At Glorious Life we watch our cash flow carefully. In Media in particular it’s easy to spend. Right now we’re considering computer upgrades, whether to install stage lighting in the sanctuary, whether to replace a multi disk CD player that was on loan, and marquee sign upgrades, among other things. Should we spend on all of these things? On any of them?
The problem with spending is that you can easily spend on things that don’t matter to the members of your church. And while this alone isn’t a legitimate veto on a proposal, whether the people in your church value something is a good indication of whether to spend on it.
So how do you find out what your members care about? We recently did a survey to find out how our new Media Department was doing. It led to some insights about where we can get the most bang for our buck.
For many questions (”Is the music loud enough, too loud, just right?”) the respondents were split. For one difficult area that would consume (human) resources (”Would you be more likely to invest in a CD if it were available immediately after service?”) we found that really, no one much cared about that, so we can safely ignore it.
But the strongest mandate we received was that nearly 100% of respondents need help learning names. What a great opportunity for a directory or media game!
The survey required some thought, like how to get people to participate (an incentive–a gas card, $10 was enough to get a good response). But the important thing is that it was effective. And cheap!
