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A WORLD SURVEY ON THE STATE OF 
THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH 
2007-2008 
A Report Prepared for the 
Strategic Planning Commission 
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists 
Prepared by the Institute of Church Ministry 
Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary 
Andrews University 
Written by 
Roger L. Dudley, Director 
Petr Cincala, Analyst 
Center for Adventist Research 
Andrews University 
Berrien Springs Michigan 
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 
Introduction 
1 
The Survey Instrument 
1 
The Research Design 
Processing Returns 
3 
The Three Major Outcomes 
4 
Comments on the Three Major Outcomes 
9 
Methods of Winning Converts 
12 
Reasons for Dropouts 
13 
Communication with "Higher" Organizations 14 
Supplement to World Survey for Pastors 
15 
APPENDICES 1-9 
A WORLD SURVEY ON THE STATE OF THE 
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH 
The General Conference developed a five-year strategic plan for 2001-2005. The 
Strategic Planning Committee, formed to monitor this plan, set out a number of goals under three 
main headings: (1) Quality of Personal and Church Life, (2) Unity in the World Church, and (3) 
Growth of the Church. Each of these three areas was supported by a number of behavioral 
objectives. 
In order to determine if these objectives were being met, the Strategic Planning 
Committee set out to collect pertinent data. The planners commissioned a research team at 
Andrews University to collect, analyze, and evaluate the data that would determine the extent to 
which the goals and objectives are being reached. This team was centered in the Institute of 
Church Ministry (ICM), a component of the Seventh-day Theological Seminary, with consultants 
from the university Behavioral Sciences Department and the Institute of World Missions. The 
project was successfully completed and a full report was presented to the Annual Council of the 
General Conference on October 7, 2002. 
In early 2006, the Strategic Planning Committee decided to replicate the original study, 
with some additional items, in order to determine what progress had been made, and to lay 
mission plans for the quinquennium of 2010-2015. Once again the Institute of Church Ministry 
was employed to help design the questionnaire, prepare and print the necessary materials, mail 
and collect the surveys, enter the data into a computer file, analyze the results, and write a 
definitive report. 
The Survey Instrument 
To collect the desired information it was necessary to modify the original questionnaire. 
That task, performed in 2001, was accomplished by first examining the goals and objectives under 
the three major expected outcomes as follows: 
I. Wholeness as a quality of church life demonstrated by: 
Members whose lives demonstrate joy of salvation and anticipation of the next world 
Weekly group Bible study for all ages with appropriate curriculum 
Weekly corporate worship 
Personal, family, and group prayer life 
Training for discipleship, witnessing, and involvement in local church activity 
Awareness of and participation in the world-wide work of the church 
Nurturing members of all ages according to their diverse talents and needs 
Adventists who are seen as model citizens in their communities and whose mental, 
physical, and spiritual life values are coupled with compassion 
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2. Unity as a quality of life demonstrated by: 
Cohesiveness of doctrine: world church approval of Bible-based, Christ-centered, 
fundamental beliefs 
Togetherness of believers: creation and preservation of community which embraces 
culture and ethnic diversity 
Cohesiveness of organization: distinct local and global identity arising from the world 
church system of structure and organization 
3. Growth as a consequence of rootedness in Christ demonstrated by: 
Members with rich spiritual experience and commitment to active witness 
Increasing accession and retention rates in local churches 
A positive impact of the Adventist presence within a community 
The number of churches established in unentered areas 
Transmission of Adventist legacy and mission to succeeding generations 
The next task was to construct questions that would measure these objectives. The 
research team at ICM met with chair Mike Ryan of the Strategic Planning Committee for a day. 
Going over the objectives one by one, they wrote sample questions. These questions then went 
through a number of drafts with each team member, Ryan, and even Jan Paulsen, President of the 
General Conference, making suggestions. The final form of the survey contained 97 questions, 
organized under the three main goals with a few extra demographic questions. The final draft was 
approved by the General Conference and translated into French, Korean, Russian, and Spanish. 
For the current replication, most of the questions under the three main expected outcomes 
were retained along with questions on congregational practices and youth activity. Objective "d. 
the number of churches established in unentered areas" was dropped because that information 
could not be gathered from the present survey and needed to be obtained from a different source. 
In addition sections on effective methods of winning converts, reasons for church drop outs, and 
relationships with supervising organizations were added. Also, a separate supplement just for 
pastors was prepared. It consisted of 39 questions dealing with personal and professional life as 
well as relationships with the larger church organization. The questionnaires were translated into 
French, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish, as well as the English version. Copies of the 
English questionnaires are included in the appendices. 
The Research Design 
It was decided to utilize the same research design as was followed in the 2001 project. 
The data would be collected through the union conferences/missions throughout the world field. 
It would be necessary to have a liaison person in each union who would receive, distribute, 
collect, and return the surveys to ICM. This task was assigned to the secretary of each union and 
placed under the general supervision of Matthew Bediako, Secretary of the General Conference. 
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In January of 2007, Elder Bediako wrote to each union secretary giving a general description of 
the assignment and informing that official that instructions in how to proceed would be coming 
from ICM. A copy of the letter can be found in an appendix. He also informed all division 
secretaries so that they would be familiar with the proceedings. 
ICM then sent a letter of instructions to each secretary. Whenever possible, ICM has 
communicated by e-mail. The secretaries were asked to send a list of all the ministers currently 
pastoring churches in their unions as well as the preferred language for their unions. A copy of 
this letter and copies of follow-up letters are included in the appendices. After repeated contacts, 
lists of pastors were received from 94 union conferences/missions. 
From these lists ICM randomly selected 3333 names in a manner that would make the 
number chosen for each union follow the same proportion as the number of names submitted by 
each union was to the total of all names submitted. For each pastor a packet was prepared. It 
contained three copies of the questionnaire in the language requested and a letter of instructions 
and endorsement by Elder Bediako. The letter was sent on General Conference stationery. A 
copy is included in the appendices 
ICM then prepared boxes for each of the liaison secretaries of the world union 
conferences/missions. The boxes each contained a letter of instructions and the packets for each 
pastor in that field. The boxes were shipped in July of 2007. The union secretary was requested 
to distribute the packets to the pastors whose names were written on the envelopes, either by mail 
or through another contact such as a local conference/mission leader. A copy of this letter is 
included in the appendices. 
The pastor, upon receiving the packet found the letter of endorsement and the three 
questionnaires in the envelope. The pastor was asked to fill out one of the surveys marked 
PASTOR personally and to also complete the Supplement included with that survey. The pastor 
was requested to give the other two surveys, one each, to the most prominent male leader and the 
most prominent female leader in the congregation. Where a pastor had more than one 
congregation, he/she was asked to select the largest one for distributing the two surveys to the lay 
leaders but to generalize his/her personal answers to all of the congregations in the district. The 
pastor was instructed to collect the surveys from the two lay members and return all three 
questionnaires to the contact person from whom they had been received. The contact person 
returned these to the union conference/mission executive secretary who was responsible for 
shipping all surveys back to the Institute of Church Ministry for processing and analyses. 
Processing Returns 
A total of 9999 surveys were mailed (including both pastors and lay leaders). Of course, 
it is impossible to determine how many were actually delivered to the pastor and by the pastor to 
the lay leaders. The chain involved the union secretary, probably at least one conference/mission 
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official, the pastor, and the lay leaders. Numerous breakdowns in the links were probable. 
Many e-mail reminders were sent, both by ICM and the Office of Strategic Planning at the 
General Conference (sample letters are included in this report). Numerous individual problems 
were dealt with, including surveys not arriving to the designated place. By the cutoff of data 
collection on February 18, 2008, 56 of the 94 union conferences/missions had returned at least 
some surveys—a rather disappointing result. Non-responding unions had received multiple pleas 
not only from ICM and the General Conference Secretariat but also from Dr. Jan Paulson, the 
president. A total of 2972 usable questionnaires had been received by February 18. Since the 
data were analyzed an additional 73 surveys were received, making a total of 3045, but the 
information from the late arrivals is not included in this report. 
Appropriate analyses of the file were performed using the Statistical Packages for the 
Social Sciences (SPSS). Most of the questions called for percentages to be given. For these, 
means (average scores) have been calculated. A smaller group of questions asked the respondent 
to chose an option out of four or five possibilities or to tell how many times in a year certain 
events had been held. For these, frequencies in both raw numbers and in percentages have been 
supplied. This is also the procedure for the Pastors Supplement. The tables in the appendices list 
either frequencies or means for all questions in the order that they appear in the survey form 
The Three Major Outcomes 
However, the major purpose of this study is to determine how well the questions relate to 
a specific objective. To accomplish this, ICM matched each of the objectives of the Strategic 
Issues Plan with question items which seem to measure that objective. The full listing is given in a 
table in the appendices. For comparison purposes, this report will also list the grand means of the 
questions for each objective and underneath these the means of the items comprising that 
objective in descending order. Means of percentages can vary from 0 to 100 percent. 
Respondents were asked to estimate the percentage of the members in their congregations who do 
certain activities or who would agree with certain statements. 
Note that these are subjective perceptions rather than actual measurements of individual 
members which would be impossible in some of these areas. Nevertheless, the data is valuable, 
especially when coming from across the world field, in comparing the strengths of the respective 
objectives. Thus, the relative accomplishment of each strategic objective can be quickly seen. 
Some questions are used to measure more than one objective. 
For ease of reading and interpretation, pages 5 to 9 list the means for each objective by 
descending order within the area to which they belong. Here, all percentages have been rounded 
to the nearest whole percent. The items which were selected for each objective are also included, 
but to avoid cluttering the page with numbers, the means for the individual items are not listed 
there. The interested reader can find all these in the table in the appendices. In all cases the 
questionnaire items have been abbreviated to fit into the space on the tables. The full wording of 
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the questions (which are identified by question number in the tables) can be found by consulting 
the copy of the actual questionnaire located in the appendices. 
Measuring the Quality of Personal and Church Life 
Members whose lives demonstrate and illustrate the joy of salvation, restoration„ and anticipation 
of the world to come 
Mean = 73% 2002 = 72% 
Items = Assurance of salvation; Happy marriages; Apply Christian values to all areas of 
life; Salvation through Jesus alone 
Weekly corporate worship 
Mean = 59% 2002 = 57% 
Items = Sabbath worship attendance; Other Adventist religious meetings 
Also 38% incorporate diversity of worship services for different groups most of the time 
or almost always 
Weekly group Bible study for all ages 
Mean = 51% 2002 ---- 51% 
Items = Attend Sabbath school regularly; Participate in weekly group Bible study 
Model Citizens in the community whose mental, physical, and spiritual life values are coupled 
with compassion and service 
Mean = 52% 2002 = 46% 
Items = Social life outside the church; Happy marriages; Abstain from alcohol, drugs, and 
tobacco; Practice vegetarianism; Exercise on a regular basis 
Development of personal, family, and group prayer life 
Mean = 44% 2002 = 45% 
Items = Daily personal devotions; Family worship; Read Bible regularly; Read Ellen White 
at least monthly; Attended family seminars in last two years; Attended health seminars in 
last two years 
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Nurturing members of all ages according to their diverse talents and needs 
Mean = 40% 2002 = 37% 
Items = Serve the church according to their spiritual gifts; Help with church meetings or 
social events aimed at young adults; Help with church meetings or social events aimed at 
unmarried people 
Regular training for discipleship, witnessing, and involvement in local church activity 
Mean = 40% 2002 = 37% 
Items = Have taken witnessing training course in last two years; Actively witness to non-
members; Help with meetings or social events aimed at young adults; Hold an office or 
service position in the church; Give a faithful tithe; Support local congregation with 
offerings; Helped with Community Services Center; Worked in centers to feed the hungry; 
Helped with health seminars; Helped with family-type seminars; Invited a non-member to 
church; Helped with evangelistic meetings or Bible seminars; Gave Bible studies 
Awareness of and participation in the world wide work of the church 
Mean = 59% 2002 = 34% 
Items = Contribute to various mission projects; Participation in mission programs outside 
of own union; Agree that Adventist church has a special message to proclaim God's last 
message to the world 
In seven out of these eight objectives, the percentages are very close to those of 2001-
2002, even though different churches and different individuals were sampled. Five of these seven 
show slight improvement. Members of the world church seem to be doing the best in their 
subjective experience of Christian life and the joy of salvation. They also are near the median 
position in corporate Sabbath worship, group Bible study, and model citizenship. But few than 
half are involved in personal or family worship, nurturing members, or various forms of 
witnessing. The most dramatic change is in "awareness of and participation in the world-wide 
work of the church" where the percentage involved rose from 34% to 59%, a very impressive 
gain. 
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Unity in the World Church 
Cohesiveness in doctrine 
Mean = 91% 2002 = 91% 
Items = Seventh-day Sabbath; Six-day creation several thousand years ago; Nearness of 
literal Second Advent; Death as a sleep; Authority of Ellen White's writings; Sanctuary 
and judgment in 1844; Salvation through Christ alone 
Cohesiveness of organization 
Mean = 82% 2002 = 75% 
Items = Tithe to local conference—offerings as able; Fair financial structure to support 
world-wide work; World church organization inspired by God; Flexibility in church 
standards by world divisions 
Togetherness of believers in all-inclusive community 
Mean = 52% 2002 = 45% 
Items = Weekly group Bible study; Exercise of spiritual gifts; Faithful tithing; Support 
congregation with regular offerings; 
Also, the percentages that report that the practice occurs in their congregation most of the 
time or almost always 
66% Making people from minority groups feel welcome 
2002 = 62% 
60% Include people of different backgrounds in congregational leadership 2002 = 54% 
66% Sermons that emphasize love for all peoples, even "enemies" 
2002 = 55% 
There is strong support for fundamental Adventist doctrines. About three-fourths also 
affirm the structure, polity, and financial policies of the church. But only about half seem to be 
active in building all-inclusive community. Still, in the later two categories, improvements of 7% 
are seen compared to the 2002 report. 
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Growth as a Consequence of Rootedness in Christ 
Increasing accession and retention rates in local churches 
Mean = 67% 2002 = 63% 
Items = Reasons why people join your local church: Adventist home, friend or relative, 
public evangelism, Bible studies, literature, pastoral visits, television/radio, 
correspondence courses, internet, social events 
12% Attendance decreased by 10% or more 
2002 = 8% 
8% Attendance decreased by 5% to 9% 
2002 = 7% 
28% Attendance stable (-5% to +5%) 
2002 = 27% 
25% Attendance increased by 5% to 9% 
2002 = 28% 
26% Attendance increased by 10% or more 
2002 = 29% 
Transmission of the church's legacy and mission to succeeding generations 
Mean = 40% 2002 = 42% 
Items = Help with meetings and social events for young adults; Worked with teens in the 
church, Worked with young adults in the church, Percentage of youth 18 years or under 
who: Attend church weekly, Attend Sabbath school regularly, Attend other religious 
meetings regularly, Participate in outreach, Hold church office or service position, Are 
enrolled in Adventist schools, Are members of Pathfinders or other youth group, Attended 
a church-sponsored youth camp, Are happy with Adventist church, Raise questions about 
Adventist teachings, Will probably stay in church as adults 
33% operate a church school 2002 = 33% 
Members who have a rich spiritual experience and a commitment to active witness 
Mean = 38% 2002 = 36% 
Items = Have daily personal devotions; Have assurance of salvation; Helped with 
Community Services Center; Worked in centers to feed the hungry; Helped with health 
seminars; Helped with family type seminars; Invited a non-member to church; Helped with 
evangelistic meetings or Bible seminars; Gave Bible studies; Work with teens in the 
church; Work with young adults 
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A positive impact of the Seventh-day Adventist presence in the community 
Mean = 32% 2002 = 30% 
Items = Helped with Community Services Center; Worked in centers to feed the hungry; 
Helped with health seminars; Helped with family type seminars; Invited a non-member to 
church; Helped with evangelistic meetings or Bible seminars; Gave Bible studies 
On increasing accession and retention rates, there was a small increase of 4%. However, 
the items measuring this variable in the present study were different from those employed in 2002. 
About half of the churches (51%) increased their membership by at least 5%, but 59% reported 
this progress in 2002. About the same percentages were stable on both studies, but the 
percentages declining at least by 5% went up by 15% in 2008. For the other three objectives the 
percentages for the two years were within 2% of each other. This still leaves only 38% actively 
involved in various witnessing endeavors and 32% involved in serving the community in some 
way. 
Comments on the Three Major Outcomes 
In its strategic planning process for the future the General Conference has focused on 
three major areas, subdivided into fifteen specific objectives. The major purpose of this research 
project is to determine the extent to which the world church is presently meeting these objectives. 
Thus the results reveal to what degree church leaders need to focus on the various areas and 
specific objectives. These data can be compared to those from the 2001-2002 project to 
determine if improvement has been made. They also supply a baseline that can be compared with 
future studies to ascertain the degree of improvement or lack of it for each goal. 
The results are very similar to those reported in 2002, some six years ago. There is still 
room for improvement on nearly all of the objectives. The strongest area is in unity of doctrine 
where over 90% of those reporting were firmly committed to Adventist teachings that are Bible-
based and Christ-centered. However, it should be noted that while 83% accepted the authority of 
Ellen White's writings, nearly half saw a need for reinterpretation of them for today's world, and 
about a third believed that there may be more than one interpretation of the sanctuary 
doctrine. 
In addition to strong support for Adventist doctrines, the respondents gave high marks to 
church organization. Over 90% agreed that the formation of the Adventist church was inspired 
by God and that the Adventist church has a special mission to proclaim God's last message to the 
world. Over 80% agreed that members have a responsibility to return 10% tithe through the local 
church to the conference and to give additional offerings—an encouraging figure in view of the 
congregationalism that has troubled some areas of the church. Also, 80% agreed that the 
Adventist church financial structure is a fair and proper way to support the world work of the 
church. It is interesting that 82% agreed that church unity means uniformity in doctrinal belief. 
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Perhaps a definition of uniformity will be important to interpreting this result. 
Another comparatively high area indicated that 70% of the members live joyful lives with 
assurance of salvation. This is about the same as in 2002 and presents the challenge that about 
30% do not experience the joy of salvation—certainly a disturbing finding. 
As pointed out above, one negative finding is that a smaller percentages of the churches 
gained membership than in the previous report, and a larger percentage declined. Only about half 
of the churches grew in membership by at least 5% during the previous two years. 
A concern must be that only slightly over three-fourths attend weekly corporate worship 
on a regular basis, and only about two-thirds take part in any group Bible study, including 
Sabbath school. 
Another of the fifteen objectives being met by fewer than half of the members is 
"development of personal, family, and group prayer life" (44%). Even the better-ranking items 
that are included in this objective are lower than desirable: Daily personal devotions (55%), 
Regular Bible reading (56%), and Family worship (46%). Of those who are married, only 65% 
have a happy and satisfying marriage, and only 65% pay a faithful tithe in spite of the fact that 
84% believe that they have a responsibility to do so. 
Of crucial importance to the church is the retention and training of its young people. The 
objective, "transmission of the church's legacy and mission to succeeding generations," had a 
mean of only 40%. Of youth eighteen years and younger, two-thirds attend church regularly, and 
only about a third attend any other religious meetings or participate in outreach activities. About 
63% seem content with the Adventist church, and 60% will probably remain in the church as 
adults. These low percentages are an ominous sign for the future of Adventism. 
Outreach participation as revealed in the objective, "regular training for discipleship, 
witnessing, and involvement in local church activity," is only 40%. Items included are "actively 
witnessing to non-members" (41%), "inviting a non-member to church" (39%), "ministering to 
the youth" (28%), "ministering to young adults" (27%), "helping with community services" 
(38%), and "giving Bible studies" (30%). 
How is the church doing comparatively in the three major areas addressed by the Strategic 
Plan? If the means of each item under each of the areas are averaged, relative success can be 
determined. 
First of all is the area of Unity in the World Church (mean = 73.2%). 
Next in order is Quality of Life—Personal and Church (mean = 48.5%) 
In last place is Growth as a Consequence of Rootedness in Christ (mean = 47.0%) 
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In 2002, the means were 71.5%, 45.1%, and 45.9%, respectively. So there has been slight 
improvement with the second and third switching places but both very close. After six years the 
church is still doing better at Unity than at Personal Life or Growth. 
What overall themes seem to be the most cause for concern? Different people might find 
diverse areas that particularly impact on their fields of labor. ICM notes four areas that especially 
beg for attention: 
Individual Bible study and prayer where the somewhat lower average contrasts with the 
high rating for salvation and assurance. 
Training for witnessing and discipleship where only a minority of members are active. 
Making an impact of Adventism on the community where fewer than 40% of the 
members are engaged. 
Retention and involvement of the youth of the church. That area had a mean of only 
40%, and estimates, as well as other research, indicate that the church is in danger of losing 40% 
to 50% of its young people as they become adults. 
Church leaders at all levels who give careful study to this report will find abundant 
challenges and ample directions for work in accomplishing the goals of the Strategic Plan for the 
future mission of the church. 
Supporting Materials 
This report will now turn to new sections of the questionnaire as well as the Supplement 
to the World Survey for Pastors. Following that, much supporting material will be found in the 
Appendices, such as: 
A detailed report on the 15 objectives with means for each included item 
A list of means and/or frequencies for each question in the survey 
A comparison of means in 2008 with those of similar questions in 2002 
Frequencies broken down by language, union conferences/missions, divisions, and 
continents 
A comparison of languages and continents for 2002 and 2008 
A list of union conferences/missions that returned surveys 
Samples of the letters used in the data-collecting process 
The World Survey questionnaire and the Supplement for Pastors questionnaire 
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Methods of Winning Converts 
A section on the 2006 to 2008 questionnaire that was not included in 2002 dealt with the 
most effective method of winning converts. The instructions stated: "In your experience how 
effective is each of the following methods in winning converts into your congregation? 1 = not 
effective, 2 = somewhat effective, 3 = quite effective, 4 = greatly effective" 
The instructions were followed by a list of ten items in which the respondent could choose 
one of the four options. Descriptive statistics for the set are included in this report and give full 
frequencies, percentages, and valid percentages for each item. However, to better visualize the 
contribution of each method, this section combines the percentages of those choosing options 
three and four (quite effective and greatly effective). Then these are arranged in descending 
order. The valid percentage column is employed the eliminate the 2% to 6% who did not answer 
a particular question. Percentages have been rounded off to the nearest whole percentage. 
Method of Evangelism 
Percentage Quite or Greatly Effective 
Bible studies in the home 
83% 
Brought up in an Adventist home 
79% 
Visits by a pastor 
73% 
Adventist friend or relative 
70% 
Social events 
59% 
Public evangelism series of meetings 
52% 
Read books or other literature 
44% 
Television or radio programs 
43% 
Bible correspondence courses 
40% 
Material on the internet 
29% 
It is obvious that pastors and members believe that personal contact is the most important 
and effective means of winning converts to there congregations. The four leading methods all 
involve personal interaction. While public evangelism meetings are important, only about half of 
the respondents see them as quite or greatly effective. A home visit by the pastor leads by more 
than 20 percentage points. Growing up in an Adventist home and having Adventist friends and 
relatives also emphasizes the importance of personal interaction in the prospective convert making 
a decision to join the church. 
The four methods with the lowest ratings are all impersonal. Of course, personal follow-
up to these methods will enhance their effectiveness, but by themselves they are less productive. 
The internet is a rather new tool for evangelism and may prove more effective as more materials 
become more widely available. 
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Reasons for Dropouts 
This is also a new section of the questionnaire, not included in the 2002 version. The 
instructions stated: "In your experience how strong is each of the following reasons in the 
decisions of members to drop out of the church? 1 = no reason at all to 5 = a very strong reason" 
The instructions were followed by a list of ten items in which the respondent could choose a 
number between 1 and 5. Descriptive statistics for the set are included in this report and give full 
frequencies, percentages, and valid percentages for each item. However, to better visualize the 
impact of each reason this section combines the percentages of those choosing options four and 
five (strong reason and very strong reason). Then these are arranged in descending order. The 
valid percentage column is employed the eliminate the 2% to 4% who did not answer a particular 
question. Percentages have been rounded off to the nearest whole percentage. 
Reasons for Dropping out Percentage Strong or Very Strong Reason 
Mistreated by members 
59% 
Lack of fellowship 
57% 
Unfriendly church 
55% 
Social pressure from friends or relatives 42% 
Church's teaching and practice don't match 36% 
Worship services don't meet spiritual needs 34% 
Lack of confidence in leadership 
33% 
Standards too strict 
27% 
Don't believe some of the teachings 
25% 
Standards too loose 
17% 
The ordering of this list brings out some very revealing facts. The main reasons members 
leave the church have to do with personal relationships even, as noted above, the main influences 
in winning converts are relational. The top three reason for dropping out are all in the same area. 
People who do not find warm and friendship, who do not find a family atmosphere, and who 
believe they have been mistreated are likely to leave for friendlier country. 
Note too that not believing in the teachings of the church is rated as a strong or very 
strong reason for leaving by only 25% of the respondents—second from the bottom in rating the 
reasons. Dropouts are more likely to be put off by hypocrisy (reason 5) or not finding spiritual 
food (reason 6) than doctrinal reasons. Just as personal interaction is most important in winning 
converts (see section above), so poor personal interaction is most important in driving them away. 
This project does not survey those who have actually dropped out of the church. The 
survey was completed by pastors and leading lay members who are an integral part of the church 
body. But from their inside perspective these leaders have seen members depart over the years. 
Given their broad view and insight, they have noticed what it is that discourages and inclines 
members to give up. Certainly these things should be top priority in training our churches. 
Keeping the members from leaving is just as important for growth as winning new converts. 
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Communication with "Higher" Organizations 
Establishing lines of communication between those who minister on the front lines and 
those who hold administrative offices is crucial in a worldwide church with such great diversity. 
Thus the third new section of the questionnaire was included to probe this area. 
The instructions were: "As a pastor or lay leader, how do you see your relationship with 
the conference, union, division, or world church? 1 = no communication, 2 = communication 
some of the time, 3 = regular communication." 
Following these instructions was a list of eight areas where the respondent could choose 
one of the three options. Descriptive statistics for the set are included in this report and give full 
frequencies, percentages, and valid percentages for each item. However, to better visualize the 
overall picture of communications this section reports the percentages of those choosing option 3 
(regular communication). These percentages are arranged in descending order. The valid 
percentage column is employed the eliminate the 3% to 5% who did not answer a particular 
question (The internet question had a high 15% that did not answer, perhaps indicating its 
unavailability in some areas of the world.). Percentages have been rounded off to the nearest 
whole percentage. 
Areas of Communication 
Percentage Regular Communication 
Access to Adventist journals and papers 
57% 
Information on decisions of local conference 
46% 
Conference leaders care about you personally 
35% 
Conference leaders listen to you 
35% 
Receive Adventist radio/TV broadcasts 
34% 
Information on decisions of union/division/GC 
29% 
Receive information on the Church by internet 
25% 
Have input into decisions of higher organizations 22% 
This presents a disturbing picture. The only area in which over half (and that only 57%) 
of the pastors and lay leaders felt they were in regular communication was through access to 
Adventist journals and papers. While such access is essential, it does not involve any personal 
communication. Fewer than half even discover what is happening in their local conference or 
mission. What is especially shocking is that only slightly more than a third believe that their 
conference leaders listen to them and their ideas or care about them personally. Most tragic is that 
only 22% feel that they have any input into the decisions of higher organizations. The church is 
dependent upon pastors and lay leaders in fulfilling its mission. Yet, apparently these vital 
workers do not feel a connection with the overall body. 
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Supplement to World Survey for Pastors 
An addition to the World Survey that was not included in the 2002 project is the 
Supplement for Pastors. As reported on page 2, it consisted of 39 questions dealing with personal 
and professional life as well as relationships with the larger church organization. As reported on 
page 3, the pastor, upon receiving the packet from the union secretary, found a letter of 
endorsement and three questionnaires in the envelope. The pastor was asked to fill out one of the 
surveys marked PASTOR personally and to also complete the Supplement included with that 
survey. 
Of the 2972 World Surveys included in this report, 1055 were completed by pastors; the 
remainder by lay leaders. However, the maximum number completing a Supplement was 1003 
pastors. Following this page a frequency table for each of the 37 questions is inserted. The first 
column shows the options from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." The second column is 
the number who selected each option. "System" indicates the number that did not answer the 
question. In this case the number is always large since the lay leaders were not given the survey. 
The percent column shows the percentage that chose each option based on the 2972 total 
responses. But since lay leaders did not have the survey, and since not all pastors answered every 
question, the valid percent column shows the percentage of those who actually answered that 
particular question. The discussion, therefore, will use the valid percent column, and the 
cumulative percent column is based on valid percentage. 
The first 30 of the 37 questions deal with pastor attitudes. Three types of questions are 
included. In 18 of the responses, an "agree" answer indicates positive morale or belief Another 
8 questions are framed so that an "agree" answer indicates negative morale or belief. The 
remaining 4 questions in this set are neither positive or negative, but ask for the pastor's opinion 
on certain issues. 
The last seven questions are quite different. They ask to what extent pastors are receiving 
certain services from administrative bodies. Each of these four types of questions will be dealt 
with separately in the discussion that follows. 
In addition to the table of frequencies that follow this page, a table with the means for 
these 37 questions is included in the appendices. Also a copy of the Supplemental questionnaire is 
included with the copy of the World Survey questionnaire. 
-15- 
Frequency Table for Supplement for Pastors 
1. I have a satisfying personal devotional life. 
Frequency Percent Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
535 18.00135 53.39321 53.39321 
somewhat 
371 12.48318 37.02595 90.41916 
uncertain 
38 
1.2786 3.792415 94.21158 
somewhat 
49 1.648721 
4.89022 
99.1018 
strongly dif. 
9 0.302826 0.898204 
100 
Total 
1002 33.71467 
100 
Missing 
System 
1970 66.28533 
Total 
2972 
100 
2. I have a satisfactory marital/family relationship. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
710 23.88964 
71.6448 
71.6448 
somewhat 
226 7.604307 22.80525 94.45005 
uncertain 
22 0.740242 
2.21998 96.67003 
somewhat 
21 0.706595 2.119072 
98.7891 
strongly dif. 
12 0.403769 1.210898 
100 
Total 
991 33.34455 
100 
Missing 
System 
1981 66.65545 
Total 
2972 
100 
3. I believe that the present Adventist church structure is a dequate. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
525 17.66487 52.76382 52.76382 
somewhat 
261 8.781965 26.23116 78.99497 
uncertain 
58 1.951548 5.829146 84.82412 
somewhat 
113 3.802153 11.35678 
96.1809 
strongly dif. 
38 
1.2786 3.819095 
100 
Total 
995 33.47914 
100 
Missing 
System 
1977 66.52086 
Total 
2972 
100 
4. I believe that every one of the church's doctrines is Biblically sound. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Perc( Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
903 30.38358 90.11976 90.11976 
somewhat 
61 
2.05249 6.087824 96.20758 
uncertain 
10 0.336474 0.998004 97.20559 
somewhat 
18 0.605653 1.796407 
99.002 
strongly dif. 
10 0.336474 0.998004 
100 
Total 
1002 33.71467 
100 
Missing 
System 
1970 66.28533 
Total 
2972 
100 
I believe in the inspiration of the writings of Ellen G. White. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Perc( Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
922 31.02288 91.92423 91.92423 
somewhat 
62 2.086137 6.181456 98.10568 
uncertain 
5 0.168237 0.498504 98.60419 
somewhat 
5 0.168237 0.498504 99.10269 
strongly di; 
9 0.302826 0.897308 
100 
Total 
1003 33.74832 
100 
Missing 
System 
1969 66.25168 
Total 
2972 
100 
I believe that denominational leaders want to hear my opinions. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Pew( Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
299 10.06057 29.92993 29.92993 
somewhat 
325 
10.9354 32.53253 62.46246 
uncertain 
223 7.503365 22.32232 84.78478 
somewhat 
106 3.566622 10.61061 
95.3954 
strongly diE 
46 1.547779 4.604605 
100 
Total 
999 33.61373 
100 
Missing 
System 
1973 66.38627 
Total 
2972 
100 
The present use of tithe policy is in harmony with God's will. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Perc( Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
704 23.68775 70.47047 70.47047 
somewhat 
204 6.864065 20.42042 90.89089 
uncertain 
46 1.547779 4.604605 
95.4955 
somewhat 
32 1.076716 3.203203 
98.6987 
strongly diE 
13 0.437416 1.301301 
100 
Total 
999 33.61373 
100 
Missing 
System 
1973 66.38627 
Total 
2972 
100 
Policy should allow for a congregation to keep back some tithe for local ministry. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Percc Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
183 
6.15747 18.50354 18.50354 
somewhat 
142 4.777927 14.35794 32.86148 
uncertain 
78 2.624495 7.886754 40.74823 
somewhat 
92 3.095559 9.302326 50.05056 
strongly diE 
494 
16.6218 49.94944 
100 
Total 
989 33.27725 
100 
Missing 
System 
1983 66.72275 
Total 
2972 
100 
9. I find fulfillment in my role as a pastor. 
Frequency Percent Valid Perc( Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
686 
23.0821 
68.6 
68.6 
somewhat 
252 8.479139 
25.2 
93.8 
uncertain 
33 1.110363 
3.3 
97.1 
somewhat 
19 
0.6393 
1.9 
99 
strongly diE 
10 0.336474 
1 
100 
Total 
1000 33.64738 
100 
Missing 
System 
1972 66.35262 
Total 
2972 
100 
My local church officers (elders, deacons, etc.) support my ministry. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Perc( Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
562 18.90983 
56.2 
56.2 
somewhat 
360 12.11306 
36 
92.2 
uncertain 
35 1.177658 
3.5 
95.7 
somewhat 
31 1.043069 
3.1 
98.8 
strongly diE 
12 0.403769 
1.2 
100 
Total 
1000 33.64738 
100 
Missing 
System 
1972 66.35262 
Total 
2972 
100 
My conference leaders are generally supportive of my work. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
537 18.06864 
53.7 
53.7 
somewhat 
327 11.00269 
32.7 
86.4 
uncertain 
93 3.129206 
9.3 
95.7 
somewhat 
31 1.043069 
3.1 
98.8 
strongly diE 
12 0.403769 
1.2 
100 
Total 
1000 33.64738 
100 
Missing 
System 
1972 66.35262 
Total 
2972 
100 
Most of the time I feel lonely and isolated in the ministry. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
91 3.061911 9.109109 9.109109 
somewhat 
279 9.387618 27.92793 37.03704 
uncertain 
77 2.590848 7.707708 44.74474 
somewhat 
269 9.051144 26.92693 71.67167 
strongly diE 
283 9.522207 28.32833 
100 
Total 
999 33.61373 
100 
Missing 
System 
1973 66.38627 
Total 
2972 
100 
I need more help in training my local church leaders for effective service. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Perc( Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
411 13.82907 41.14114 41.14114 
somewhat 
367 12.34859 36.73674 77.87788 
uncertain 
68 2.288022 6.806807 84.68468 
somewhat 
104 3.499327 10.41041 
95.0951 
strongly di 
49 1.648721 4.904905 
100 
Total 
999 33.61373 
100 
Missing 
System 
1973 66.38627 
Total 
2972 
100 
I believe I am able to use my professional time effectively. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Perc( Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
464 15.61238 46.35365 46.35365 
somewhat 
397 13.35801 39.66034 86.01399 
uncertain 
75 2.523553 7.492507 93.50649 
somewhat 
52 1.749664 5.194805 
98.7013 
strongly dif. 
13 0.437416 1.298701 
100 
Total 
1001 33.68102 
100 
Missing 
System 
1971 66.31898 
Total 
2972 
100 
I have sufficient study time to prepare quality sermons. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Perc( Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
390 13.12248 38.96104 38.96104 
somewhat 
371 12.48318 37.06294 76.02398 
uncertain 
94 3.162853 9.390609 85.41459 
somewhat 
119 4.004038 11.88811 
97.3027 
strongly diE. 
27 0.908479 2.697303 
100 
Total 
1001 33.68102 
100 
Missing 
System 
1971 66.31898 
Total 
2972 
100 
I regularly use the Internet for professional development and research. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
239 8.041723 
24.3629 
24.3629 
somewhat 
288 9.690444 
29.3578 53.72069 
uncertain 
113 3.802153 11.51886 65.23955 
somewhat 
160 
5.38358 16.30989 81.54944 
strongly diF. 
181 6.090175 18.45056 
100 
Total 
981 33.00808 
100 
Missing 
System 
1991 66.99192 
Total 
2972 
100 
I am able to prioritize my time in order to attend to the duties that are required of me. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
445 14.97308 
44.6339 
44.6339 
somewhat 
423 14.23284 42.42728 87.06118 
uncertain 
68 2.288022 6.820461 93.88164 
somewhat 
50 1.682369 5.015045 98.89669 
strongly diE 
11 0.370121 
1.10331 
100 
Total 
997 33.54643 
100 
Missing 
System 
1975 66.45357 
Total 
2972 
100 
I have an adequate and comprehensive personal library. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
398 13.39166 39.95984 39.95984 
somewhat 
375 12.61777 
37.6506 77.61044 
uncertain 
93 3.129206 9.337349 86.94779 
somewhat 
84 
2.82638 8.433735 95.38153 
strongly dig 
46 1.547779 4.618474 
100 
Total 
996 33.51279 
100 
Missing 
System 
1976 66.48721 
Total 
2972 
100 
Congregations should be free to try new ideas without conference approval. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
130 4.374159 13.09164 13.09164 
somewhat 
240 
8.07537 24.16918 37.26083 
uncertain 
120 4.037685 12.08459 49.34542 
somewhat 
181 6.090175 18.22759 67.57301 
strongly diE. 
322 10.83445 32.42699 
100 
Total 
993 33.41184 
100 
Missing 
System 
1979 66.58816 
Total 
2972 
100 
I would like to have help to upgrade my professional ministerial skills. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid PercE Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
608 
20.4576 
61.2286 
61.2286 
somewhat 
246 8.277254 24.77341 86.00201 
uncertain 
60 2.018843 6.042296 92.04431 
somewhat 
53 1.783311 5.337362 97.38167 
strongly diE 
26 0.874832 2.618328 
100 
Total 
993 33.41184 
100 
Missing 
System 
1979 66.58816 
Total 
2972 
100 
21. I enjoy being a pastor. 
Frequency Percent Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
806 27.11978 80.76152 80.76152 
somewhat 
150 5.047106 15.03006 95.79158 
uncertain 
25 0.841184 
2.50501 98.29659 
somewhat 
9 0.302826 0.901804 
99.1984 
strongly diE 
8 0.269179 0.801603 
100 
Total 
998 33.58008 
100 
Missing 
System 
1974 66.41992 
Total 
2972 
100 
22. I have confidence in the Adventist educational system at all levels. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
537 18.06864 53.75375 53.75375 
somewhat 
257 8.647376 25.72573 79.47948 
uncertain 
124 4.172275 12.41241 91.89189 
somewhat 
64 2.153432 6.406406 
98.2983 
strongly diE 
17 0.572005 1.701702 
100 
Total 
999 33.61373 
100 
Missing 
System 
1973 66.38627 
Total 
2972 
100 
23. I have received very good ministerial training in Adventist colleges. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
458 
15.4105 46.73469 46.73469 
somewhat 
316 10.63257 
32.2449 78.97959 
uncertain 
89 2.994616 9.081633 88.06122 
somewhat 
86 2.893674 
8.77551 96.83673 
strongly d iE 
31 1.043069 3.163265 
100 
Total 
980 32.97443 
100 
Missing 
System 
1992 67.02557 
Total 
2972 
100 
24. Pastors are generally not appreciated in the Adventist church. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
86 2.893674 8.617234 8.617234 
somewhat 
259 
8.71467 
25.9519 34.56914 
uncertain 
119 4.004038 11.92385 46.49299 
somewhat 
286 9.623149 28.65731 
75.1503 
strongly diF. 
248 8.344549 
24.8497 
100 
Total 
998 33.58008 
100 
Missing 
System 
1974 66.41992 
Total 
2972 
100 
25. Sometimes I feel like I would like to leave pastoral ministry. 
Frequency Percent Valid Perc( Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
70 2.355316 7.007007 7.007007 
somewhat 
178 5.989233 17.81782 24.82482 
uncertain 
81 2.725437 8.108108 32.93293 
somewhat 
205 6.897712 20.52052 53.45345 
strongly diE 
465 15.64602 
4654654 
100 
Total 
999 33.61373 
100 
Missing 
System 
1973 66.38627 
Total 
2972 
100 
Pastors are not paid enough to live comfortably. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid PercE Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
219 7.368775 21.94389 21.94389 
somewhat 
287 9.656797 28.75752 
50.7014 
uncertain 
112 3.768506 11.22244 61.92385 
somewhat 
161 5.417227 16.13226 78.05611 
strongly diE 
219 7.368775 21.94389 
100 
Total 
998 33.58008 
100 
Missing 
System 
1974 66.41992 
Total 
2972 
100 
Ministers should be allowed to earn additional income beyond their salaries. 
Frequency Percent Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
98 3.297443 9.829488 9.829488 
somewhat 
149 5.013459 14.94483 24.77432 
uncertain 
131 4.407806 13.13942 37.91374 
somewhat 
147 4.946164 14.74423 52.65797 
strongly di; 
472 15.88156 47.34203 
100 
Total 
997 33.54643 
100 
Missing 
System 
1975 66.45357 
Total 
2972 
100 
Sometimes I feel caught between the demands of conference and congregation. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
219 7.368775 22.12121 22.12121 
somewhat 
339 11.40646 34.24242 56.36364 
uncertain 
118 
3.97039 11.91919 68.28283 
somewhat 
158 5.316285 
15.9596 84.24242 
strongly diE 
156 5.248991 15.75758 
100 
Total 
990 
33.3109 
100 
Missing 
System 
1982 
66.6891 
Total 
2972 
100 
strongly dis 
29. A pastor should be allowed to preach and teach things that may differ to some extent from standard Adventist i 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Perc( Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
49 1.648721 4.919679 4.919679 
somewhat 
72 2.422611 7.228916 12.14859 
uncertain 
58 1.951548 5.823293 17.97189 
somewhat 
163 5.484522 16.36546 34.33735 
strongly diF. 
654 22.00538 65.66265 
100 
Total 
996 33.51279 
100 
Missing 
System 
1976 66.48721 
Total 
2972 
100 
30. I have very little direct interaction with local conference leaders. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Perc( Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
strongly ag 
92 3.095559 
9.2 
9.2 
somewhat 
234 7.873486 
23.4 
32.6 
uncertain 
83 2.792732 
8.3 
40.9 
somewhat 
254 8.546433 
25.4 
66.3 
strongly diF. 
337 11.33917 
33.7 
100 
Total 
1000 33.64738 
100 
Missing 
System 
1972 66.35262 
Total 
2972 
100 
31. Reports or minutes of the actions of committees and councils. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Perc( Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
regularly 
285 9.589502 29.23077 29.23077 
occasional 
374 12.58412 38.35897 67.58974 
not at all 
153 5.148048 15.69231 83.28205 
not applica 
163 5.484522 16.71795 
100 
Total 
975 32.80619 
100 
Missing 
System 
1997 67.19381 
Total 
2972 
100 
32. Newsletters from local conference or union. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid PercE Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
regularly 
444 14.93943 45.16785 45.16785 
occasional 
399 
13.4253 40.59003 85.75788 
not at all 
84 
2.82638 
8.54527 94.30315 
not applica 
56 1.884253 5.696846 
100 
Total 
983 33.07537 
100 
Missing 
System 
1989 66.92463 
Total 
2972 
100 
33 Journals such as Ministry. 
Frequency Percent Valid Perc( Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
regularly 
545 18.33782 55.27383 55.27383 
occasional 
278 
9.35397 28.19473 83.46856 
not at all 
95 3.196501 9.634888 93.10345 
not applica 
68 2.288022 6.896552 
100 
Total 
986 33.17631 
100 
Missing 
System 
1986 66.82369 
Total 
2972 
100 
34. Funds to support local ministries. 
Frequency Percent Valid Perc( Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
regularly 
267 8.983849 27.38462 27.38462 
occasional 
469 15.78062 48.10256 75.48718 
not at all 
144 4.845222 14.76923 90.25641 
not applica 
95 3.196501 
9.74359 
100 
Total 
975 32.80619 
100 
Missing 
System 
1997 67.19381 
Total 
2972 
100 
35. Individual counsel on professional problems. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
regularly 
176 5.921938 18.03279 18.03279 
occasional 
501 16.85734 51.33197 69.36475 
not at all 
192 6.460296 19.67213 89.03689 
not applica 
107 3.600269 10.96311 
100 
Total 
976 32.83984 
100 
Missing 
System 
1996 67.16016 
Total 
2972 
100 
36. Individual counsel on personal problems. 
Frequency Percent Valid Percc Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
regularly 
127 4.273217 
13.0793 
13.0793 
occasional 
409 13.76178 42.12152 55.20082 
not at all 
296 9.959623 30.48404 85.68486 
not applica 
139 4.676985 14.31514 
100 
Total 
971 
32.6716 
100 
Missing 
System 
2001 
67.3284 
Total 
2972 
100 
37. Professional development materials to enhance ministry. 
Frequency Percent 
Valid Peru Cumulative Percent 
Valid 
regularly 
316 10.63257 32.37705 32.37705 
occasional 
507 17.05922 51.94672 84.32377 
not at all 
102 3.432032 10.45082 94.77459 
not applica 
51 1.716016 
5.22541 
100 
Total 
976 32.83984 
100 
Missing 
System 
1996 67.16016 
Total 
2972 
100 
Missing 
System 
1996 67.16016 
Positive Attitudes and Beliefs 
To give a sharper focus to the preceding table, the valid percentages of those either 
"somewhat" or "strongly agreeing" have been added. All percentages have been rounded to the 
nearest whole percentage. The list below arranges them in descending order so the reader can 
quickly see the relative strengths of the positive items. While the full wording of each item 
appears in the table above and in the copy of the questionnaire, for this list the wording of the 
items has been abbreviated. 
Item 
Percentage 
Belief in inspiration of Ellen White 
98% 
Doctrines are Biblically sound 
96% 
Enjoy being a pastor 
96% 
Satisfactory marital/family relationships 
94% 
Fulfillment in role of pastor 
94% 
Local church officers support my ministry 
92% 
Tithe policy in harmony with God's will 
91% 
Satisfying personal devotional life 
90% 
Can prioritize time to accomplish duties 
87% 
Conference leaders supportive of work 
86% 
Use professional time effectively 
86% 
Confidence in Adventist education system 
79% 
Adventist church structure adequate 
79% 
Received good ministerial training in Adventist colleges 
79% 
Have adequate, comprehensive personal library 
78% 
Sufficient study time for sermon preparation 
76% 
Believe denominational leaders want to hear my opinions 
62% 
Use internet for professional development and research 
54% 
If these 1000 pastors are typical, they present a very positive picture of satisfaction and 
morale. The first eight items find agreement with 90% or higher of the responding pastors. 
Another three items gather agreement in the 80% range, and all but two items elicit agreement 
with over three-fourths. Nothing falls under half, and the lowest may reflect lack of access to the 
internet. Some concern may be found in that only 62% believe that denominational leaders value 
the opinions of the pastors. That could be an area for improvement. Generally though, the 
pastors seem to be doing well on this list. 
-16- 
Negative Attitudes and Beliefs 
Eight of the questions were framed so that agreeing with them would indicate some 
problem, or disappointment, or lower morale. Here pastors ask for help. As in the list above, the 
valid percentages of those either "somewhat" or "strongly agreeing" have been added. All 
percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole percentage. The list below arranges them in 
descending order so the reader can quickly see the relative strengths of the negative items. While 
the full wording of each item appears in the table above and in the copy of the questionnaire, for 
this list the wording of the items has been abbreviated. 
Item 
Percentage 
Need help to upgrade professional ministerial skills 86% 
Need help in training local church leaders 
78% 
Caught between demand of conference and congregation 56% 
Not paid enough to live comfortably 
51% 
Most of the time feel lonely and isolated in ministry 37% 
Pastors not appreciated in the Adventist church 35% 
Little direct interaction with local conference leaders 33% 
Sometimes would like to leave pastoral ministry 25% 
The two items with the highest percentages do not necessarily reflect low morale. They 
are cries for help. Given this strong response, leaders might well consider how to upgrade in-
service education for pastors. However, around half find themselves in conflict over their 
responsibilities and struggling to make ends meet. The three items in the 30% range definitely 
concern morale. It is serious to find around a third of Adventist pastors feeling isolated, 
unappreciated, and without a pipeline to conference leadership. These items need to be high on 
the study list. As to the last item, it cannot be discerned how often "sometimes" is, but having a 
fourth of the pastors with such feelings must be a matter of concern. 
Pastoral Opinion on Certain Questions 
The other four questions in this set of thirty cannot be classified as necessarily positive or 
negative (although there might be feelings one way or the other tied to them) but as the opinion of 
the pastors. Again, the valid percentages of those either "somewhat" or "strongly agreeing" have 
been added. All percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole percentage. The list below 
arranges them in descending order so the strength of various opinions can be more easily seen. 
Item 
Percentage 
 
Congregations free to try new ideas without conference approval 37% 
Congregation should be able to keep back some tithe for local ministry 33% 
Ministers should be free to earn additional income beyond the salary 25% 
Pastors should be able to teach things that may differ to some extent 
from standard Adventist understandings 
12% 
-17- 
In general, agreement with these items is relatively low. They reflect the concept of being 
able to exercise personal judgment rather than having all decisions made at "higher" levels and 
handed down to them. Probably the most threatening to administrators is that a third would like 
to use some of the tithe for local ministry. This has cropped up here and there over the past few 
years, but it may be instructive to note that a third of the pastors support the idea. The fourth 
who would like to be able to earn additional income beyond their salaries is the other side of the 
coin for the half who complain that pastors are not being paid a living wage. The last item is 
somewhat ambiguous in that it is not certain what areas are being considered and to what extent 
the pastors might diverge. While only 12% agree with the concept, that could still be a major 
problem depending on the direction and the extent of the deviation. 
As is true with the three major outcomes of the Strategic Planning Committee, the most 
effective methods of winning converts, the reasons members drop out of the church, and the 
communication with "higher" organizations, many valuable insights for promoting the mission of 
the church can be found in a study of the Supplement for Pastors. This whole document provides 
information that will aid in evaluating the programs and direction of the church and in laying plans 
for the future. 
-18- 
APPENDIX 1 
MEANS FOR THE FIFTEEN OBJECTIVES 
Each objective is listed under its appropriate strategic issue 
The questions that comprised that objective are listed 
with their means given in descending order 
The Grand Mean for the particular objective is listed 
FA1.3 
Q3 
Q5 
Q49 
Valid 
Missing 
Total 
total 3,5 
Sabbath worship 
Adventist meetings 
Diversity in worship 
never 
occasionally 
about half the time 
most of the time 
almost always 
Total 
System 
MEANS FOR THE FIFTEEN OBJECTIVES 
Strategic Issue #1: Quality of Life-Personal and Church 
Members whose lives demonstrate and illustrate the joy of salvation, restoration, and 
anticipation of the world to come 
Mean 
FA1.1 total 11,23,28,45 72.99 
Q45 JC salvation 94.60 
Q11 assurance of salvation 70.05 
Q23 happy marriage 64.60 
Q28 morality 
60.74 
Weekly group Bible study for all ages with appropriate curriculum 
Mean 
FA1.2 total 4,6 
51.11 
Q4 Sabbath school 66.40 
Q6 Bible study 
33.92 
Weekly corporate worship 
Mean 
58.80 
77.11 
39.76 
Frequency 
Valid Cumulative 
Percent Percent Percent 
385 
12.95 
13. 77 
13.77 
847 
28.50 
30. 30 
44.08 
506 
17.03 
18. 10 
62.18 
662 
22.27 
23 .69 
85.87 
395 
13.29 
14 .13 
100.00 
2795 
94.04 
100 .00 
177 
5.96 
2972 
100.00 
4. Development of personal, family, and group prayer life 
Mean 
FA1.4 total 1,2,7,8,14,15 44.16 
Q7 Bible reading 56.32 
Q1 personal devotions 55.30 
Q2 family worship 45.80 
Q14 family seminar 36.10 
Q15 health seminar 35.02 
Q8 EGW reading 34.57 
-1- 
5. Regular training for discipleship, witnessing, and involvement in local church activity 
Mean 
FA1.5 total 
39.98 
9,10,16,18,19,20,50,51, 
52,53,54,55,56 
Q19 tithe 
65.18 
Q20 offerings 
59.39 
Q18 service position 46.16 
Q10 active witnessing 40.79 
Q16 help with meetings 40.03 
Q55 help crusade 39.75 
Q54 invited non-member 38.63 
Q50 community service 37.58 
Q51 feed the hungry 32.79 
Q9 witness training 32.34 
Q56 gave Bible studies 29.65 
Q52 help health seminars 27.33 
Q53 help family seminars 27.06 
6. Awareness of and participation in the worldwide work of the church 
Mean 
FA1.6 total 21,22,38 58.96 
Q38 special mission 92.76 
Q21 mission projects 46.00 
Q22 mission outside 22.64 
7. Nurturing members of all ages according to their diverse talents and needs 
Mean 
FA1.7 total 13,16,17 40.18 
Q13 gift-oriented service 49.22 
Q16 help with meetings 40.03 
Q17 help unmarried people 27.90 
8. Seventh-day Adventists who are and are perceived to be model citizens in the community and 
whose mental, physical, and spiritual life values are coupled with compassion and service 
FA1.8 
Q25 
Q23 
Q12 
Q27 
Q26 
Mean 
total 12,23,25,26,27 
51.82 
abstinence 
81.69 
happy marriage 
64.60 
social life 
47.19 
exercising 
33.99 
vegetarianism 
30.66 
-2- 
Strategic Issue #2: Unity in the World-wide Church 
1. Cohesiveness in doctrine 
Mean 
FA2.1 total 30,31,32,33,35,45 91.16 
Q45 Salvation only Jesus 94.60 
Q30 Sabbath 
94.35 
Q32 second advent 94.02 
Q31 creation in 6 days 93.85 
Q35 sanctuary 
87.49 
Q33 mortality 
82.64 
2. Togetherness of believers 
Frequency 
Percent 
Valid 
Percent 
Cumulative 
Percent 
21 
0.71 
0.73 
0.73 
385 
12.95 
13.41 
14.14 
508 
17.09 
17.69 
31.84 
1079 
36.31 
37.58 
69.42 
878 
29.54 
30.58 
100.00 
2871 
96.60 
100.00 
101 
3.40 
2972 
100.00 
Mean 
FA2.2 total 6,13,19,20 51.92 
Q19 tithe 
65.18 
Q20 offerings 
59.39 
Q13 gift-oriented service 49.22 
Q6 Bible study 
33.92 
Q46 Sermons on love 
Valid never 
occasionally 
about half the time 
most of the time 
almost always 
Total 
Missing System 
Total 
Q47 Minority welcome 
Valid never 
occasionally 
about half the time 
most of the time 
almost always 
Total 
Missing System 
Total 
Frequency Percent 
Valid 
Percent 
Cumulative 
Percent 
78 
2.62 
2.74 
2.74 
374 
12.58 
13.13 
15.87 
449 
15.11 
15.77 
31.64 
887 
29.85 
31.14 
62.78 
1060 
35.67 
37.22 
100.00 
2848 
95.83 
100.00 
124 
4.17 
2972 
100.00 
-3- 
Q48 Diversity of leadership 
Valid never 
occasionally 
about half the time 
most of the time 
almost always 
Total 
Missing System 
Total 
Frequency 
Percent 
Valid 
Percent 
Cumulative 
Percent 
167 
5.62 
6.03 
6.03 
359 
12.08 
12.96 
18.99 
448 
15.07 
16.17 
35.16 
911 
30.65 
32.89 
68.05 
885 
29.78 
31.95 
100.00 
2770 
93.20 
100.00 
202 
6.80 
2972 
100.00 
3. Cohesiveness of organization 
Mean 
FA2.3 total 39,40,41,43 81.77 
Q41 church organization 92.30 
Q39 responsibility 10% 83.82 
Q40 church structure 80.21 
Q43 different standards 68.37 
Strategic Issue #3: Growth as a Consequence of Rootedness in Christ 
1. Members who have a rich spiritual experience and commitment to active witness 
Mean 
FA3.1 total 1,11,51,52,53, 37.91 
54,55,56,57,58 
Q11 assurance of salvation 70.05 
Q1 personal devotions 55.30 
Q55 help crusade 39.75 
Q54 invited non-member 38.63 
Q50 community service 37.58 
Q51 feed the hungry 32.79 
Q56 gave bible studies 29.65 
Q57 work with youth 27.90 
Q52 help health seminars 27.33 
Q53 help family seminars 27.06 
Q58 work with young ad. 26.67 
2. Increasing accession and retention rates in local churches 
FA3.2 
Q71 
Q72 
Q73 
total 71,72,73,74, 
Mean 
75,76,77,78,79,80, 
67.33 
Adventist home 
78.90 
SDA friend 
73.02 
Public evangelism 
64.92 
-4- 
Q74 
Bible studies 
80.56 
Q75 
Reading 
61.64 
Q76 
Visit by pastor 
73.93 
Q77 
Media 
59.95 
Q78 
Correspondence 
59.02 
Q79 
Internet 
52.69 
Q80 
Social events 
67.91 
Valid 
Cumulativ 
Q91 
Church Growth 
Frequency 
Percent 
Percent 
Percent 
10% decrease or 
Valid 
more 
337 
11.34 
11.77 
11.77 
5-9% decrease 
241 
8.11 
8.42 
20.20 
about the same 
809 
27.22 
28.27 
48.46 
5-9% increase 
727 
24.46 
25.40 
73.86 
10% increase or more 
748 
25.17 
26.14 
100.00 
Total 
2862 
96.30 
100.00 
Missing 
System 
110 
3.70 
Total 
2972 
100.00 
3. A positive impact of the Seventh-day Adventist presence within a community 
Mean 
FA3.3 total 50,51,52,53,54, 32.02 
55,56,59 
Q55 help public evangelism 39.75 
Q54 invited non-member 38.63 
Q50 community service 37.58 
Q51 feed the hungry 32.79 
Q56 gave Bible studies 29.65 
Q52 help health seminars 27.33 
Q53 help family seminars 27.06 
Q59 non SDA community 21.98 
service 
4. The transmission of the Church's legacy and mission to succeeding generations 
Mean 
FA3.5 total 
40.36 
16,57,58,59,60,61,62,63, 
64,65,66,67,68,69,70 
Q60 youth worship att. 66.24 
Q68 youth happy with ch. 63.26 
Q61 youth Sabbath sch. 60.28 
Q70 youth retention 60.14 
Q67 youth camp att. 48.12 
Q16 help with meetings 40.03 
Q66 Pathfinders 
38.96 
Q62 youth meetings 34.42 
-5- 
Q63 youth outreach 33.56 
Q69 youth questions 30.40 
Q64 youth positions 27.80 
Q57 work with youth 27.90 
Q58 work with young ad. 26.67 
Q65 youth SDA schools 23.52 
Q103 
Church School 
Frequency Percent 
Valid 
Percent 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
Valid 
yes 
949 
31.93 
32.91 
32.91 
no 
1935 
65.11 
67.09 
100.00 
Total 
2884 
97.04 
100.00 
Missing 
System 
88 
2.96 
Total 
2972 
100.00 
Ranking the Means of the Fifteen Objectives 
Cohesiveness in doctrine 
Cohesiveness of organization 
Members whose lives demonstrate and illustrate the joy of salvation, 
restoration, and anticipation of the world to come 
Increasing accession and retention rates in local churches 
Awareness of and participation in the worldwide work of the church 
Weekly corporate worship 
Togetherness of believers 
Seventh-day Adventists who are and are perceived to be model citizens 
in the community and whose mental, physical, and spiritual life values are 
coupled with compassion and service 
Weekly group Bible study for all ages with appropriate curriculum 
Development of personal, family, and group prayer life 
The transmission of the Church's legacy and mission to 
succeeding generations 
Nurturing members of all ages according to their diverse talents and needs 
Regular training for discipleship, witnessing, and involvement in 
local church activity 
Members who have a rich spiritual experience and commitment to 
active witness 
A positive impact of the Seventh-day Adventist presence 
within a community 
91.16 
81.77 
72.99 
67.33 
58.96 
58.80 
51.92 
51.82 
51.11 
44.16 
40.36 
40.18 
39.98 
37.91 
32.02 
-6- 
APPENDIX 2 
MEANS AND FREQUENCIES FOR ALL 
QUESTIONS IN THE WORLD SURVEY 
If a question was answered by giving a percentage of what 
the members believe or do, the mean for that question is given. 
If the question was answering by selecting an option of 1 to 4 
or 1 to 5, then the frequencies for that question are given 
GCSP: World Survey-Means and Frequencies for All Questions 
Mean 
q1 55.30 1. Have daily personal devotions 
q2 45.80 2. Have family worship in their home 
q3 77.11 3. Attend Sabbath worship services 
regularly 
q4 66.40 4. Attend Sabbath school regularly 
q5 39.76 5. Attend other Adventist religious 
meetings (e.g., prayer meeting) regularly 
q6 33.92 6. Participate in some type of weekly 
group Bible study (church or homes) 
q7 56.32 7. Read the Bible regularly 
q8 34.57 8. Read the writings of Ellen G. White 
regularly 
q9 32.34 9. Have taken some type of witnessing 
training course in the last two years 
q10 40.79 10. Actively witness their faith to non- 
members (talk to, give out literature, etc) 
q11 70.05 11. Have assurance of salvation 
q12 47.19 12. Have extensive social life outside the 
church 
q13 49.22 13. Are serving in the church according to 
their special spiritual gifts 
q14 35.02 14. Attended a family seminar (marriage, 
parenting, etc.) in the last two years 
q15 36.10 15. Attended a health seminar (e.g., 
stress, nutrition) in the last two years 
16. Help with church meetings (e.g., 
q16 40.03 Master Guide, Sabbath school classes) or 
social events aimed at young adults (20+ 
years) 
q17 27.90 17. Help with church meetings or social 
events aimed at unmarried people 
q18 46.16 18. Hold an office or some other service 
position in the church 
q19 65.18 19. Give a faithful tithe 
-1- 
20. Support the local congregational 
 
q20 59.39 program with regular offerings 
 
q21 46.00 21. Contribute to various mission projects 
22. Have participated in church mission 
 
q22 22.64 programs outside of your own union (e.g., 
can range from evangelism to 
construction) 
 
q23 64.60 23. Have happy marriages (of those who 
are married)_ 
24. Have been divorced while an 
 
q24 5.79 Adventist member within the last two 
years 
 
q25 81.69 25. Abstain from alcohol, drugs, and 
tobacco 
 
q26 30.66 26. Practice vegetarianism 
 
q27 33.99 27. Exercise on a regular basis (at least 
3-4 times a week) 
 
q28 60.74 28. Successfully apply Christian values 
and ethics to other areas of their lives 
 
q29 96.61 29. The seventh-day Sabbath is the true 
day of worship 
 
q30 94.35 30. The creation took place in six literal 
days several thousand years ago 
 
q31 93.85 31. The literal Second Advent of Christ 
will be in the near future 
 
q32 94.02 32. The dead are in a state of 
unconsciousness until the resurrection 
 
q33 82.64 33. The writings of Ellen White are an 
authority for the Adventist Church today 
 
q34 47.35 34. Ellen White's writings need to be 
reinterpreted for today's world 
 
q35 87.49 35. There is a sanctuary in heaven where 
the pre-Advent judgment began in 1844 
 
q36 34.51 36. There may be more than one 
interpretation to the sanctuary doctrine 
q37 92.30 37. The formation of the Adventist church 
was inspired by God 
-2- 
q38 
92.76 
q39 
83.82 
q40 
80.21 
q41 
81.64 
q42 
68.37 
q43 
46.33 
q44 
41.07 
q45 
94.60 
q50 
37.58 
q51 
32.79 
q52 
27.33 
q53 
27.06 
q54 
38.63 
q55 
39.75 
q56 
29.65 
q57 
27.90 
The Adventist Church has a special 
mission to proclaim God's last message 
to the world 
Members have a responsibility to 
returnl0% tithe through the local church 
to the conference and to give additional 
offerings 
The Adventist church financial 
structure is a fair and proper way to 
support the world work of the church 
Church unity means uniformity in 
doctrinal belief 
World divisions should be able to 
determine denominational standards and 
practices within cultural contexts 
There is insufficient openness within 
church fellowship for the expressions of 
beliefs not in harmony with the 
fundamental beliefs of the Church 
There is too much openness within 
church fellowship for the expressions of 
beliefs not in harmony with the 
fundamental beliefs of the Church 
Salvation is by Jesus Christ alone 
Helped with Community Services 
Worked to feed the hungry 
Helped with health seminars (e.g., 
nutrition, weight-control, smoking or drug 
cessation) 
Helped with family-type seminars 
(e.g., marriage, parenting) 
Invited a non-member to church 
Helped with evangelistic meetings or 
Bible seminars 
Gave Bible studies 
Ministered to the youth (teens) of the 
church 
-3- 
58. Ministered to young adults (20 - 30 
q58 26.67 
years of age) or unmarried members 
q59 21.98 59. Participated with non-Adventist 
community service organizations 
q60 66.24 60. Attend Sabbath worship services 
regularly 
q61 60.28 61. Attend Sabbath school regularly 
q62 34.42 62. Attend other religious meetings (e.g., 
prayer meeting) regularly 
q63 33.56 63. Participate in outreach activities 
q64 27.80 64. Hold a church office or other service 
position 
q65 23.52 65. Are enrolled in Adventist schools 
q66 38.96 66. Are members of Pathfinders or a 
similar church-sponsored youth group 
q67 48.12 67. Ever attended a church-sponsored 
youth camp 
q68 63.26 68. Seem happy or content with the 
Adventist church 
q69 30.40 69. Have serious questions about one or 
more of Adventist doctrines 
q70 60.14 70. Will probably stay in the Adventist 
church as adults 
q71 78.90 71. Brought up in an Adventist home. 
q72 73.02 72. A friend or relative who is an 
Adventist 
q73 64.92 73. A public evangelism series of 
meetings 
q74 80.56 74. Bible studies in the home 
q75 61.64 75. Read books, journals, or other 
literature 
q76 73.93 76. Visits by a pastor 
q77 59.95 77. Television or radio programs 
q78 59.02 78. Bible correspondence courses 
q79 52.69 79. Material on the internet 
-4- 
q80 67.91 80. Social events 
Sermons that emphasize love for all peoples, including "enemies" 
never 
occasionally 
about half the time 
most of the time 
almost always 
Total 
Missing 
Total 
Make people from minority groups feel welcome in our church 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
21 
0.71 
0.73 
0.73 
385 
12.95 
13.41 
14.14 
508 
17.09 
17.69 
31.84 
1079 
36.31 
37.58 
69.42 
878 
29.54 
30.58 
100.00 
2871 
96.60 
100.00 
101 
3.40 
2972 
100.00 
never 
occasionally 
about half the time 
most of the time 
almost always 
Total 
Missing 
Total 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
78 
2.62 
2.74 
2.74 
374 
12.58 
13.13 
15.87 
449 
15.11 
15.77 
31.64 
887 
29.85 
31.14 
62.78 
1060 
35.67 
37.22 
100.00 
2848 
95.83 
100.00 
124 
4.17 
2972 
100.00 
48. The diversity of congregational leadership reflects the makeup of 
the membership (racial, social, cultural, gender, age) 
never 
occasionally 
about half the time 
most of the time 
almost always 
Total 
Missing 
Total 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
167 
5.62 
6.03 
6.03 
359 
12.08 
12.96 
18.99 
448 
15.07 
16.17 
35.16 
911 
30.65 
32.89 
68.05 
885 
29.78 
31.95 
100.00 
2770 
93.20 
100.00 
202 
6.80 
2972 
100.00 
49. Have a diversity of worship services to appeal to different groups 
no reason at all 
no reason 
somewhat reason 
strong reason 
very strong reason 
Total 
Missing 
Total 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
385 
12.95 
13.77 
13.77 
847 
28.50 
30.30 
44.08 
506 
17.03 
18.10 
62.18 
662 
22.27 
23.69 
85.87 
395 
13.29 
14.13 
100.00 
2795 
94.04 
100.00 
177 
5.96 
2972 
100.00 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
494 
16.62 
16.99 
16.99 
356 
11.98 
12.25 
29.24 
444 
14.94 
15.27 
44.51 
487 
16.39 
16.75 
61.27 
1126 
37.89 
38.73 
100.00 
2907 
97.81 
100.00 
65 
2.19 
2972 
100.00 
never 
occasionally 
about half the time 
most of the time 
almost always 
Total 
Missing 
Total 
81. Unfriendly church 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
13.32 
13.65 
13.65 
13.49 
13.82 
27.46 
13.69 
14.02 
41.49 
18.00 
18.44 
59.92 
39.13 
40.08 
100.00 
97.64 
100.00 
2.36 
100.00 
Mistreated by members 
Frequenc 
no reason at all 
396 
no reason 
401 
somewhat reason 
407 
strong reason 
535 
very strong reason 
1163 
Total 
2902 
Missing 
70 
Total 
2972 
Social pressure from friends or relatives 
no reason at all 
no reason 
somewhat reason 
strong reason 
very strong reason 
Total 
Missing 
Total 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
307 
10.33 
10.59 
10.59 
510 
17.16 
17.60 
28.19 
859 
28.90 
29.64 
57.83 
704 
23.69 
24.29 
82.13 
518 
17.43 
17.87 
100.00 
2898 
97.51 
100.00 
74 
2.49 
2972 
100.00 
-6- 
84. Don't believe some of the teachings 
no reason at all 
no reason 
somewhat reason 
strong reason 
very strong reason 
Total 
Missing 
Total 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
701 
23.59 
24.31 
24.31 
816 
27.46 
28.30 
52.62 
635 
21.37 
22.03 
74.64 
407 
13.69 
14.12 
88.76 
324 
10.90 
11.24 
100.00 
2883 
97.01 
100.00 
89 
2.99 
2972 
100.00 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
315 
10.60 
10.89 
10.89 
360 
12.11 
12.45 
23.34 
578 
19.45 
19.99 
43.33 
813 
27.36 
28.11 
71.44 
826 
27.79 
28.56 
100.00 
2892 
97.31 
100.00 
80 
2.69 
2972 
100.00 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
676 
22.75 
23.48 
23.48 
747 
25.13 
25.95 
49.43 
692 
23.28 
24.04 
73.46 
486 
16.35 
16.88 
90.34 
278 
9.35 
9.66 
100.00 
2879 
96.87 
100.00 
93 
3.13 
2972 
100.00 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
1028 
34.59 
36.03 
36.03 
773 
26.01 
27.09 
63.13 
561 
18.88 
19.66 
82.79 
292 
9.83 
10.23 
93.02 
199 
6.70 
6.98 
100.00 
2853 
96.00 
100.00 
119 
4.00 
2972 
100.00 
no reason at all 
no reason 
somewhat reason 
strong reason 
very strong reason 
Total 
Missing 
Total 
Lack of fellowship 
no reason at all 
no reason 
somewhat reason 
strong reason 
very strong reason 
Total 
Missing 
Total 
Standards too strict 
no reason at all 
no reason 
somewhat reason 
strong reason 
very strong reason 
Total 
Missing 
Total 
Standards too loose 
-7- 
88. Church's teaching & practice don't match 
no reason at all 
no reason 
somewhat reason 
strong reason 
very strong reason 
Total 
Missing 
Total 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
634 
21.33 
22.01 
22.01 
559 
18.81 
19.41 
41.42 
639 
21.50 
22.19 
63.61 
501 
16.86 
17.40 
81.01 
547 
18.41 
18.99 
100.00 
2880 
96.90 
100.00 
92 
3.10 
2972 
100.00 
89. Worship services don't meet spiritual needs 
Valid Cumulativ 
Frequenc Percen Percen Percent 
no reason at all 
no reason 
somewhat reason 
strong reason 
very strong reason 
Total 
Missing 
Total 
90. Lack of confidence in leadership 
664 
22.34 
22.99 
22.99 
577 
19.41 
19.98 
42.97 
654 
22.01 
22.65 
65.62 
605 
20.36 
20.95 
86.57 
388 
13.06 
13.43 
100.00 
2888 
97.17 
100.00 
84 
2.83 
2972 
100.00 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
no reason at all 
634 
21.33 
21.93 
21.93 
no reason 
659 
22.17 
22.79 
44.73 
somewhat reason 
648 
21.80 
22.41 
67.14 
strong reason 
539 
18.14 
18.64 
85.78 
very strong reason 
411 
13.83 
14.22 
100.00 
Total 
2891 
97.27 
100.00 
Missing 
81 
2.73 
Total 
2972 
100.00 
Church attendance 
Valid 
Cumulativ 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Percen 
Percent 
10% decrease or more 
337 
11.34 
11.77 
11.77 
5-9% decrease 
241 
8.11 
8.42 
20.20 
about the same 
809 
27.22 
28.27 
48.46 
5-9% increase 
727 
24.46 
25.40 
73.86 
10% increase or more 
748 
25.17 
26.14 
100.00 
Total 
2862 
96.30 
100.00 
Missing 
110 
3.70 
Total 
2972 
100.00 
-8- 
33.14 
54.74 
96.87 
3.13 
100.00 
9.27 
43.49 
100.00 
267 8.98 9.27 
985 
1627 
2879 
93 
2972 
34.21 
56.51 
100.00 
Have input into the decisions of higher organizations 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
no communication 
communication some of the 
time 
1042 
1173 
35.06 
39.47 
36.91 
41.55 
36.91 
78.46 
regular communication 
608 
20.46 
21.54 
100.00 
Total 
2823 
94.99 
100.00 
Missing 
149 
5.01 
Total 
2972 
100.00 
Have access to Adventist journals and papers 
Valid 
Cumulativ 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Percen 
Percent 
no communication 
communication some of the 
time 
regular communication 
Total 
Missing 
Total 
no communication 
communication some of the 
time 
regular communication 
Total 
Missing 
Total 
television broadcasts 
Valid Cumulativ 
Frequenc Percen Percen Percent 
922 31.02 32.23 32.23 
965 
974 
2861 
111 
2972 
32.47 
32.77 
96.27 
3.73 
100.00 
33.73 
34.04 
100.00 
65.96 
100.00 
94. Are able to receive Adventist radio and/or 
95. Believe that your conference leaders care about you personally 
Valid Cumulativ 
Frequenc Percen Percen Percent 
no communication 
622 20.93 21.72 21.72 
communication some of the 
time 
1230 41.39 42.95 64.66 
regular communication 
1012 34.05 35.34 100.00 
Total 
2864 96.37 100.00 
Missing 
108 3.63 
Total 
2972 100.00 
Believe that your conference leaders listen to you 
 
Valid Cumulativ 
Frequenc Percen Percen Percent 
no communication 
634 21.33 22.15 22.15 
communication some of the 
time 
1229 41.35 42.94 65.09 
regular communication 
999 33.61 34.91 100.00 
Total 
2862 96.30 100.00 
Missing 
110 3.70 
Total 
2972 100.00 
Receive information on decisions of your local conference/mission 
Valid Cumulativ 
Frequenc Percen Percen Percent 
no communication 
363 12.21 12.68 12.68 
communication some of the 
time 
1195 40.21 41.74 54.42 
regular communication 
1305 43.91 45.58 100.00 
Total 
2863 96.33 100.00 
Missing 
109 3.67 
Total 
2972 100.00 
Receive information on decisions of union/division/General Conference 
Valid Cumulativ 
Frequenc Percen Percen Percent 
no communication 
687 23.12 24.01 24.01 
communication some of the 
time 
1352 45.49 47.26 71.27 
regular communication 
822 27.66 28.73 100.00 
Total 
2861 96.27 100.00 
Missing 
111 3.73 
Total 
2972 100.00 
Receive information on the Church through the internet 
Valid Cumulativ 
Frequenc Percen Percen Percent 
no communication 
1102 37.08 43.68 43.68 
communication some of the 
time 
801 26.95 31.75 75.43 
regular communication 
620 20.86 24.57 100.00 
Total 
2523 84.89 100.00 
Missing 
449 15.11 
Total 
2972 100.00 
100. What is your title (check one): 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
pastor 
1055 
35.50 
36.85 
36.85 
lay member 
1808 
60.83 
63.15 
100.00 
Total 
2863 
96.33 
100.00 
Missing 
109 
3.67 
Total 
2972 
100.00 
101 What is your gender (check one): 
Valid 
Cumulativ 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Percen 
Percent 
male 
1898 
63.86 
66.67 
66.67 
female 
949 
31.93 
33.33 
100.00 
Total 
2847 
95.79 
100.00 
Missing 
125 
4.21 
Total 
2972 
100.00 
How many members does the church for which you are responding have? 
Frequenc 
Percen 
Valid 
Percen 
Cumulativ 
Percent 
fewer than 100 
1278 
43.00 
44.07 
44.07 
100 to 250 
938 
31.56 
32.34 
76.41 
251 to 600 
450 
15.14 
15.52 
91.93 
over 600 
234 
7.87 
8.07 
100.00 
Total 
2900 
97.58 
100.00 
Missing 
72 
2.42 
Total 
2972 
100.00 
Does your church have a church school associated with it? 
Valid Cumulativ 
Frequenc Percen Percen Percent 
yes 
949 
31.93 
32.91 
32.91 
no 
1935 
65.11 
67.09 
100.00 
Total 
2884 
97.04 
100.00 
Missing 
88 
2.96 
Total 
2972 
100.00 
-11- 
Center for Adventist Research 
Andrews University 
Berrien Springs Micnigan 
APPENDIX 3 
MEANS AS PERCENTAGES FOR THE 
SUPPLEMENT TO THE WORLD SURVEY 
FOR PASTORS 
The pastors responded on a scale of 1 to 5. The scores were 
reversed and then have been multiplied so that 
1 - 100%, 2 = 75%, 3 = 50%, 4 = 25%, and 5 = 0% 
Raw means were calculated and then expressed in 
percentages so that the percentages of those agreeing 
with the statement is given 
Supplement for Pastors 
Number Raw mean 
1=100%, 2=75%, 3=50%, 4=25%, 5=0% 
Percentage 
supll 
1002 
1.63 
84.28 1. I have a satisfying personal devotional life. 
supl2 
991 
1.38 
90.39 2. I have a satisfactory marital/family relationship. 
3. I believe that the present Adventist church structure is 
supl3 
995 
1.87 
78.19 adequate. 
4. I believe that every one of the church's doctrines is 
supl4 
1002 
1.17 
95.63 Biblically sound. 
5. I believe in the inspiration of the writings of Ellen G. 
supl5 
1003 
1.12 
96.93 White. 
6. I believe that denominational leaders want to hear my 
supl6 
999 
2.27 
68.14 opinions. 
7. The present use of tithe policy is in harmony with 
supl7 
999 
1.44 
88.89 God's will. 
8. Policy should allow for a congregation to keep back 
sup18 
989 
3.58 
35.54 some tithe for local ministry. 
89.63 9. I find fulfillment in my role as a pastor. 
supl9 
1000 
1.42 
10. My local church officers (elders, deacons, etc.) 
sup110 
1000 
1.57 
85.73 support my ministry. 
11. My conference leaders are generally supportive of my 
sup111 
1000 
1.65 
83.65 work. 
12. Most of the time I feel lonely and isolated in the 
supll2 
999 
3.37 
40.64 ministry. 
13. I need more help in training my local church leaders 
sup113 
999 
2.01 
74.70 for effective service. 
14. I believe I am able to use my professional time 
sup114 
1001 
1.75 
81.14 effectively. 
15. I have sufficient study time to prepare quality 
sup115 
1001 
2.02 
74.43 sermons. 
16. I regularly use the internet for professional 
sup116 
981 
2.75 
56.22 development and research. 
17. I am able to prioritize my time in order to attend to 
sup117 
997 
1.76 
81.12 the duties that are required of me. 
18. I have an adequate and comprehensive personal 
supll8 
996 
2.00 
74.97 library. 
19. Congregations should be free to try new ideas without 
sup119 
993 
3.33 
41.82 conference approval. 
20. I would like to have help to upgrade my professional 
sup120 
993 
1.63 
84.16 ministerial skills. 
supl2l 
998 
1.26 
93.51 21. I enjoy being a pastor. 
22. I have confidence in the Adventist educational system 
supl22 
999 
1.77 
80.86 at all levels. 
23. I have received very good ministerial training in 
supl23 
980 
1.89 
77.65 Adventist colleges. 
24. Pastors are generally not appreciated in the Adventist 
sup124 
998 
3.35 
41.21 church. 
25. Sometimes I feel like I would like to leave pastoral 
supl25 
999 
3.82 
29.56 ministry. 
supl26 
998 
2.87 
53.16 26. Pastors are not paid enough to live comfortably. 
27. Ministers should be allowed to earn additional 
sup127 
997 
3.75 
31.29 income beyond their salaries. 
28. Sometimes I feel caught between the demands of 
sup128 
990 
2.69 
57.75 conference and congregation. 
29. A pastor should be allowed to preach and teach 
things that may differ to some extent from standard 
sup129 
996 
4.31 
17.34 Adventist understandings. 
30. I have very little direct interaction with local 
supI30 
1000 
3.51 
37.25 conference leaders. 
APPENDIX 4 
FREQUENCIES BY LANGUAGES, UNIONS, 
DIVISIONS, AND CONTINENTS 
FREQUENCIES FOR LANGUAGES, UNIONS, DIVISIONS, AND CONTINENTS 
Language 
english 
spanish 
french 
russian 
korean 
portuguesse 
Total 
Unions 
Frequency 
1544 
342 
131 
236 
267 
452 
2972 
Frequency 
Percent 
51.95 
11.51 
4.41 
7.94 
8.98 
15.21 
100.00 
Percent 
Valid Percent 
51.95 
11.51 
4.41 
7.94 
8.98 
15.21 
100.00 
Valid Percent 
Cumulative Percent 
51.95 
63.46 
67.87 
75.81 
84.79 
100.00 
Cumulative Percent 
Norvegian Union 
17 
0.57 
0.57 
0.57 
South East European Union 
16 
0.54 
0.54 
1.11 
Franco-Belgium Union 
26 
0.87 
0.88 
1.99 
British Union 
40 
1.35 
1.35 
3.33 
Romanian Union 
12 
0.40 
0.40 
3.74 
Austral Union 
51 
1.72 
1.72 
5.45 
Central Philippines Union 
35 
1.18 
1.18 
6.63 
Bangladesh Union 
15 
0.50 
0.51 
7.14 
Danish Union 
3 
0.10 
0.10 
7.24 
Netherland Union 
3 
0.10 
0.10 
7.34 
Ethiopia Union 
44 
1.48 
1.48 
8.82 
Southern Union (ESD) 
3 
0.10 
0.10 
8.92 
Ukrainian Union 
95 
3.20 
3.20 
12.12 
Moldavian Union 
35 
1.18 
1.18 
13.30 
Swiss Union 
11 
0.37 
0.37 
13.67 
Southwestern Union 
148 
4.98 
4.98 
18.65 
North Pacific 
7 
0.24 
0.24 
18.89 
Mid-America Union 
27 
0.91 
0.91 
19.80 
Columbia Union 
126 
4.24 
4.24 
24.04 
Canadian Union 
63 
2.12 
2.12 
26.16 
Southeast Asia Union 
47 
1.58 
1.58 
27.74 
Sahel Union 
30 
1.01 
1.01 
28.75 
Atlantic Union 
81 
2.73 
2.73 
31.48 
Portuguesse Union 
35 
1.18 
1.18 
32.66 
Northeast India 
31 
1.04 
1.04 
33.70 
North Mexican Union 
75 
2.52 
2.53 
36.23 
Northern India Union 
12 
0.40 
0.40 
36.63 
Lake Union 
57 
1.92 
1.92 
38.55 
Southern Union (NAD) 
40 
1.35 
1.35 
39.90 
South Philippines Union 
75 
2.52 
2.53 
42.42 
Pacific Union 
60 
2.02 
2.02 
44.44 
Czecho-Slovakian Union 
78 
2.62 
2.63 
47.07 
East Russian Union 
106 
3.57 
3.57 
50.64 
Hungarian Union 
13 
0.44 
0.44 
51.08 
South African Union 
8 
0.27 
0.27 
51.35 
Malawi Union 
72 
2.42 
2.42 
53.77 
Korean Union 
267 
8.98 
8.99 
62.76 
Western India Field 
22 
0.74 
0.74 
63.50 
Central American Union 
95 
3.20 
3.20 
66.70 
Haiti Union 
33 
1.11 
1.11 
67.81 
Central Brazil Union 
107 
3.60 
3.60 
71.41 
South Brazil Union 
60 
2.02 
2.02 
73.43 
Myanmar Union 
75 
2.52 
2.53 
75.96 
Japan Union 
93 
3.13 
3.13 
79.09 
Spanish Union 
18 
0.61 
0.61 
79.70 
South India Union 
83 
2.79 
2.79 
82.49 
Puerto Rican Union 
3 
0.10 
0.10 
82.59 
China Union Mission (Hong Kong) 
6 
0.20 
0.20 
82.79 
East Brazil Union 
74 
2.49 
2.49 
85.29 
North Brazil Union 
176 
5.92 
5.93 
91.21 
Baltic Union 
12 
0.40 
0.40 
91.62 
Bolivia Union Mission 
40 
1.35 
1.35 
92.96 
Papua New Guinea Union Mission 
51 
1.72 
1.72 
94.68 
Burundi Mission 
37 
1.24 
1.25 
95.93 
East Nigerian Union Mission 
102 
3.43 
3.43 
99.36 
North-Central American Union Mission 
6 
0.20 
0.20 
99.56 
Southwest India Union Section 
13 
0.44 
0.44 
100.00 
Total 
2970 
99.93 
100.00 
Missing 
2 
0.07 
Total 
2972 
100.00 
Divisions 
Frequency 
Percent 
Valid Percent 
Cumulative Percent 
ECD 
93 
3.13 
3.13 
3.13 
ESD 
239 
8.04 
8.05 
11.18 
EUD 
178 
5.99 
6.00 
17.18 
IAD 
227 
7.64 
7.65 
24.82 
NAD 
609 
20.49 
20.51 
45.34 
NSD 
366 
12.31 
12.33 
57.66 
SAD 
492 
16.55 
16.57 
74.23 
SID 
80 
2.69 
2.69 
76.93 
SPD 
51 
1.72 
1.72 
78.65 
SSD 
247 
8.31 
8.32 
86.97 
SUD 
151 
5.08 
5.09 
92.05 
TED 
104 
3.50 
3.50 
95.55 
WAD 
132 
4.44 
4.45 
100.00 
Total 
2969 
99.90 
100.00 
Missing 
3 
0.10 
Total 
2972 
100.00 
Continents 
Frequency 
Percent 
Valid Percent 
Cumulative Percent 
Africa 
305 
10.26 
10.28 
10.28 
Asia 
872 
29.34 
29.38 
39.66 
Australia & Oceania 
51 
1.72 
1.72 
41.37 
Europe 
412 
13.86 
13.88 
55.26 
Latin America 
758 
25.50 
25.54 
80.80 
North America 
570 
19.18 
19.20 
100.00 
Total 
2968 
99.87 
100.00 
Missing 
4 
0.13 
Total 
2972 
100.00 
APPENDIX 5 
FREQUENCIES FOR LANGUAGES AND 
CONTINENTS COMPARED BETWEEN 
2002 AND 2008 
COMPARISON OF 2002 AND 2008 WITH LANGUAGES AND CONTINENTS 
LANGUAGE 
2002 Frequency Percent 
Valid Percent 
2008 Frequency Percent 
Valid Peru 
English 
1923 61.97 
62.05 
english 
1544 
51.95 
51.95 
Spanish 
567 
18.27 
18.30 
spanish 
342 
11.51 
11.51 
French 
156 
5.03 
5.03 
french 
131 
4.41 
4.41 
Russian 
209 
6.74 
6.74 
russian 
236 
7.94 
7.94 
Korean 
244 
7.86 
7.87 
korean 
267 
8.98 
8.98 
Total 
3099 
99.87 
100.00 
portuguess 
452 
15.21 
15.21 
Missing 
4 
0.13 
Total 
2972 
100.00 
100.00 
Total 
3103 
100.00 
CONTINENT 
2002 Frequency Percent 
Continent: Frequency Percent 
Valid Perc€ 
Africa 
535 17.24 
Africa 
305 
10.26 
10.28 
Asia 
737 
23.75 
Asia 
872 
29.34 
29.38 
Australia & OCE 
120 
3.87 
Australia & 
51 
1.72 
1.72 
Europe 
696 
22.43 
Europe 
412 
13.86 
13.88 
Latin America 
505 
16.27 
Latin Amer 
758 
25.50 
25.54 
North America 
500 
16.11 
North Ame 
570 
19.18 
19.20 
Total 
3093 
99.68 
Total 
2968 
99.87 
100.00 
Missing 
10 
0.32 
Missing 
4 
0.13 
Total 
3103 
100.00 
Total 
2972 
100.00 
APPENDIX 6 
UNION CONFERENCES/MISSIONS THAT 
RETURNED SURVEYS BY CUT OFF OF 
FEBRUARY 18, 2008 
UNION CONFERENCES/MISSIONS THAT RETURNED SURVEYS 
Atlantic Union 
Australian Union 
Baltic Union 
Bangladesh Union Mission 
Bolivia Union 
British Union 
Burundi Association 
Canadian Union 
Central American Union 
Central Brazil Union 
Central Philippine Union 
China Union Mission 
Columbia Union NAD 
Columbia Union SAD 
Czecho-Slovakian Union Mission 
Danish Union 
East Russian Union Mission 
Eastern Nigerian Union Mission 
Ethiopian Union 
Franco-Belgian Union 
Haitian Union 
Hungarian Union 
Japan Union 
Korean Union 
Lake Union 
Malawi Union Mission 
Mid-America Union 
Moldova Union 
Myanmar Union Mission 
Netherlands Union 
North Central American Union Mission 
North India Union Field 
North Mexican Union 
North Pacific Union 
Norwegian Union 
Pacific Union 
Papua New Guinea Union 
Portuguese Union 
Puerto Rican Union 
Romanian Union 
Sahel Union Mission 
South Brazilian Union 
South Central American Union 
South Philippine Union 
Southeast Asia Union Mission 
Southeast European Union 
Southeast India Union 
Southern Africa Union 
Southern Union ESD 
Southern Union NAD 
Southwest India Union 
Southwestern Union 
Spanish Union 
Swiss Union 
Ukrainian Union 
Western India Union 
APPENDIX 7 
SAMPLES OF LETTERS SENT IN THE 
DATA-COLLECTING PROCESS 
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Secretariat 
January 2007 
Dear (name of union conference/mission secretary): 
In 2001, the General Conference Strategic Planning Steering Committee authorized the 
Institute of Church Ministry (ICM) at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary of 
Andrews University to conduct a world-wide survey to determine the success of the five-year 
strategic plan encompassing (1) Quality of Personal Church Life, (2) Unity in the World Church, 
and (3) Growth of the Church. The results were reported at the Annual Council of 2002. 
The Planning Committee voted to replicate the survey this year with an additional survey 
for selected pastors. The purpose of this survey is to collect vital information that defines the life 
of the Church. This information will be used to establish priorities and set the direction for the 
use of resources. The plan is to select a number of pastors from each of the union 
conferences/missions in the world field proportional to the number of pastors in the world field. 
Each selected pastor will receive a packet containing a questionnaire for him/herself and two 
questionnaires to be filled out by selected lay members. We are requesting the union secretaries 
to act as liaison persons between the pastors and the Institute of Church Ministry. 
In a separate letter from the Institute of Church Ministry every Executive Secretary will 
be asked to compile an alphabetical list of all the pastors (not administrators) in his union and to 
send that list to the Institute of Church Ministry. The Institute will select random numbers from 
these lists and identify which pastors will be invited to participate. The Institute will then 
prepare the packets and send them to you. You will need to arrange for their distribution to the 
pastors, no doubt using officials from the conferences/missions in which the pastors serve. The 
distributors will collect the completed surveys and return them to you so that you can mail them 
back to the Institute of Church Ministry for processing. All information will be held completely 
confidential and never identified with a particular pastor or church. 
It may take a few months before the packets are mailed to you, but we need to get your 
list of pastors as soon as possible so the packets can be prepared. You will hear directly from the 
Institute of Church Ministry detailing the collection process. We all pray that the Strategic Plan 
and the research supporting it will hasten the finishing of the work and the coming of Jesus. 
Yours in the blessed hope, 
Matthew Bediako, Secretary 
The Institute of Church Ministry 
Andrews University 
Berrien Springs, MI 49104 
January 2007 
Dear [name of union conference/mission secretary] 
You recently received a letter from Elder Bediako, Secretary of the General Conference, 
informing you of the plans to collect data for evaluating the five-year strategic plan voted at 
Annual Council. The General Conference has employed the Institute of Church Ministry to 
collect and analyze this data and authorized us to deal directly with you. 
As noted in Elder Bediako's letter, we will be surveying a representative sample of 
pastors from your field and two of each of their leading lay members. Elder Bediako has 
requested you to serve as a liaison person between these pastors and the Institute of Church 
Ministry. 
Your first task is to compile a list of all the pastors serving in your union and send it to us 
so that we can randomly select the names of the pastors to be surveyed. Hopefully, such a list 
already exists or can be easily created from local conference/mission lists. Please keep several 
things in mind: 
The list should include only those who are currently pastoring a church or churches. Please 
eliminate the names of any administrators, departmental directors, teachers, or other non-pastors. 
Please separate the names by local conference/mission and identify the field for each of 
these groups. 
The survey will be available in English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. 
Please indicate the preferred language for those chosen from each local conference/ mission. 
Please include a statement like this: We request that the questionnaires for 
 
Conference/Mission be in the 
language. 
If possible send us the list by e-mail. Our researcher assigned to collect these lists is David 
Smith. The e-mail address is icm@andrews.edu. You can correspond with him there if you 
have any questions. If you do not have access to e-mail, you may send a hard copy by airmail to 
The Institute of Church Ministry, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI 49104, USA. 
There will be other tasks to do in getting the surveys to the chosen pastors, but we will 
give you more details on that after we get your list. Thank you for participating in this important 
project to help our church carry forth its mission. 
Sincerely in His service, 
Roger L. Dudley, Director 
February 2007 
Dear Union Conference/Mission Secretary: 
About a month ago we sent you a letter following up a request from Elder Bediako for a 
list of the pastors in your union. The General Conference Strategic Planning Committee has 
commissioned the Institute of Church Ministry to conduct a World Survey of Adventist pastors 
and lay members. Elder Bediako has requested you to serve as a liaison person between these 
pastors and the Institute of Church Ministry. 
We need you to compile a list of all the pastors serving in your union and send it to us so 
that we can randomly select the names of the pastors to be surveyed. Hopefully, such a list 
already exists or can be easily created from local conference/mission lists. We have already 
received many such lists but, to date, have not received one from you. 
The list should include only those who are currently pastoring a church or churches. Please 
eliminate the names of any administrators, departmental directors, teachers, or other non-pastors. 
The survey will be available in English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. 
Please indicate the preferred language for those chosen from each local conference/ mission. 
Please include a statement like this: We request that the questionnaires for 
 
Conference/Mission be in the 
language. 
If all conferences in your union will use the same language, it will not be necessary to break 
out the request by conferences. Just the union preference will be enough. 
If possible send us the list by e-mail. Our researcher assigned to collect these lists is David 
Smith. The e-mail address is icm@andrews.edu. You can correspond with him there if you 
have any questions. If you do not have access to e-mail, you may send a hard copy by airmail to 
The Institute of Church Ministry, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI 49104, USA. 
Please respond to this letter as quickly as possible as we cannot draw the names to be 
surveyed and conduct the survey until we get the list from all unions. 
Thank you for your participation. May God's blessings be upon your field. 
Sincerely in His service, 
Roger L. Dudley, Director 
The Institute of Church Ministry 
March 2007 
Dear Union Conference/Mission Secretary: 
Last month ago we sent you a reminder letter following up a request from Elder Bediako 
for a list of the pastors in your union. We still haven't received your list. The General 
Conference Strategic Planning Committee has commissioned the Institute of Church Ministry to 
conduct a World Survey of Adventist pastors and lay members. Elder Bediako has requested 
you to serve as a liaison person between these pastors and the Institute of Church Ministry. 
We need you to compile a list of all the pastors serving in your union and send it to us so that we 
can randomly select the names of the pastors to be surveyed. Hopefully, such a list already 
exists or can be easily created from local conference/mission lists. The project is running behind 
schedule because we cannot draw the names to be surveyed and conduct the survey until we get 
the list from all unions. 
1. The list should include only those who are currently pastoring a church or churches. Please 
eliminate the names of any administrators, departmental directors, teachers, or other non-pastors. 
3. The survey will be available in English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. 
Please indicate the preferred language for those chosen from each local conference/ mission. 
Please include a statement like this: We request that the questionnaires for 
 
Conference/Mission be in the 
language. 
If all conferences in your union will use the same language, it will not be necessary to break 
out the request by conferences. Just the union preference will be enough. 
If possible send us the list by e-mail. Our researcher assigned to collect these lists is David 
Smith. The e-mail address is icm@andrews.edu. You can correspond with him there if you 
have any questions. If you do not have access to e-mail, you may send a hard copy by airmail to 
The Institute of Church Ministry, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI 49104, USA. 
Please respond to this letter as quickly as possible. The study is on hold until we get 
your list. Thank you for your participation. May God's blessings be upon your field. 
Sincerely in His service, 
Roger L. Dudley, Director 
The Institute of Church Ministry 
April 2007 
Dear Union Conference/Mission Secretary: 
PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THIS MESSAGE! Around the first of the year you received 
a letter from Elder Bediako requesting a list of the pastors in your union. We still haven't 
received your list. The General Conference Strategic Planning Committee has commissioned the 
Institute of Church Ministry to conduct a World Survey of Adventist pastors and lay members. 
Elder Bediako has requested you to serve as a liaison person between these pastors and the 
Institute of Church Ministry. 
We need you to compile a list of all the pastors serving in your union and send it to us so 
that we can randomly select the names of the pastors to be surveyed. Hopefully, such a list 
already exists or can be easily created from local conference/mission lists. The General 
Conference Strategic Planning Committee is using this study to make plans for the mission of the 
Church in the next few years. They have invested a great deal of time and money in this project, 
but it cannot go forward without your list. 
The list should include only those who are currently pastoring a church or churches. Please 
eliminate the names of any administrators, departmental directors, teachers, or other non-pastors. 
The survey will be available in English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. 
Please indicate the preferred language for those chosen from each local conference/ mission. 
Please include a statement like this: We request that the questionnaires for 
 
Conference/Mission be in the 
language. 
If all conferences in your union will use the same language, it will not be necessary to break 
out the request by conferences. Just the union preference will be enough. 
If possible send us the list by e-mail. Our researcher assigned to collect these lists is David 
Smith. The e-mail address is icm@andrews.edu. You can correspond with him there if you 
have any questions. If you do not have access to e-mail, you may send a hard copy by airmail to 
The Institute of Church Ministry, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI 49104, USA. 
Please respond to this letter as quickly as possible. We have lists from 64 of the 109 
union conferences/missions, but we need them all, including YOURS. May God's blessings be 
upon your field. 
Sincerely in His service, 
Roger L. Dudley, Director 
The Institute of Church Ministry 
To: Executive Secretaries of Union Conferences/Missions 
RE: World Survey 
July 2007 
Dear Fellow Workers in Jesus: 
As you know the General Conference Strategic Planning office has asked the Institute of Church 
Ministry to survey pastors and lay members in each of the world unions. This is a replication of 
the survey in 2001 with some added questions and a special supplement for the pastors. 
The first stage was to ask you to send us a list of the pastors in your union. This you have done. 
THANK YOU! The pastors to be surveyed have been randomly selected from those lists. All 
the surveys for your union have been packaged into a box which was mailed to you this week. 
The box was posted from the Czech Republic as our team there did the packing and shipping. 
Please watch out for this very important box. As soon as you get it, open it and distribute the 
materials according to the instructions you will find enclosed. Quite a lot of money has been 
expended to print, pack, and send this to you, so please take good care of it so we don't have the 
further expense of sending a second package. 
Remember, when you return the filled out surveys, they should be sent to The Institute of Church 
Ministry at Andrews University. Thank you in advance. 
May God's blessing rest upon you, 
Roger L. Dudley, Director of ICM 
July 2007 
Executive Secretaries of World Union Conferences/Missions 
Dear Secretary: 
As you will remember, under the direction of Elder Matthew Bediako and Elder Michael 
Ryan the General Conference is collecting data from the world field to assess the status of the 
five-year Strategic Plan voted at the Autumn Executive Council. The General Conference has 
hired the Institute of Church Ministry at Andrews University to collect and process these data. 
The first step was to ask you for a list of all the pastors in your union conference/mission. 
This you have sent to us over the first part of this year. THANK YOU! We randomly drew 
names from that list and determined the pastors and churches to represent your field. Now we 
are sending you the surveys to distribute. 
In the package that you are receiving are a number of envelopes. Each one has on the 
cover a label with the name of one of your pastors. When the pastor receives it and opens it, the 
pastor will find three smaller white envelopes and a letter of instructions for the pastor. Each 
smaller envelope contains a survey. The pastor fills out the survey and supplement in the 
envelope marked "Pastor" and gives the other two envelopes to two leading lay members. The 
pastor then collects all three, puts them back in the larger envelope, and returns them to you. 
Here is what we need you to do. Distribute the envelopes to the pastors whose names are 
on the front. You can use any method of distribution that works best in your field. For example, 
mail them, have the local conference/mission where each works distribute them, give them out at 
workers' meetings, or any other efficient method that you choose. Then have them collected 
through the same channels by which they are distributed. To reduce expenses some of you are 
receiving your packages from an address in the Czech Republic. But they should all be 
shipped back to the Institute of Ministry at the above address. For your information, we are 
also enclosing a copy of the letter to the pastor and a copy of the survey in English. It is crucial 
to this study that you persuade all the pastors to participate. Thank you again. 
Sincerely in His service, 
Roger L. Dudley, Director of the Institute for Church Ministry 
Dear Pastor: 
You have received this packet from the executive secretary of your union conference/mission by 
whatever agents the secretary has chosen to deliver it to you. You are one of over 3000 pastors 
from the entire world field who has been chosen randomly to be part of this study. 
The General Conference has adopted a Strategic Plan for this five-year period between General 
Conference sessions. It consists of three main areas: (1) Quality of Personal and Church Life, 
(2) Unity in the World Church, and (3) Growth of the Church. Under each of these areas, a 
number of specific objectives have been listed. 
Because the General Conference would like to get a picture of where the church stands on these 
objectives, they have commissioned the Institute of Church Ministry at Andrews University to 
collect information from a world-wide sample of pastors and lay members. That includes you. 
Your job is quite simple. Your packet includes a World Survey and a Supplement for Pastors. 
Please fill these out. It also contains two envelopes, each containing a World Survey. Please 
give one to the most prominent male lay member in your congregation and give the other one to 
the most prominent female lay member. Ask them to fill out the surveys, seal them back in the 
envelopes, and return them to you. Put the two envelopes and your surveys back in the larger 
envelope in which they came and return this envelope to the person who gave it to you. Where 
you have more than one congregation, select the largest one of them for choosing the two lay 
members but generalize your personal answers to all the congregations in your district. It is very 
important to get back all three surveys and the Supplement. Thanks for helping finish the work. 
Yours in the blessed hope, 
Matthew Bediako, Secretary 
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist 
August 24, 2007 
Executive Secretaries 
Union Conferences/Missions 
Dear Fellow Workers for Christ: 
You are a key link in this World Survey project being carried out under the direction of 
the General Conference Strategic Planning Commission. First you supplied a list of all the 
pastors in your union. From these lists we randomly drew names of pastors to participate with 
their leading lay members in the survey. 
Then we prepared packets for each selected pastor in your union and mailed them in one 
box to you. The next important thing that you did was to distribute these packets to the chosen 
pastors. Thank you so much for doing this. Without your action, this project would have failed. 
Now, the really crucial step is to get the completed surveys back from the pastors. So if 
you have not received all of them back, would you contact the pastors who have not replied and 
urge them to get their surveys together and return them to you. We have to count on you for this 
as we have no direct line to the pastors. 
The last task you will need to do is to ship all the surveys from your union back to: 
The Institute of Church Ministry 
Andrews University 
Berrien Springs, MI 49104 
USA 
As Elder Bediako has told you, the General Conference has employed the Institute of 
Church Ministry to collect and analyze these surveys. So send them to us-not to the General 
Conference. 
Thank you again. May the Lord bless in your ministry. 
Roger L. Dudley, Director, ICM 
September 18, 2007 
Executive Secretaries 
Union Conferences/Missions 
Dear Fellow Workers for Christ: 
We are at a crucial point in collecting the World Surveys for the General Conference 
strategic planning for mission in the next quinquenium. As you know, after randomly drawing 
names of pastors in your union from the list you previously sent us, we prepared packets for each 
selected pastor in your union and mailed them in one box to you. Then you distributed these 
packets to the chosen pastors. Thank you so much for doing this. Without your action, this 
project would have failed. We have heard from a few secretaries that they never received the 
box of packets. If you have not received it by now, please e-mail us at icm@andrews.edu We 
will send replacements. 
The biggest problem, of course, is to get the completed surveys back from the pastors. 
We realize that this takes time. You had to give them to the selected pastors. They had to give 
two surveys to leading lay members and collect the filled out questionnaires as well as 
completing their own survey. Then they had to return all three surveys to you. Somewhat 
complicated. 
So would you contact the pastors who have not finished their task and urge them to get 
their surveys together and return them to you. We have to count on you for this as we have no 
direct line to the pastors. 
The last task you will need to do is to ship all the surveys from your union back to: 
The Institute of Church Ministry 
Andrews University 
Berrien Springs, MI 49104 
USA 
You can wait and send all the ones from your union at once. As Elder Bediako has told 
you, the General Conference has employed the Institute of Church Ministry to collect and 
analyze these surveys. So send them to us—not to the General Conference. 
Thank you again. May the Lord bless in your ministry. 
Roger L. Dudley, Director, ICM 
P.S. CONGRATULATIONS to the WESTERN INDIA UNION for being the first world union 
to return all their surveys. Blessings on you. 
November 2007 
Executive Secretaries 
Union Conferences/Missions 
Dear Fellow Workers for Christ: 
The packets of world surveys have been arriving at our ICM office. We have heard back 
from about 28 unions. But as you can see, we still have a long way to go. The General 
Conference is very desirous to get this information returned, entered into a computer file, and 
analyzed as soon as possible. The Strategic Planning Committee needs the results to prepare for 
the World Church agenda in the coming five years. So we are sending you another reminder. 
We are sending this to all the unions so if you have already returned your surveys, you can 
ignore this letter. 
The biggest problem, of course, is to get the completed surveys back from the pastors. 
We realize that this takes time. You had to give them to the selected pastors. They had to give 
two surveys to leading lay members and collect the filled out questionnaires as well as 
completing their own survey. Then they had to return all three surveys to you. Somewhat 
complicated. 
So would you contact the pastors who have not finished their task and urge them to get 
their surveys together and return them to you. We have to count on you for this as we have no 
direct line to the pastors. If you have further questions, please e-mail us at icm@andrews.edu 
The last task you will need to do is to ship all the surveys from your union back to: 
The Institute of Church Ministry 
Andrews University 
Berrien Springs, MI 49104 
USA 
You can wait and send all the ones from your union at once. As Elder Bediako has told 
you, the General Conference has employed the Institute of Church Ministry to collect and 
analyze these surveys. So send them to us—not to the General Conference. 
Thank you again. May the Lord bless in your ministry. 
Roger L. Dudley, Director, ICM 
P.S. CONGRATULATIONS to the 28 unions that have completed their task. 
January 10, 2008 
Union Conference/Mission Executive Secretaries: 
Dear Fellow Workers for Jesus: 
As you know, here at the Institute for Church Ministry, we have been conducting a World 
Survey for the General Conference Strategic Planning since last August. You sent us a list of all 
the pastors in your field. We randomly drew names and sent you a box of packets for each 
selected pastor. You distributed these to the pastors who along with leading lay members filled 
them out. Then they were to return them to you, and you would ship them to us at: 
The Institute of Church Ministry 
Andrews University 
Berrien Springs, MI 49104 
USA 
We know this is quite a task with many links so that it is time consuming. However, 
about 45 unions all over the world have been able to do this. And it has been over a year since 
we started the process and six months since we mailed the packets. But we, as of this writing, 
have not received the surveys from your union. A few weeks ago, Elder Paulsen wrote you about 
the importance of this project. Now I am making a last appeal. 
It would be a tragedy if after spending all the money to print and ship these surveys, you 
didn't send them back. But the General Conference wants the results of this study by early 
spring. Once we get them, the data have to be entered into a computer file, the data have to be 
analyzed, and a report must be written. This means that we must get any surveys back by 
February 18 at the latest. Earlier would be better. So please try to collect and ship those surveys 
as soon as possible. 
Don't wait until you have them all in. Send us whatever you have now even if the 
collection is not complete. Planning for the future of the Church depends on you. 
Thank you, and may God bless you and your ministry. 
Roger L. Dudley, ICM Director 
APPENDIX 8 
WORLD SURVEY OF CHURCH PASTORS 
AND LAY LEADERS QUESTIONNAIRE 
SUPPLEMENT TO WORLD SURVEY 
FOR PASTORS QUESTIONNAIRE 
WORLD SURVEY OF CHURCH PASTORS AND LAY LEADERS 
AN EVALUATION OF THREE MAJOR OUTCOMES 
A number of the following questions will ask for percentages. For example, the first question asks 
you to estimate the number of members in your congregation who "have daily personal 
devotions." Following that is a space for a percentage number. If you believe that half of your 
members have daily personal devotions, place "50" in the answer space. If you think that three-
fourths have daily personal devotion, place a "75"in the answer space. A zero (0) would indicate 
that no one does that activity or has that belief; a "100" would indicate that everyone does that 
activity or has that belief. If the activity or material is not available in your area, place NA. 
QUALITY OF PERSONAL AND CHURCH LIFE 
Approximately what percentage of the members of your congregation would you estimate 
do the following activities? Please put a number between 0 and 100, or an "NA" if "NOT 
AVAILABLE" as described above. In some of the items below it may be necessary to 
check with another leader, such as the treasurer or personal ministries leader. 
Have daily personal devotions 
 
Have family worship in their home 
 
Attend Sabbath worship services regularly 
 
Attend Sabbath school regularly 
 
Attend other Adventist religious meetings (e.g., prayer meeting) regularly 
Participate in some type of weekly group Bible study (church or homes) 
Read the Bible regularly 
 
Read the writings of Ellen G. White regularly 
 
Have taken some type of witnessing training course in the last two years 
Actively witness their faith to non-members (talk to, give out literature, etc) . 
Have assurance of salvation 
 
Have extensive social life outside the church 
 
Are serving in the church according to their special spiritual gifts 
 
Attended a family seminar (marriage, parenting, etc.) in the last two years 
Attended a health seminar (e.g., stress, nutrition) in the last two years 
Help with church meetings (e.g., Master Guide, Sabbath school classes) 
or social events aimed at young adults (20+ years) 
 
Help with church meetings or social events aimed at unmarried people 
Hold an office or some other service position in the church 
 
Give a faithful tithe 
Support the local congregational program with regular offerings 
 
Contribute to various mission projects 
 
Have participated in church mission programs outside of your own 
union (e.g., can range from evangelism to construction) 
 
Have happy marriages (of those who are married) 
 
Have been divorced while an Adventist member within the last two years 
Abstain from alcohol, drugs, and tobacco 
 
Practice vegetarianism 
 
Exercise on a regular basis (at least 3-4 times a week) 
 
Successfully apply Christian values and ethics to other areas of their lives 
UNITY IN THE WORLD CHURCH 
Approximately what percentage of the members of your congregation would agree to the 
following statements? 
The seventh-day Sabbath is the true day of worship 
 
The creation took place in six literal days several thousand years ago 
The literal Second Advent of Christ will be in the near future 
 
The dead are in a state of unconsciousness until the resurrection 
 
The writings of Ellen White are an authority for the Adventist Church today . . 
Ellen White's writings need to be reinterpreted for today's world 
 
There is a sanctuary in heaven where the pre-Advent judgment began in 1844 . 
There may be more than one interpretation to the sanctuary doctrine 
The formation of the Adventist church was inspired by God 
 
The Adventist Church has a special mission to proclaim 
God's last message to the world 
 
Members have a responsibility to return10% tithe through the local church 
to the conference and to give additional offerings as able 
 
The Adventist church financial structure is a fair and proper 
way to support the world work of the church 
 
Church unity means uniformity in doctrinal belief 
 
World divisions should be able to determine denominational standards 
and practices within cultural contexts 
 
There is insufficient openness within church fellowship for the expressions 
of beliefs not in harmony with the fundamental beliefs of the Church 
There is too much openness within church fellowship for the expressions 
of beliefs not in harmony with the fundamental beliefs of the Church 
Salvation is by Jesus Christ alone 
 
How regular are the following practiced in your congregation? 
1 = never, 2 = occasionally, 3 = about half the time, 4 = most of the time, 5 = almost always 
Sermons that emphasize God's grace and encourage church members 
to demonstrate love for all people 
 
Make people from minority groups feel welcome in our church 
 
The diversity of congregational leadership reflects the makeup of the 
membership (racial, social, cultural, gender, age) 
 
Practice a diversity of worship services to appeal to different groups 
-2- 
GROWTH OF THE CHURCH 
Within the last two years, what percentage of your congregation participated in the 
following? 
Helped with Community Services 
 
Worked to feed the hungry 
 
Helped with health seminars (e.g., nutrition, weight-control, smoking or 
drug cessation) 
 
Helped with family-type seminars (e.g., marriage, parenting) 
 
Invited a non-member to church 
 
Helped with evangelistic meetings or Bible seminars 
 
Gave Bible studies 
 
Ministered to the youth (teens) of the church 
 
Ministered to young adults (20 - 30 years of age) or unmarried members 
Participated with non-Adventist community service organizations 
 
What percentage of your youth who are 18 years or younger would you estimate: 
Attend Sabbath worship services regularly 
 
Attend Sabbath school regularly 
 
Attend other religious meetings (e.g., prayer meeting) regularly 
 
Participate in outreach activities 
 
Hold a church office or other service position 
 
Are enrolled in Adventist schools 
 
Are members of Pathfinders or a similar church-sponsored youth group 
Ever attended a church-sponsored youth camp 
 
Seem happy or content with the Adventist church 
 
Have serious questions about one or more of Adventist doctrines 
 
Will probably stay in the Adventist church as adults 
 
In your experience how effective is each of the following methods in winning converts into 
your congregation? 1 = not effective, 2 = somewhat effective, 3 = quite effective, 
4 = greatly effective 
 
Brought up in an Adventist home. 
1 
2 
3 
4 
 
A friend or relative who is an Adventist 
1 
2 
3 
4 
 
A public evangelism series of meetings 
1 
2 
3 
4 
 
Bible studies in the home 
1 
2 
3 
4 
 
Read books, journals, or other literature 
1 
2 
3 
4 
 
Visits by a pastor 
1 
2 
3 
4 
 
Television or radio programs 
1 
2 
3 
4 
 
Bible correspondence courses 
1 
2 
3 
4 
 
Material on the internet 
1 
2 
3 
4 
 
Social events 
1 
2 
3 
4 
-3- 
In your experience how strong is each of the following reasons in the decision of members 
to drop out of the church? 1 = no reason at all to 5 = a very strong reason 
Unfriendly church 
 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
Mistreated by members.. 
 1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
Social pressure from friends or relatives 1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
Don't believe some of the teachings 1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
Lack of fellowship 
 1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
Standards too strict 
 1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
Standards too liberal 
 1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
Church's teaching & practice don't match 1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
Worship services don't meet spiritual needs. . . . 1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
Lack of confidence in leadership 
 1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
Check the space below which best describes your church in the past two years: 
 
1. Church attendance decreased by 10% or more 
 
2. Church attendance decreased by 5 % to 9% 
 
3. Church attendance about the same (less than 5% up or down) 
 
4. Church attendance increased by 5% to 9% 
 
5. Church attendance increased by 10% or more 
As a pastor or lay leader, how do you see your involvement with the conference/mission, 
union, division, or world church? 
1 = no communication, 2 = communication some of the time, 3 = regular communication 
Have input into the decisions of higher organizations 
 1 
2 
3 
Are provided with Adventist journals and papers 
 1 
2 
3 
Are able to receive Adventist radio and/or television broadcasts 1 
2 
3 
Believe that your conference leaders care about you personally 1 
2 
3 
Believe that your conference leaders listen to you 
 
1 
2 
3 
Receive information on decisions of your local conference/mission 1 
2 
3 
Receive information on decisions of union/division/General Conference 1 
2 
3 
Receive information on the Church through the Internet 
 1 
2 
3 
What is your title (check one): 
What is your gender (check one): 
Pastor Lay leader 
Male Female 
 
 
 
How many members does the church for which you are responding have? 
 1. Fewer than 100 
 2. 100 to 250 
 3. 251 to 600 
4. Over 600 
Does your church have a church school associated with it? Yes No 
-4- 
SUPPLEMENT TO WORLD SURVEY FOR PASTORS 
Please write the number of the answer you choose for each question on the line as follows: 
1 = strongly agree; 2 = somewhat agree; 3 = uncertain; 4 = somewhat disagree; 5 = strongly disagree 
I have a satisfying personal devotional life 
 
I have a satisfactory marital/family relationship 
I believe that the present Adventist church structure is adequate 
 
I believe that every one of the church's doctrines is Biblically sound 
 
I believe in the inspiration of the writings of Ellen G. White 
I believe that denominational leaders want to hear my opinions 
 
The present use of tithe policy is in harmony with God's will 
 
8.. Policy should allow for a congregation to keep back some tithe for local ministry 
 
I find fulfillment in my role as a pastor 
 
My local church officers (elders, deacons, etc.) support my ministry 
 
My conference leaders are generally supportive of my work 
 
Most of the time I feel lonely and isolated in the ministry 
 
I need more help in training my local church leaders for effective service 
 
I believe I am able to use my professional time effectively 
 
I have sufficient study time to prepare quality sermons 
 
I regularly use the internet for professional development and research 
I am able to prioritize my time in order to attend to the duties that are required of me 
I have an adequate and comprehensive personal library 
 
Congregations should be free to try new ideas without conference approval 
 
I would like to have help to upgrade my professional ministerial skills 
 
I enjoy being a pastor 
 
I have confidence in the Adventist educational system at all levels 
 
I have received very good ministerial training in Adventist colleges 
 
Pastors are generally not appreciated in the Adventist church 
 
Sometimes I feel like I would like to leave pastoral ministry 
 
Pastors are not paid enough to live comfortably 
 
Ministers should be allowed to earn additional income beyond their salaries 
 
Sometimes I feel caught between the demands of conference and congregation 
 
A pastor should be allowed to preach and teach things that may differ 
to some extent from standard Adventist understandings 
 
I have very little direct interaction with local conference leaders 
 
To what extent do you utilize the following services from your conference/mission or any 
of the higher levels of administration? 1 = regularly; 2 = occasionally; 3 = not at all 
4 = not applicable; don't receive these 
Reports or minutes of the actions of committees and councils 
 
Newsletters from local conference or union 
 
Journals such as Ministry 
 
Funds to support local ministries 
 
Individual counsel on professional problems 
 
Individual counsel on personal problems 
 
Professional development materials to enhance ministry 
 
PLEASE TURN OVER PAGE 
Please Answer These Two Questions Briefly 
38. What are your greatest joys of serving in ministry? 
39. What are the greatest problems or challenges you face in ministry? 
APPENDIX 9 
A COMPARISON OF QUESTIONS IN THE 
2008 STUDY WITH THOSE IN 2002 
OLD NEW Question 
Description 
 
1 1 1. Have daily personal devotions 
personal devotions 
 
2 2 2. Have family worship in their home 
family worship 
 
3 3 3. Attend Sabbath worship services regularly 
sabbath worship 
 
4 4 4. Attend Sabbath school regularly 
sabbath school 
5. Attend other Adventist religious meetings (e.g., prayer 
 
5 5 meeting) regularly 
adventist meetings 
6. Participate in some type of weekly group Bible study (church 
 
6 6 or homes) 
bible study 
 
7 7 7. Read the Bible regularly 
bible reading 
 
8 8 8. Read the writings of Ellen G. White regularly 
EGW reading 
9. Have taken some type of witnessing training course in the last 
 
9 9 two years 
witness training 
10. Actively witness their faith to non-members (talk to, give out 
 
10 10 literature, etc) 
active witnessing 
 
11 11 11. Have assurance of salvation 
assurance of salvation 
 
12 12 12. Have extensive social life outside the church 
social life 
13. Are serving in the church according to their special spiritual 
 
13 13 gifts 
gift-oriented service 
14. Attended a family seminar (marriage, parenting, etc.) in the 
 
14 14 last two years 
family seminar 
15. Attended a health seminar (e.g., stress, nutrition) in the last 
 
15 15 two years 
health seminar 
16. Help with church meetings (e.g., Master Guide, Sabbath 
school classes) or social events aimed at young adults (20+ 
 
16 16 years) 
help with meetings 
17. Help with church meetings or social events aimed at 
 
17 17 unmarried people 
help unmarried people 
 
18 18 18. Hold an office or some other service position in the church service position 
 
19 19 19. Give a faithful tithe 
tithe 
20. Support the local congregational program with regular 
 
20 20 offerings 
offerings 
 
21 21 21. Contribute to various mission projects 
mission projects 
22. Have participated in church mission programs outside of 
your own union (e.g., can range from evangelism to 
 
22 22 construction) 
mission outside 
 
23 23 23. Have happy marriages (of those who are married)_ happy marriage 
24. Have been divorced while an Adventist member within the 
 
24 24 last two years 
divorced 
 
25 25 25. Abstain from alcohol, drugs, and tobacco 
abstinence 
 
26 26 26. Practice vegetarianism 
vegetarianism 
 
27 27 27. Exercise on a regular basis (at least 3-4 times a week) exercising 
28. Successfully apply Christian values and ethics to other areas 
 
28 28 of their lives 
morality 
 
30 29 29. The seventh-day Sabbath is the true day of worship sabbath 
30. The creation took place in six literal days several thousand 
 
31 30 years ago 
creation in 6 days 
 
32 31 31. The literal Second Advent of Christ will be in the near future second advent 
32. The dead are in a state of unconsciousness until the 
33 32 resurrection 
33. The writings of Ellen White are an authority for the Adventist 
34 33 Church today 
34. Ellen White's writings need to be reinterpreted for today's 
35 34. world 
35. There is a sanctuary in heaven where the pre-Advent 
36 35 judgment began in 1844 
36. There may be more than one interpretation to the sanctuary 
37 36 doctrine 
37''I37. The formation of the Adventist church was inspired by God 
38. The Adventist Church has a special mission to proclaim 
38 38I God's last message to the world 
39. Members have a responsibility to return10`)/0 tithe through 
the local church to the conference and to give additional 
39 39 offerings 
40. The Adventist church financial structure is a fair and proper 
40 40 way to support the world work of the church 
42 41 41. Church unity means uniformity in doctrinal belief 
42. World divisions should be able to determine denominational 
43 42 standards and practices within cultural contexts 
There is insufficient openness within church fellowship for 
the expressions of beliefs not in harmony with the fundamental 
43 beliefs of the Church 
There is too much openness within church fellowship for the 
expressions of beliefs not in harmony with the fundamental 
44 beliefs of the Church 
44 45 45. Salvation is by Jesus Christ alone 
46. Sermons that emphasize love for all peoples, including 
77 46 "enemies" 
47. Make people from minority groups feel welcome in our 
78 47 church 
48. The diversity of congregational leadership reflects the 
79 48 makeup of the membership (racial, social, cultural, gender, age) 
49. Have a diversity of worship services to appeal to different 
80 40:groups 
48 50'50. Helped with Community Services 
49 51 51. Worked to feed the hungry 
52. Helped with health seminars (e.g., nutrition, weight-control, 
50 52 smoking or drug cessation) 
51 53 53. Helped with family-type seminars (e.g., marriage, parenting) 
52 54 54. Invited a non-member to church 
53 55 55. Helped with evangelistic meetings or Bible seminars 
54 56 56. Gave Bible studies 
55 57 57. Ministered to the youth (teens) of the church 
58. Ministered to young adults (20 - 30 years of age) or 
56 58 unmarried members 
mortality 
EGW authority 
EGW reinterpretation 
sanctuary 
more interpretations 
special mission 
responsibility 10% 
church structure 
church unity 
different standards 
JC salvation 
community service 
feed the hungry 
help health seminars 
help family seminars 
invited non-member 
help crusade 
gave bible studies 
work with youth 
work with young ad. 
59. Participated with non-Adventist community service 
59 organizations 
57 60 60. Attend Sabbath worship services regularly 
58 61 61. Attend Sabbath school regularly 
62. Attend other religious meetings (e.g., prayer meeting) 
59 62 regularly 
60 63 63. Participate in outreach activities 
61 64 64. Hold a church office or other service position 
62 65 65. Are enrolled in Adventist schools 
66. Are members of Pathfinders or a similar church-sponsored 
63 66 youth group 
64 67 67. Ever attended a church-sponsored youth camp 
65 68`''68. Seem happy or content with the Adventist church 
69. Have serious questions about one or more of Adventist 
66 69 doctrines 
67 70 70. Will probably stay in the Adventist church as adults 
71 Brought up in an Adventist home. 
72 A friend or relative who is an Adventist 
73'A public evangelism series of meetings 
74 Bible studies in the home 
75 Read books, journals, or other literature 
76 Visits by a pastor 
77 Television or radio programs 
78 Bible correspondence courses 
79 Material on the internet 
80 Social events 
81 81. Unfriendly church 
82 82. Mistreated by members 
83 83. Social pressure from friends or relatives 
84 84. Don't believe some of the teachings 
85`85. Lack of fellowship 
86 86. Standards too strict 
87 87. Standards too loose 
88 88. Church's teaching & practice don't match 
89 89. Worship services don't meet spiritual needs 
90 90. Lack of confidence in leadership 
93 91 Church attendance 
92 92. Have input into the decisions of higher organizations 
93 93. Have access to Adventist journals and papers 
94. Are able to receive Adventist radio and/or television 
94 broadcasts 
95. Believe that your conference leaders care about you 
95 personally 
96 96. Believe that your conference leaders listen to you 
97. Receive information on decisions of your local 
97 conference/mission 
98. Receive information on decisions of union/division/General 
98 Conference 
99 99. Receive information on the Church through the internet 
94 100 100. What is your title (check one): 
95 101 101. What is your gender (check one): 
youth worship att. 
youth sabbat sch. 
youth meetings 
youth outreach 
youth positions 
youth SDA schools 
pathfinders 
youth camp att. 
youth happy with ch. 
youth questions 
youth retention 
102. How many members does the church for which you are 
96 102 responding have? 
97 103 103. Does your church have a church school associated with it?