Invitation to Participate in Study Benefitting the Congregations of the Church of God

Posted December 1, 2021

To Church of God Leaders from John Hampton:

I am a doctoral learner under the direction of Professor June Maul in the College of Doctoral Studies at Grand Canyon University. My name is John Hampton, and I am conducting a research study entitled, “Enterprise Risk Management: How Do Churches Use It?” The purpose of this study is to understand how Church of God leaders or their teams use aspects of risk management formally or informally when planning their goals and objectives. The study will also identify how this process helped to improve the churches’ performance.

As one of the leaders of a Church of God assembly, I am aware that we face a growing number of risks in leading our church’s business in today’s environment. Many churches are facing downturns in membership, attendance, and giving. The past year’s crises may have elevated these trends. Understanding how to plan for the unknown can be beneficial for any organization. Church leaders who manage their risks and opportunities today could be better suited to achieve their mission of spreading the Gospel well into the future.

I am recruiting individuals that meet these criteria:

You can participate in this study if:

Your church is recognized by Church of God Ministries, Inc., as a member of the General Assembly of the Church of God in the United States and Canada.
Your church has 250 or fewer full-time employees.
Your church reported less than $7.5 million in annual revenues at the last fiscal year-end.
Your church performs some form of operational or strategic planning to reach its goals.
You have a role directly or indirectly in strategic planning, including establishing and managing initiatives and risk management.

You cannot participate in this study if:

Your church is not recognized by Church of God Ministries, Inc., as a member of the General Assembly of the Church of God in the United States and Canada.
Your church has greater than 250 full-time employees.
Your church reported $7.5 million in annual revenue at its last fiscal year-end.
Your church does not perform some form of operations or strategic planning to reach its goals.
You do not directly or indirectly have a role in strategic planning, including establishing and managing initiatives and risk management.

The activities for this research project will include:

Read and sign a consent form to participate in the initial questionnaire and interview phases of the study. (5 minutes)
Complete an initial online questionnaire. (5 to 7 minutes)
Be willing to participate in a 1-to-1 interview with me to allow me to gain a more in-depth understanding of your practices (approximately 1 hour & only for selected individuals).
Consider participating in a second questionnaire. (10 to 15 minutes) I will develop this questionnaire using the best practices identified by some of the church leaders. You will need to sign a second consent form to participate in this phase of the study.

Your participation in this study is voluntary. I will not pay you compensation for participating in the study. Yet, if you participate in the interview, I will enter you in a random drawing with an opportunity to receive one of three $50 cash cards. Likewise, if you participate in the second questionnaire, you will be entered in a second drawing to receive one of three $50 cash cards. These cards will be given to the winners at the end of the study.

All data in this study will be protected by the following:

I will de-identify data so no one will know the source of the data.
I will keep the list of participant names and codes assigned on a separate USB drive from the data and stored in a different location to ensure that no one accidentally obtains data from the USB.
I will house all questionnaire and interview data collected on a password-protected and encrypted computer. I will house all transcripts and recordings from interviews on a private, password-protected, encrypted computer only assessable to me.

If you are interested in participating in this study, please click the link below to complete the Informed Consent and the initial RM High-Level Practices Questionnaire. If you have any questions, please contact me at (310) 630-7928 or Jhampton10@my.gcu.edu. Please respond by February 15, 2022. If you go through the questionnaire and feel someone else on your leadership team is better or equally suited to participate in this study, feel free to send them the Word document attached below inviting them to participate.

Thank you!

Click the Link Below to Access Study Information and Questionnaire:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BVH2X2Q

Click here for the Word document you can use to invite others to participate.