Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the St. Matthew’s Music Survey! We appreciate you taking the time to help guide musical choices for your congregation. We have gained a great deal of insight into your musical preferences and ideas. All of your submissions have been looked at, discussed, appreciated and are being considered for future programming.

Importance of Music

When asked about the importance of music in our service, 71% of the people responded that music was extremely or very important to their overall church experience.

Types of Music

Regarding types of music preferred during church services, our congregation enjoys diverse music types, with 25% of respondents (14 people) answering that they like all types of music. Traditional hymns are enjoyed by 96% of respondents. Over 50% of respondents enjoy Contemporary Christian and Contemporary Popular music in church services. However, over 42% did not express an interest in Contemporary music. Gospel music garnered a 40% interest response and a 60% not particularly interested. It appears that keeping a core traditional base is preferred while adding other genres into our programming will enrich the overall experience for the congregation.

Favorite Instruments

As far as instruments we enjoy during church, our congregation enjoys a mix of them as well, with piano topping the list, closely followed by organ, hand bells and guitar. Some of the other instruments mentioned were played only occasionally and this could account for lower mentions in the survey.

Music Offerings

When asked which offerings enhance the music ministry of the church, our member performances by adult choir and bell choir were mentioned most, closely followed by volunteer and professional musicians. However, youth/children’s choir, musical dramas and hymn sings were still mentioned by over 50% of respondents. Continuing the trend of folks enjoying all types of music from all types of groups.

Music Participation

When asked if you currently participate in the music ministry, only 10 people or 18% of the people responding to the survey said yes.

Of the people who said they are not currently participating in music, 5 people or 9% said they may consider participating occasionally or on a holiday. Unfortunately, these folks did not provide their names so we have no way to contact them. We hope that they will reach out to Mary or the choir/bell choir members to show their interest so we can welcome them if they would like to be involved.

The data shows the small number of volunteers we have participating in the music ministry at St. Matthew’s will make our task of providing a diverse musical experience challenging. Welcoming more members into the music ministry, even on an occasional or holiday basis will be important to help meet the needs of our congregation.

In Summary

Music is seen as very important to the overall church experience. Our congregation enjoys and is open to diverse musical genres, a variety of instruments, and a number of different types of musicians. This presents challenges due to the small number of volunteers available, the skill sets of volunteers and limited budgets to hire professionals to support different types of music.

However, it also encourages us to introduce new musical offerings and expand the experience enjoyed by our Congregation.