Frequently Asked Questions

All members of the church’s S/PPRC Committee are asked/expected to participate by completing a questionnaire, and pastors complete a self-assessment. In addition, the Pastor and S/PPRC chair may together choose up to 4 other church leaders whose perceptions and input are important for the Pastor’s effectiveness.

Pastors will see a summary of responses, but Pastors will not see individual responses.

What about Associate Pastors?

Associates should obtain responses from 5 individuals: the Senior Pastor and 4 other influencers / stakeholders whom the senior Pastor and Associate agree are important to the Associate’s area of responsibility.

S/PPRC members may be included among these 4 individuals.

I’m a Pastor serving multiple churches.

Every United Methodist Church has its own unique culture and way of doing things, so we collect and analyze responses for each church individually. A Pastor serving multiple churches completes a separate self-assessment for each church.

How do respondents obtain a questionnaire?

Go to https://assessumc.org and click “Start Here.” The respondent indicates which Church and Pastor are involved, and the system emails the respondent a personalized link to the short, 5-minute questionnaire.

Pastors obtain a self-assessment by using the “Pastor Login” link at the top of the assessumc.org homepage.

What if a church leader doesn’t request a questionnaire, or doesn’t respond to it?

It is the Pastor’s responsibility – and definitely in the Pastor’s best interest – to obtain the full range of responses. Each response helps create a full picture of the priorities for the church in the coming year.

Pastors and S/PPRC chairs should “gently nudge” all respondents to participate.

Pastors can see on their homepage which laity leaders have requested questionnaires and which laity leaders have completed their questionnaire; the homepage is accessed via the Pastor Login at the top of assessumc.org. Pastors can see a summary of responses, but individual responses are never available to Pastors or anyone else.

The Pastor can assist the respondent by having the email sent to someone else’s address (e.g., a family member’s email, the email of another member of the S/PPRC, or the Pastor’s email). That individual can then help the respondent complete the questionnaire online. This solution has worked well in the past.

Because the questionnaire is interactive, there is not a paper-and-pencil version.

Why does the questionnaire force me to identify issues to “pay more attention to”?

We ALL have issues to pay more attention to! Identifying 1-3 issues doesn’t mean your Pastor isn’t effective. It simply points him or her to areas to consider for development.