enough for now- we still have some surveys to analyze. I would have never guessed I'd become a stats geek!