EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK: Results of MinistryWatch Reader Survey

OPINION–Twice each year, usually in April and October, MinistryWatch conducts a survey of its readers. We’ve been doing this survey for almost four years, and we have used it to understand you, our readers, and to make changes to the way we serve you.

We began sharing the results of this survey with you last October. (You can read that article here.) Today, we do so again.

Before we begin, though: a few words about the survey itself. We have a daily email list of about 120-thousand people. Of that list, about 75,000 are what Constant Contact calls our “Most Engaged” and “Somewhat Engaged.” We sent the survey to these lists. We received 275 responses to our survey, which is almost exactly the number (273) we received in April.

As I said back in April, that’s not a large number, but I have found that it is enough to give us a good idea of what you are thinking. I would also add that once the first 100 or so responses come in, the results remain surprisingly steady. More responses change the confidence level, the margin of error, but don’t have much impact on the results themselves.

So, with that preamble, let’s look at some of the results. I’ll also provide a bit of commentary along the way.

How Often Do You Read MinistryWatch?

I was gratified to learn that most of you are regular readers. More than 83 percent of you read MinistryWatch stories either every day or several times a week. That’s a slight increase over the April survey, and a significant increase over the October 2023 survey.

What Do You Like About MinistryWatch?

You have a strong preference for investigative journalism. About 59 percent of you say that is the primary reason you read MinistryWatch. That is up from 52 percent in April. This number represents a 12 percent increase over the October 2023 survey.

About 13 percent of you said you came to MinistryWatch for “breaking news,” which is interesting to us, since we do not consider ourselves primarily a breaking news organization. That said, we try to be first, or among the first, to report the stories we cover, and it’s gratifying to know that many of you consider that attribute important.

Too Many Emails?

We asked you if we sent you too many emails, and nearly 71 percent of you said that the number of emails we sent to you was “about right.” This is a 1 percent increase from our last survey, but a 20 percent improvement from a year ago. I think that improvement reflects the fact that we, in fact, are sending fewer emails – in part based on previous surveys. We now send daily emails to only the “most engaged” people on our email list. If you are “somewhat engaged” or “less engaged,” you get emails only a few times a week.

So while this number has improved, 28 percent of you still said we sent you too many emails. (Nearly one percent – 2 people – said we send too few!) We will continue to “tweak” our system in hopes of serving you better in the future.

Most Of You Have Never Heard Of Our Podcast

Only about 6 percent of you are avid MinistryWatch podcast listeners. Another 19 percent of you listen occasionally. These numbers represent a very slight increase from past surveys.

What continues to surprise me is that 31 percent of you had “no idea you even had a podcast.” The good news is that this is an eight-point decrease from last October’s survey. Still, I find this number baffling. Every daily email we send mentions our podcast.

But the numbers don’t lie, and that tells me we need to do a better job of letting you know we have a podcast, and what is on it.

What’s Most Important To You?

We started asking you WHY you read MinistryWatch, and we got some interesting and helpful responses.

About 65 percent of you said you resonated with MinistryWatch’s goal of “enhancing the credibility of the church by holding accountable our own.” Almost as many of you said you read MinistryWatch to stay informed about what is going on in the ministry world.

This question was perhaps the most significant to me because the answer “to help me become a better steward” came in last of the four options. Honestly, that’s a bit troubling to me since helping Christian donors become better stewards is in the mission statement of MinistryWatch. This result tells me that we’ve got more work to do to serve Christian donors more effectively.

What Else Do You Read?

It is interesting to me that we’ve seen a significant change in reading habits over the past couple of years. The percent of you who read WORLD Magazine has fallen from 40 percent a year go to just 23 percent today. Significantly more of you read Christianity Today (28 percent) and the Colson Center’s BreakPoint commentaries (29 percent).

I continue to be surprised (and, to be candid, a bit disappointed) that 20 percent of you read The Epoch Times. This publication, run by the Falun Gong religious group, is staunchly anti-communist, which is likely why some conservatives find it of interest. But it is, in many ways, antithetical to a Christian worldview and should be read either with great caution, or as an exercise in opposition research.

Breaking Down The Demographics

Some of you are in your 20s, and some of you are in your 80s. No one age group represents a majority of our readers.

However about 36 percent of you are in your 60s, and 27 percent of you are in your 70s. These numbers are about the same as past surveys, so they are no surprise. They reflect the fact that America is getting older. In 1970, the median age of an American was 28. Today the median age is 38. We are getting married later, as well. The median age for a man’s first marriage is now 31, up four years from a generation ago.

It’s important to remember, too, that MinistryWatch primarily serves Christian donors, and the “donor class” tends to skew significantly older than the population at large. Younger people are raising families and paying on homes and college funds. (I’ve written more about that here.)

Over the years, I’ve sat in a lot of conference rooms with a lot of Christian leaders who all wring their hands because they wish their audience was younger. To those leaders, I say this: Take a deep breath. Serve the people in front of you well. And remember that 18 percent of Rolling Stone Magazine’s audience is over the age of 60.

Becoming A Discerning Giver

One of the most gratifying findings of this survey has been one that has been consistent over time. That finding is this: you use MinistryWatch to help you make giving decisions.

A robust 62 percent of you say you have used MinistryWatch to help you make giving decisions, and 43 percent of you say you have changed your giving decisions based on the information you learned from MinistryWatch.

This is why we exist: to serve donors, to help you make more discerning giving decisions.

So, the bottom line is this: We’ve still got some work to do. Your responses to this survey will help us make changes strategically and efficiently. We thank you for that.

And we also can see, though, that our work is bearing fruit in your lives and in the lives of those you touch with your generosity. We thank God for that.