You Spoke, We Heard: Results of the 2015 Readers’ and Listeners’ Survey
I am blown away by the surveys you submitted. Your input is invaluable to me, and I heard from 1,649 of you. Thank you so very much. I am still digesting much of the information, but let me share some summary comments for now.
Who We Are Reaching
We have readers and listeners from every country in the world.
There are 6 million views on the blog each year.
Though much newer, the podcast is growing steadily with over 600,000 downloads a year.
According to our best estimates, we are reaching two-thirds of all churches in America, approximately 250,000 congregations.
My book, I Am a Church Member, should soon reach one million copies sold. My most recent book, Autopsy of a Deceased Church, has also been a bestseller.
Who You Are
Our audience is 60% pastors, 20% church staff, and 20% laypersons. That is a big shift from a year ago when each group comprised one-third of our audience. All three segments have grown numerically, but the pastor audience has obviously grown the fastest.
The age groups of our audience are amazingly evenly distributed. No single age group is dominant.
The audience is also amazingly evenly distributed among community locations: rural, urban, suburban/bedroom, small town, and mid-sized town.
No denominational or non-denominational group forms a majority of our audience. Indeed, many groups are represented. The fastest growing audience is in the non-denominational group, which is also our second-largest group at 13%.
The audience comes close to mirroring the sizes of churches in America. Slightly less than 73% of you are in a church of 350 or less in average worship attendance. Just over 90% of American churches are under 350 in attendance.
Over 43% of you are in a church with multiple worship services and/or multiple venues or campuses.
How You Want Us to Improve
You really focused in three areas. First and foremost, you want us to provide more resources and insights into church revitalization.
Some of you do not like the podcast music.
Many of you want us to be “less Baptist.” You are not asking us to abandon our heritage; you simply want us to recognize the diversity of the audience.
What You Like
You overwhelmingly like the practicality of our information and resources.
You also overwhelmingly like the relevance of the information for your needs in the local church.
Most of you like the delivery format of the blog: the listings, the numbers, and the casual conversation.
You like our heart for pastors, church staff, and the local church.
You like the community that is forming around the blog and podcast.
You like the length of the blog posts and the podcasts. Slightly less than 74% of you say the lengths are ideal; 24% of you would like them longer.
You like the frequency of the blog posts (five times a week) and the podcasts (twice a week). Over 68% of you say the frequencies are ideal; 23% of you would like them more frequent.
How We Are Responding to You
We would not have these forums if not for you who are loyal participants. We are here to serve you. We will continue to seek your input to improve. Thank you so very much. We are taking three immediate steps to respond to you.
We will have more material and resources on revitalizing churches.
We have already changed the podcast music back to the former arrangement (I will miss you, ELO).
We will try to have a greater awareness of our diverse audience. You can help us. Let us know in the comments how we can be “less Baptist” in how we communicate. I (Thom) am not sufficiently self-aware to know the changes I need to make.
Our Gratitude for You
Thank you again. You are an incredible audience. Indeed, you are one of the most informed audiences I have ever known. Thank you for letting me learn from you.
As we noted in the survey, we are giving away a signed copy of my upcoming book, I Will, to 20 of you who participated in the survey. Here are the winners from the random drawing. (We used “Random #” app to determine the winners. Your assigned number was the order in which you completed the survey.)
Suzanne Finnerty
Brady Collier
Jerome Walker
Terry Thompson
Richard Stowe
Gary Hinkle
Mark Engel
Darin Graham
John Lindsay
J. Carl Sensenig
Todd Hartley
Matt Burton
Tom Roderick
Cory Jones
Franklin Coffman
Julie Barrineau
Coley Mull
George Miller
Christina Nees
Kevin Carter
Let us hear from you about our survey. Your comments always add so much to the conversation.
The post You Spoke, We Heard: Results of the 2015 Readers’ and Listeners’ Survey appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
