You are being asked to participate in a research study titled Investigating the Elements of Pastoral Longevity and Thriving. You have been selected to participate in this study because you are a pastor in North America Division of the Seventh-day Adventists.
The purpose of this survey is to gather data to be utilized to answer several research questions such as: When pastors withdraw from full-time ministry, what factors are most salient in their decisions to leave? What elements or combination of factors are most significant in the decision that pastors make to stay engaged in pastoral ministry? What factors are most compelling for individuals to enter full-time pastoral ministry? What are the factors making pastors successful (i.e. their churches thrive)? In addition, study results will be utilized for a second study called A Quantitative Comparative Study of Employee Engagement among Full-time Seventh-day Adventist Pastors in the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists and Its Relationship to Level of Participation in Annual Pastoral Continuing Education (CE).
We believe there are no known risks associated with this research study; however, as with any online related activity the risk of a breach of confidentiality is always possible. To the best of our ability your answers in this study will remain confidential. Your identity will not be known except if you choose to provide your contact information to be included in a gift certificate ($25.00) draw. Demographic data will be collected, but no personal identity questions will be asked. Any identifiers will wither be coded or de-identified to eliminate potential for tracking survey data to a specific Conference or individual pastor.
Although you may not immediately benefit directly from participating in this study, you will make a major contribution to the information known about long-term pastoral longevity and the relationship between employee engagement and pastoral CE. This study will involve all full-time NAD pastors using email addresses provided by NAD Ministerial.
Your participation in this study is completely voluntary and you can withdraw at any time. You are free to skip any question that you choose. You may stop your participation at any time. If you do not want to participate or withdraw from the study early, there will be no penalty.
This research is two-fold. First, a survey deployed using SurveyMonkey.com will be sent to all NAD pastors. Second, The Institute for Church Ministry (ICM) will use focus groups to address the unanswered questions revealed by the survey.
If you have questions about this project or if you have a research-related problem, you may contact the researcher’s advisor Dr. Petr Cincala – Director of the Institute of Church Ministry at the Seminary at Andrews University (cincala@andrews.edu); Sharon Aka – Andrews University PhD Leadership student researcher (akas@andrews.edu); Dr. Ivan Williams – Director NAD Ministerial (IvanWilliams@nadadventist.org). If you have any questions concerning your rights as a research subject, you may contact the Andrews University IRB Office at (269) 471-6361 or irb@andrews.edu
If you agree to take part in this study, you are asked to complete the survey. The survey will take about 30 minutes to complete.
By clicking “NEXT” below you are indicating that you are at least 18 years old, have read and understood this consent form and agree to participate in this research study. If you do not wish to participate, click the “X’ in the top corner of your browser to exit.