Less than 1%…The Results of 2023 NAD Survey

In the world of statistics and data gathering, especially in the realm of ecclesiastical data and statistics, you need to have survey results of at least 25% of your congregants / members. If you survey 10% - 25% of congregants, there is some information that you can glean from the results, especially areas of similarity. Yet, one should not and cannot accurately come to conclusions for the majority of congregants. The ideal range is to receive data from 35%-60% of your congregants. Obviously the higher we get to 100% the more accurate. In a large denomination, one shoots for 35% - 60% data received.

The Institute for Church Ministry , located at Andrews University, is yet another ‘institute’ created to gather information and supposedly present results for leaders to understand and develop stronger discipleship at the local church level.

Remember however that all these institutes, surveys, dissection of information, and other administrative aspects cost significant amounts of money.

To fully understand the 2023 NAD results from the General Conference’s commissioned survey of members, we need to have a baseline or foundation.

Annual Statistical Report (2023)

These results are totals for the North American Division.

• Churches: 5,746

• Companies: 890

• Total Active Employees: 147,466

  • Pastors & Educators: 12,905

  • Other Employees: 134,561

    • Full-time: 124,074

    • Part-Time: 6,278

    • Casual: 4,209

Membership Total: 1,257,884 people

• Church Attendance Avg. (Every Sabbath): 190,103

• Sabbath School Attendance Avg. (Every Sabbath): 61,946

New Members: 71,965

New Members (Without Transfers): 39,284

• Baptisms: 30,620

• Profession of Faith: 8,048

• Letters of Transfer (People the are SDA Members yet transferring into the North American Division): 32,681

• Adjustments (Not Categorized): 616

Membership Losses (Without Deaths): 39,902

Membership Losses (Including Deaths): 48,477

Total Tithe & Offering: $2,006,797,613

Tithe: $1,322,728,892

Now that we have given our baseline data, there is a good foundation for us to fully understand the great failing of the 2023 GC Survey, but also understand what it does tell us.

First, you will notice an inconsistency between the reported membership totals in the Annual Statistical Report (2023) being 1,257,884 people and the listed membership total for the NAD reported in this survey being 1,271,613.

This may not seem like a significant inconsistency, however, when only 1,430 people responded to the survey. A difference of 13, 729 is a significant difference.

A difference of 13,729 members, being an increase or accession of members, would mean that an entire department within the General Conference, that of Statistics, and Dr. David Trim have utterly failed.

Dr. Trim is extremely thorough. So the Institute for Ministry at Andrews is not off to a very solid start with no explanation as to the differences they report and those reported officially in the Annual Statistical Report for 2023.

The second significant issue that is even more of an issue that negates the accuracy of the entire survey is that only 1,430 people responded. That is less than 1% of all membership responded to the survey.

Knowing the average number of individuals in our churches, the number of employees, especially pastors and educators. What is the reason for such a great failing of gathering completed surveys?

As much as someone would want to look through the summaries of the data collected, it cannot be stressed how inaccurate of a perception would be gleaned from this survey. Less than 1% of all membership will not give you an accurate read on your congregants. This is why you will never see this report discussed. If it is, I would highly question the reasons as to why it is being discussed and presented.