• WDMC Vision Day 2026 Questionnaire

  • Introduction

  • This questionnaire is designed to help us reflect on the future of the churches in the Western Dales over the next ten years. It highlights key challenges and opportunities, and invites your thoughts to help shape our shared discernment.

    It is quite a long questionnaire, you can save your responses and return at any time. Please only answer as many questions as you feel able. There are no “right” answers. The sections of this questionnaire are based on the sections of our 'Looking Ahead' document which provides more background. You can find this document here: https://www.westerndales.org.uk/articles/vision-day-2026

    Please complete this questionnaire by Friday 8th May so that we have time to feed people’s responses into our Vision Day. Our Vision Day is on Saturday 16th May.

    You can download a PDF version of this questionnaire by clicking here.

  • About You

  • Context:

    This section helps us understand who is responding, so we can hear a broad range of voices across our churches and communities. All responses will be treated appropriately and used only to help inform future planning.

  • Q1. Which church or congregation are you most connected with?*
  • Q2. How would you describe your connection to the church? Tick as many as are relevant*
  • Q3. How long have you been involved in the churches of the Western Dales?*
  • Q4. Age range:*
  • Q5. How often do you attend church services?*

  • Overall Vision and Direction

  • Context:

    We are thinking about the future over a ten-year horizon. This allows us to be realistic about current challenges, while also being open to change and growth over time.

  • Q7. How open do you feel to significant change in how our churches operate?

  • 1. Church Growth

    Church growth includes both spiritual growth (deepening faith and discipleship) and numerical growth (more people joining). Growth can be challenging and may require change.
  • Q8. How important do you think numerical growth is for our churches?
  • Q9. How important is spiritual growth (deepening discipleship)?
  • Q10. Do you feel our churches are welcoming to newcomers?

  • 2. Joint Services and Church Identity

  • Context:

    Many of our churches already share worship between Anglican and Methodist congregations. Looking ahead, there are three broad possibilities:

    1. Continue as we are (separate churches, regular joint worship)

    2. Become more separate again

    3. Move towards becoming one united church in each area

  • Q13. Which option do you feel most drawn to?
  • Q16. How important is it to you to retain distinct Anglican and Methodist identities?

  • 3. Ministry and Leadership

  • Context:

    We currently have a shared ministry team serving all churches, combining resources across denominations. This enables more staff but may reduce how “local” ministry feels.

    At present, all ordained clergy are Anglican. The appointment of a Methodist minister is decided by the Cumbria Methodist Circuit, not locally. However, as churches, we are able to express a desire or request for a Methodist minister to serve in this area, which the Circuit may take into account.

  • Q17. How well do you think the current shared ministry team is working?
  • Q20. Thinking about future ministry, would you like us to express a desire to the Methodist Circuit to appoint a Methodist minister to serve in the Western Dales (alongside an Anglican vicar)? (Please note: this is not a decision we can make locally, but we can communicate our preferences to the Circuit.)
  • Q21. Would you like to see more local lay (non-ordained) ministry developed?

  • 4. Church Buildings

  • Context:

    We currently have a relatively large number of church buildings, which are costly to maintain. Some may require significant repairs in the coming years.

  • Q22. How important is it to keep all current church buildings open?
  • Q23. Would you be open to some buildings being used less frequently or closing if necessary?

  • 5. Funding and Resources

  • Context:

    Our churches are currently under financial pressure, particularly in funding ministry and maintaining buildings.

  • Q25. How concerned are you about the financial sustainability of our churches?
  • Q26. Do you think we should consider simplifying or combining financial structures (e.g. fewer accounts, shared systems)?

  • 6. Succession and Volunteers

  • Context:

    Many key roles are held by a small number of people, often for many years. Finding new people to take on responsibilities is increasingly difficult.

  • Q27. How confident are you that we can find people to take on key roles in the future?
  • Q28. Would you personally consider taking on a new role or responsibility?

  • 7. Pastoral Care

  • Context:

    Pastoral care (supporting people spiritually and practically) is currently organised separately in different churches.

  • Q30. Do you think a more joined-up approach to pastoral care would be beneficial?

  • Final Reflections

  • Should be Empty: