Last summer, I launched an informal survey in this space asking readers over age 40 to describe their relationship with their local church. Pollster George Barna’s 2011 State Of The Church survey reported that church attendance is on the decline among mature adults. One of the most significant drops in regular attendance came among Baby Boomers, those born between 1946-1964. There was an uptick in the number of Baby Busters (those born between 1965-1983) who do not claim any church affiliation.
I wondered about the “why” behind those numbers. 459 people took my informal survey, and many of them shared a bit of their story with me. Click here if you’d like to see the series of posts discussing the the survey’s results.
I am neither a statistician nor a social scientist. I am a 54 year-old author and part-time seminary student interested in further exploring these questions in order to spark further conversation with those in my sphere of influence about the nature of discipleship among adults in midlife and beyond.
Though a few pastors and leaders took last summer’s survey, I soon realized I needed to query pastors and church leaders in order to form a more complete picture of the issues facing all of us as we navigate questions of discipleship for older adults. It is my prayer that these confidential questions, and the compiled results I’ll be sharing in this space may be of help to you and your team as you consider how to nurture all of your congregation’s members and attenders toward spiritual maturity.
I recognize that the time of those I’m surveying is precious. As a “thank you” for using some of your time to answer this brief twelve question survey, all respondents who elect to give me their name and email address at the conclusion of this survey will be entered into a drawing at the end of this month for a $25.00 Amazon gift card.
Click here to take the survey
