It is important for any organization to know and understand the needs of its members, and SDA Kinship's greatest asset is our members. To help gather current data, the Kinship Board created a survey that was sent out to all members with email addresses to find out what challenges our members are facing and what direction the Board needs to move the organization in.
The survey was sent in English, Spanish, Portuguese and German to 2586 members and we received about 260 responses. The following are some data from each question.
How long have you been a member? The highest percentage of respondents were in the 0- to 5-year range. Primary reason for joining? Looking for community, support for being LGBTQ and Adventist.
Satisfaction level for meeting those needs: Most responses fell between Neutral and Satisfied. Extremely satisfied was three times as great as Extremely dissatisfied.
Top three personal challenges: isolation; uncertainty about local politics and about the direction the church is heading; family acceptance; health.
Top three challenges for LGBTQ Adventists: Church acceptance and support; hostile political climate; isolation and difficulty finding a partner.
Factors influencing attendance at Kampmeeting and other Kinship meetings: Location - 58%; Speaker - 15%; Fellowship - 41%; Cost - 41%. Others included: fear of being outed, not interested, timing, I didn't enjoy the time I did attend.