churches divided on website usage sponsored by axletree media, a partner in lifeway’s digital...
TRANSCRIPT
Churches Divided on Website Usage
Sponsored by Axletree Media, a partner in LifeWay’s Digital Church initiative
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Methodology• A stratified, random sample of Protestant churches were
contacted. The sample was stratified by church membership with 200 completed interviews in each:• < 100 members• 100-199 members• 200-399 members• 400-999 members• 1000+ members
• Interviews were conducted by telephone with the staff member most responsible for making decisions about the technology used in their church.
3
Methodology continued
• Respondents were not informed the research was being conducted on behalf of LifeWay Research.
• Surveys were conducted September 8-20, 2010. • The sample of 1,003 completed surveys provides 95%
confidence that the sampling error does not exceed ±3.2 %.
• Responses were weighted to reflect the natural size distribution of churches.
4
78% of churches maintain a website
Yes; 78%
No; 22%
Does your church maintain a website?
5
Differences in website ownership by Size
1-49 50-99 100-199 200-499 500+
Yes 53%bcde
67%acde
83%abde
96%abc
100%abc
No 46%bcde
33%acde
18%abde
4%abc
0%abc
Does your church maintain a website?
* Letters indicate column with statistically significant difference at 95% confidence interval.
6
Differences in website ownership by Location
Large City
Small City
Suburbs Rural area
Yes 87%d
82%d
91%d
63%abc
No 13%d
17%d
9%d
37%abc
Does your church maintain a website?
* Letters indicate column with statistically significant difference at 95% confidence interval.
7
Limited knowledge about what can be pro-vided online
Limited fi-nancial
resources
Limited time among
church staff
Limited time among vol-
unteers
Limited on-line skills
among staff and volun-
teers
Little interest expressed
by congrega-tion for more online con-tent or ser-
vices
None of the above
Not sure0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
24%
41% 46%39%
31% 35%
14%1%
Limited time, money and skills keep many churches from providing more content and services online
Which if any of the following keep your church from providing more content and services online?
8
Solicit interest in ministry or volunteer opportuni-ties
Encourage increased attendance and in-volvement among our congregation
Provide information to our congregation
Provide information to potential visitors to our church
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
52%
57%
79%
91%
Far more churches seek to provide information through their website than to obtain indications of interest continued on next slide
Which if any of the following do you consider part of your church’s goals for ministry through its website? Base = 815 churches that indicated they have a website (slide 4).
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None of the above
Allow more processes at our church to be automated
Register people for events and activities
Obtain and distribute prayer requests from congregation
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
1%
30%
39%
43%
Less than half of churches with websites use them for prayer requests, registration, or automating processes
Which if any of the following do you consider part of your church’s goals for ministry through its website? Base = 815 churches that indicated they have a website (slide 4).
10
Differences in goals for website ministry by Size
1-49 50-99 100-199 200-499 500+
Provide information to potential visitors to our church 88% 94% 89% 95% 87%
Provide information to our congregation 69%cd
74%d
82%a
83%ab
78%
Solicit interest in ministry or volunteer opportunities 34%bcde
52%a
50%a
61%a
64%a
Register people for events and activities 25%de
32%de
34%de
49%abce
69%abcd
Obtain and distribute prayer requests from congregation
32%de
39%e
43%e
47%a
56%abc
Allow more processes at our church to be automated 15%cde
28%e
29%ae
32%ae
52%abcd
Encourage increased attendance and involvement among our congregation
46%e
59% 55% 57% 64%a
None of the above 2% 2% 1% 1% 1%
Not Sure 0% 0% 1% 0% 0%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Which if any of the following do you consider part of your church’s goals for ministry through its website? Base = 815 churches that indicated they have a website (slide 4).
* Letters indicate column with statistically significant difference at 95% confidence interval.
11
Differences in goals for website ministry by Census Region
Northeast South Midwest West
Provide information to potential visitors to our church 96% 92% 91% 90%
Provide information to our congregation 84% 82%d
80% 72%b
Solicit interest in ministry or volunteer opportunities 62%cd
62%cd
46%ab
47%ab
Register people for events and activities 49%cd
49%cd
35%ab
29%ab
Obtain and distribute prayer requests from congregation 38%b
52%acd
40%b
38%b
Allow more processes at our church to be automated 26% 38%cd
26%b
27%b
Encourage increased attendance and involvement among our congregation
59% 58% 55% 57%
None of the above 2% 1% 1% 1%
Not Sure 0% 0% 0% 1%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100%
Which if any of the following do you consider part of your church’s goals for ministry through its website? Base = 815 churches that indicated they have a website (slide 4).
* Letters indicate column with statistically significant difference at 95% confidence interval.
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Once a year or less
Several times a year
Once a month
Once a week More than once a week
Not sure0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
7%12%
23%
40%
15%
4%
42% of churches indicate their website is updated once a month or less
How frequently are updates made to your church’s website? Base = 815 churches that indicated they have a website (slide 4).
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Differences in updating of church website by Size
1-49 50-99 100-199 200-499 500+
Once a year or less 20%cde
8% 5%a
4%a
2%a
Several times a year 25%cde
16% 9%a
10%a
4%a
Once a month 20% 25%e
28%de
18%c
11%bc
Once a week 28%cde
38% 41%a
45%a
41%a
More than once a week 6%de
10%de
11%de
20%acbe
39%abcd
Not sure 1% 3% 5% 3% 3%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
How frequently are updates made to your church’s website? Base = 815 churches that indicated they have a website (slide 4).
* Letters indicate column with statistically significant difference at 95% confidence interval.
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Digital photos
Digital audio files
or Pod-casts
Digital video files
Text messag-
ing
Blogs Other None of these
Not sure 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
82%
47%
31%26% 26%
3%10%
1%
82% of churches with a website indicate they currently use digital photos in their online ministry
Which if any of the following technologies does your church currently use in its ministry online?Base = 815 churches that indicated they have a website (slide 4).
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Differences in use of online technologies by Size
1-49 50-99 100-199 200-499 500+
Digital photos 70%bde
86%a
79%de
87%ac
93%ac
Digital audio files or podcasts 32%de
37%de
41%de
61%abce
84%abcd
Digital video files 8%bcde
26%ade
26%ade
43%abce
63%abcd
Text messaging 19%e
23%e
23%e
31%e
46%abcd
Blogs 19%de
22%de
21%de
32%abce
53%abcd
Other 9% 2% 2% 1% 4%
None of these 16% 9% 13% 7% 1%
Not sure 2% 1% 0% 2% 0%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Which if any of the following technologies does your church currently use in its ministry online?Base = 815 churches that indicated they have a website (slide 4).
* Letters indicate column with statistically significant difference at 95% confidence interval.
16
Differences in use of online technologies by Location
Large City Small City
Suburbs Rural area
Digital photos 85% 82% 86% 79%
Digital audio files or podcasts 52%d
54%d
54%d
32%abc
Digital video files 38%d
35%d
29% 24%ab
Text messaging 30%d
26% 31%d
21%ac
Blogs 31%d
23% 31%d
22%ac
Other 2% 2% 2% 3%
None of these 10% 9% 6% 14%
Not sure 1% 1% 1% 1%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100%
Which if any of the following technologies does your church currently use in its ministry online?Base = 815 churches that indicated they have a website (slide 4).
* Letters indicate column with statistically significant difference at 95% confidence interval.
17
Church website
Digital photos Digital audio files or Pod-
casts
Digital video files
Emails to groups
Text messag-ing
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
76%68%
54%46%
69%
34%
A year from today, which of the following technologies do you expect your church to use in its ministry online?
A year from today, 76% of all churches expect to have website and 69% will be emailing groups in their online ministry continued on next slide
18
Blogs Social networks such as Face-
book, Twitter or My Space
Other None of these Not sure 0%
10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
33%
48%
2%8%
2%
A year from today 33% of churches expect to be using blogs in their online ministry
A year from today, which of the following technologies do you expect your church to use in its ministry online?
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Differences in expectation of future use of online technologies by Size
1-49 50-99 100-199 200-499 500+
Church website 65%de
76%de
73%de
85%abc
90%abc
Digital photos 55%cde
62%cde
71%abe
77%ab
87%abc
Digital audio files or podcasts 37%cde
46%cde
56%abde
67%abce
87%abcd
Digital video files 35%de
39%de
43%de
63%abc
75%abc
Emails to groups 56%cde
67%e
70%ae
75%a
87%abc
Text messaging 29%de
29%de
39%e
43%abe
65%abcd
Blogs 19%cde
29%de
34%ae
38%abe
65%abcd
Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or My Space
38%de
47%e
46%e
52%ae
77%abcd
A year from today, which of the following technologies do you expect your church to use in its ministry online?
* Letters indicate column with statistically significant difference at 95% confidence interval.
20
Differences in expectation of future use of online technologies by Age of Pastor
20-39 40-49 50-59 60+
Church website 80% 77% 77% 72%
Digital photos 75% 71% 68% 64%
Digital audio files or podcasts 67%cd
61%d
55%ad
43%abc
Digital video files 58%cd
54%cd
44%ab
40%ab
Emails to groups 77%d
68% 71% 63%a
Text messaging 42%d
35% 34% 30%a
Blogs 44%d
33%d
37%d
22%abc
Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or My Space
59%d
52%d
51%d
36%abc
A year from today, which of the following technologies do you expect your church to use in its ministry online?
* Letters indicate column with statistically significant difference at 95% confidence interval.
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Our church proactively looks for new technol-
ogy.
Our church is open to new
technology but doesn’t go look-
ing for it.
Our church is slow to consider new technology.
Our church avoids new technology.
Not sure 0%
10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
26%
47%
24%
3% 1%
A quarter of churches indicate they proactively look for new technology while a quarter are slow to consider new technology
Which of the following statements best describes your church’s attitude toward technology that may be helpful to your church?
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Differences in attitude toward technology that may be helpful by Size
1-49 50-99 100-199 200-499 500+
Our church proactively looks for new technology.
11%de
17%de
22%de
46%abce
71%abcd
Our church is open to new technology but doesn’t go looking for it.
44%e
48%e
51%e
44%e
24%abcd
Our church is slow to consider new technology.
35%de
30%de
24%de
10%abc
4%abc
Our church avoids new technology. 9% 5% 2% 0% 0%
Not sure 2% 0% 0% 0% 2%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Which of the following statements best describes your church’s attitude toward technology that may be helpful to your church?
* Letters indicate column with statistically significant difference at 95% confidence interval.
23
Differences in attitude toward technology that may be helpful by Location
Large City
Small City
Suburbs Rural area
Our church proactively looks for new technology. 44%bcd
29%ad
26%ad
14%abc
Our church is open to new technology but doesn’t go looking for it.
38%cd
47% 55%a
48%a
Our church is slow to consider new technology. 17%d
21%d
18%d
32%abc
Our church avoids new technology. 1% 3% 0% 6%
Not sure 1% 0% 1% 0%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100%
Which of the following statements best describes your church’s attitude toward technology that may be helpful to your church?
* Letters indicate column with statistically significant difference at 95% confidence interval.
24
Differences in attitude toward technology that may be helpful by Census Region
Northeast South Midwest West
Our church proactively looks for new technology. 32% 27% 23% 28%
Our church is open to new technology but doesn’t go looking for it.
58%b
44%a
47% 46%
Our church is slow to consider new technology. 10%bc
24%a
28%a
22%
Our church avoids new technology. 0% 4% 2% 4%
Not sure 0% 0% 1% 1%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100%
Which of the following statements best describes your church’s attitude toward technology that may be helpful to your church?
* Letters indicate column with statistically significant difference at 95% confidence interval.
Demographics of Participating Churches
26
Average Worship Attendance
1-49; 13%
50-99; 30%
100-199; 33%
200-499; 19%
500+; 6%
What is your church’s average worship attendance on a typical weekend (including all ages from babies to adults but not counting anyone twice)?
Weighted (reflects Protestant Churches)
27
Large city (100,000 or more)
Small city (less than 100,000)
Suburbs Rural area0%
10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
20%27%
17%
36%
36% of churches indicate their church is located in a rural area
Which of the following best represents where your church is located?
28
Differences in location of church by Size1-49 50-99 100-199 200-
499500+
Large city 16%e
17%de
17%de
27%bce
42%abcd
Small city 17%de
25% 29% 31%a
31%a
Suburbs 12% 13%d
19% 23%b
19%
Rural Area 56%cde
45%cde
35%abde
19%abc
8%abc
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
* Letters indicate column with statistically significant difference at 95% confidence interval.
Which of the following best represents where your church is located?
29
Differences in location of church by Census Region
Northeast South Midwest West
Large city 17% 23%c
13%bd
28%c
Small city 26% 24% 26% 32%
Suburbs 33%bcd
16%a
16%a
14%a
Rural Area 24%bc
37%ad
46%ad
26%bc
Total 100% 100% 100% 100%
* Letters indicate column with statistically significant difference at 95% confidence interval.
Which of the following best represents where your church is located?
30
Age 20-39 Age 40-49 Age 50-59 Age 60+ Not Sure0%
10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
13%20%
40%
22%
4%
40% of churches indicate their senior pastor is between ages 50-59
Approximately how old is your church’s senior or lead pastor?
Churches Divided on Website Usage
Sponsored by Axletree Media, a partner in LifeWay’s Digital Church initiative