Introduction
Members of the congregation of St. Mark’s church, Gabalfa, Cardiff were asked to complete a survey at the
beginning of October 2011 with a view to finding out about their involvement with the church and the wider
community. Some 136 responses were received and analysed. This document reports on the results. Were relevant
I have attempted to compare the data with the Office of National Statistics (ONS) mid-2010 data for the Cardiff
North and Cardiff Central constituencies (http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/sape/parliament-constituency-pop-est/mid-2010-release/rft—mid-2010-parliamentary-constituency-population-estimates.zip) to give an idea of how
the respondents compared to the general population.
Summary
136 people responded to the survey. More women than men responded that would be expected from a random
sample from the population of Cardiff. Also, more older people responded than would be expected from the general
population. If the responses reflect those of the church membership, then the church is weighted in favour of older
women. Over half the respondents live in Whitchurch, Gabalfa, Cathays, Llandaff, Heath, Rhiwbina or Llanishen.
Most respondents attend weekly, but some go to church twice a week. Home groups are the popular church based
activities. 61% of respondents were involved in work, sports, charity work or school/university/college. 63% were
aware of the aims of St. Mark’s and were strongly or partially committed to them. 29% were unaware of the aims or
failed to answer the question. A number of questions were asked to gauge the way respondents perceived St.
Mark’s in terms of equipping for mission approach to the community and world, how well it is known and how
strongly the church engaged with issues of the day.
As might be expected, the general perception was positive, but with room for improvement. Finally, a question was asked about balance between inward and outward looking. Whilst some people thought it was just right, many felt the church was unbalanced in favour of inward looking or could do more in both inward and outward directions. Many people weren’t sure or failed to answer the question.
To view the results of the survey, you can download it here: Salt Survey 2011
