Kendal project observation checklist, congregational domain
Karin Tusting and Linda Woodhead, Lancaster University, 2000-2002.
Service observation
Environment and physical setting
Describe the setting.  What does the building, layout, decor tell about the congregation?  Are the buildings old or new?  Are they well-maintained or showing signs of wear?
What does the entry / porch say about the church to the first-time visitor?  Is there reading material available, eg leaflets describing the church’s tradition?  Is there a bookstall and if so what sort of material is on it?
Are there ‘greeters’ to welcome people?
What is placed in central or prominent positions?  Altar table / lectern / something else?  How is the seating arranged?
What props and equipment are used or displayed?  Altar, chairs, tables, railed areas, pulpit, musical instruments, choir lofts, audio and video devices, sound systems;  explicitly religious artefacts: candles, statuaries, scrolls, wall hangings, stained-glass windows, murals, font, shrines; literacy artefacts: Bibles, hymn books, parish newsletters, Missals, service sheets?
Take a photo of inside and outside.  Is there anything that visually ‘sums up’ this church?
People
What are the demographics of the congregation - age, sex, class, family composition?
How are people dressed?  Smart / casual / something else - do they ‘dress up’ or ‘dress down’ for church?
Are there significant minority groups or sub-groups sitting apart from the whole?  Who is included or left out of the different parts of the event: before the service, during the service, after the service?
Do people seem to know what to do when they come into the church?
How well do they know each other?  How do they greet each other?
Roughly how many people are there?
What is the gender balance of the congregation?  Does the Church appear to reinforce something that could be seen as ‘women’s values’?  Do elements of the service or other church activities cater for women’s needs?  (How is God / Holy Spirit gendered?)  (also: Look out for any reference to sexuality, which may be ‘visible in its invisibility’.)
How does the church relate to families and children?  Are there specific children’s elements in the service?
The service
Structure of service
What happens during the service?  How is it divided up?  How much time is devoted to different things - eg, Scripture vs. sacrament?
How fixed / fluid is liturgy?  How much of the service is pre-planned and how much spontaneous?  Is a lectionary used?
What role is music given in the service?  What hymns are used?  Are they modern or traditional?  What is the lyrical content of hymns?  What do the lyrics tell us about the congregation?  How is the music led - organ, sound system, folk group etc?
Prayer: What is the place of prayer in the service?  Who and what is prayed for?  Are prayers structured (if so how) or spontaneous?
What happens at the start?  Do people chat, pray silently, hug, something else?
What happens at the end?  Where do people go?  What groups stay?
Participation, power and authority
Who participates in each segment of the service and how?  Clergy vs. lay participation?  Whole congregation or only some sub-groups?  Is this set in advance or spontaneous?
Who has leadership roles or otherwise distinctive roles?
Are the clergy and / or others set apart from the rest of the congregation, eg by distinctive dress?
Where is the focus of authority / power in the service?  Could this show anything about structures of power and authority in the church?
How is the service orchestrated: by a clergy person; worship leader or worship group; written rubric; unspoken traditions and habits?
How involved do the congregation get in the service?  Do they actively participate, take notes, read Missals or service sheets?  Are there visible displays of emotion?  Do people fit in completely with the formal service structure or do they whisper, chat, move around?
How much standing, sitting, kneeling is there and what does this seem to signify?
The sermon
What was the content of the sermon?
What sources of authority are drawn on in the sermon?  Things to look out for:
Evangelical 
- won’t have lectionary
	- will preach Scripture by book
	- sermon of exposition
Charismatic evangelical
		- anecdote from experience
		- related to Scriptures
Catholic tradition
- might work in sacraments, or why Church is important
Liberal sermon
- Reason
Other activities
What evidence is there of other events taking place at the church during the week?  Are they announced during the service?  Is there a newsletter or bulletin describing other events?  What relationship do these activities appear to have with the Sunday service?
What sort of relationship does the church appear to have with the wider society?  Activist / sanctuary / civic / evangelical?  Are they trying to change things, if so how - by structure / by individual?
Questions for the congregation
How long have you been coming to this church?  Why this one in particular?  
What do you get out of it?  What do you like (and not like) about the service?  What does the service mean to you?
Have you worshipped at another church before this one?  What led you to change churches?
What does the church mean to you?  [Is it an ongoing, background identity to their lives, or is it a bounded experience they have on a Sunday?]
How is this church doing?  Has it grown or declined in recent years?
Have there been any significant changes in the church?  What have been the high and low points of the church’s life?
What is the most important role of the church in your view?
Are you involved in any of the other activities that the church runs?
Are people in the congregation also involved in any ‘alternative’ spirituality activities?
Questions for the clergy / people in authority, either on day of service or in follow-up interview
Characterisations of church and congregation
How would you describe your church community?  How would you characterise:  churchmanship? (evangelical, liberal, catholic); worship style?
What do you see as being the most important role of your church?
How would you describe your congregation?  Are there distinctive sub-groups within the congregation?  If so, how would you classify these?
Power, authority, decision making and funding
How are decisions made in the church?  What structures of authority are there?  Is there a ‘core group’ of people who run things or are responsibilities shared out throughout the congregation?
How is the church funded?
What do you see as being your role as a minister, your relationship with your congregation?  Do the congregation agree?  What are you trying to do with your congregation? [maybe to bear this in mind and sneak it in rather than ask it directly]
How long have you [ie, the minister] been there?  Have there been any significant changes in your time with the congregation?
Membership and attendance numbers
Is there a formal definition of membership in your church?  Are there membership records and if so how can we get hold of them? How far back do these records go?  What do they record - membership / attendance / communicants / something else?
How many people participate in weekly worship on average?  Does this include children?  How many children do you get?
How do people generally join the church?  Does the church actively recruit new members?  Do new members of your congregation usually come from within or outside the denomination?  Are there often new members?
Has the congregation grown / declined in recent years?  Do you see it growing / declining in the future?
Did you receive the 1998 MARC Europe questionnaire (Brierley)?  Did you fill it in and send it back?  Which figures did you use for this?
Worship
How is the service planned?  Is something like a Lectionary used or not?  Is there a worship group / committee or is it the sole responsibility of the minister?
Other activities
How many associated groups and meetings are there, activities other than worship?  Do people attend these activities who don’t attend the weekly services?
What is the relationship between the church and the wider community?  Is the church involved in charitable or other social action activities?  
How would you characterise your relationships with other churches?
Fears / worries / problems / difficult things
What do you see as the main challenges for Christians today? 
Some ministers have said to me that contemporary life raises lots of problems / difficulties for churches, do you agree? 
Do you feel these have an impact on your congregation?
General
What do you see in the future for your congregation?
Overall questions for researcher
Typologies
How does the congregation define itself and its relationships with other congregations?  Is there explicit identification with a particular denomination or tradition?  Do you agree with the way the congregation / clergy define themselves?
How would you situate this congregation in terms of the Woodhead and Heelas (2000) religions of difference / religions of humanity / spiritualities of life typology and why?
The turn to life thesis
Where does emphasis fall between this life / afterlife or above life?  Is the emphasis on self-fulfilment / empowerment here and now, or self-sacrifice?  Here and now or hereafter?  Religion as personal journey of faith or salvation in afterlife?
How is the Bible being used?  As authoritative truth or personal resource?
How is the Holy Spirit seen to be operating in this church?
How often do words like ‘life’, ‘spirituality’, ‘heart and soul’ come up?
What place does the ‘soul’ seem to have?
What sort of turn to life is there?  Self / relational / eco or cosmic?
Focus on ‘love’ and ‘community’ might distinguish from New Agey stuff.
Impressions
How did this church feel?  Friendly / formal / enthusiastic / dry / …?  Do you think your impressions were shared by the rest of the congregation?  Did you feel welcomed or not?
What experience do you think people get out of the service?
What are the keywords / key notions that sum up this church for you?