Surveys help measure for mission in Christchurch parish

Vicki Surrey, the evangelisation and discipleship coordinator at Holy Family Parish, Christchurch West, spoke about “measuring for mission”.

Broad surveys were run in the parish in 2022 and in 2024. These have been made up of questions largely about actions such as Mass attendance, prayer and group engagement. People completed the survey forms at Sunday Mass.

The first survey was designed with help from an external agency, but the second was adapted by the parish, Mrs Surrey said. Knowing the people in the community means the parish can better support them and their families, she added.

The first survey had 1300 responses and the second 2300 – reflecting the large increase in Mass counts in the parish in two years. A lot of the growth came from migrants coming to Aotearoa New Zealand, Mrs Surrey said. The Sunday Mass count is now just under 3000.

The surveys, which included questions on connectedness with the parish and faith engagement, had response rates of 78 and 76 per cent respectively.

The surveys showed about one third of the respondents are Filipino, the biggest age bracket among respondents was 40-50 years, about half the respondents said they pray at least daily and nearly half said they watch videos or podcasts about the faith.

The parish has responded to the survey results. Examples include providing material for parents within children’s programmes and recommending good online formation resources for people.

The surveys also showed a dropoff in people serving in areas like social justice and in the Society of St Vincent de Paul. Mrs Surrey said a challenge for the parish would be engaging more people to serve in such ways.

“One of the joys of being a big and growing parish is that there is a lot of other stuff to do,” Mrs Surrey said. “Like many parishes, we don’t have a huge staff. So while we are absolutely endeavouring to do all we can with this data, there are days where we just have to get the 120 kids through First Communion.”

Mrs Surrey recommended the survey approach as something other parishes ought to consider.

“[By] taking some time to really understand our people, that is where we are really going to be able to serve, because we understand their needs. The Church has changed so much in the last 50 years. The assumptions that we made 10, 20, 30 years ago, we can’t keep running off those assumptions. We need new data,” she said.  

“It has been really valuable for us, and we feel we are getting to know our people better.”

Mrs Surrey said her parish owns the survey intellectual property, and are open to sharing with others.

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