St. Paul Pastoral Profile Survey – Executive Summary

St. Paul Lutheran Church

Wallis, Texas

Pastoral Profile Survey

Executive Summary

December 6, 2017

 

The Pastoral Profile Survey was administered and available to members of St. Paul Lutheran Church from approximately October 12, 2017 until November 14, 2017. Seventeen individuals responded to the survey.

 

With respect to the skills and characteristics of St. Paul’s next pastor, respondents:

  1. Expressed a relative preference for a pastor who prioritizes assisting the congregation in outreach, leading worship, and exerting skill and energy in preaching;
  2. Expressed a relative preference for a pastor who develops leaders, while expressed a relative lack of preference for a pastor who is an innovator;
  3. Expressed a relative preference for a pastor who preaches sermons that relate to current issues or matters of life and include metaphors or stories, while expressing a relative lack of preference for a pastor who preaches sermons that call for action;
  4. Expressed a relative preference for a pastor who teaches youth confirmation classes and who provides spiritual formation for individual Christians;
  5. Expressed a relative preference for a pastor who is skilled in visitation of the elderly and a modest preference for a pastor who is skilled in youth ministry.

 

With respect to the characteristics of St. Paul congregation, respondents:

  1. Expressed a relative preference for a traditional and/or blended style of worship;
  2. Expressed a relative preference for a communion policy that administers the sacrament to those who have been educated in what Scripture teaches about the sacrament;
  3. See a wide variety of ministries as available to men in the church;
  4. See a smaller, but significant, variety of ministries as available to women in the church;
  5. Expressed a strong interest in moving out into the community with a ministry led by the congregation.

 

The call committee is strongly advised to take into account the results of this survey when considering a list of candidates for the position, and the congregation is strongly advised to consider the results of the survey when issuing a call. It will be important to ascertain potential pastors’ skills and characteristics in regard to the items in the second paragraph above and his preferences in regard to the items in the paragraph immediately above.