Happy Birthday! You just turned 52.8 years old. That’s the median age of our readers, according to our latest research. We mailed out a survey to 1,000 of you, and 554 were kind enough to fill it out. And who are you? Well, you are Caucasian (92 percent), married (85), male (71), a layperson (72), who lives in a small town (33) or suburb (38), and has a college degree (79; 48 percent have a graduate degree). Your household income is around $51,000. You are an active member of an evangelical church of 308 (median) or 538 (average) members, affiliated with one of any number of Protestant groups (Baptist, 22; Presbyterian/Reformed, 17; independent/nondenominational, 11; Methodist/ Wesleyan, 10; Assemblies of God, 6).
The adjectives that best describe you are evangelical (57) and conservative (17). Only 12 percent of you call yourself charismatic when allowed multiple options (with 3 percent choosing it as the most descriptive term).
You have been receiving Christianity Today for 3.7 years, and 91 percent of you are either satisfied or very satisfied with what we are providing; 81 percent plan on renewing.
Your top reasons for subscribing are to stay “informed on the key events and people among evangelicals” (85), to “know what is happening internationally” (67) and domestically (64) in the church, to be challenged to “think theologically” (59) and hear “an evangelical position” (66) about issues, and to be fed spiritually (43). You believe we perform these tasks in a way that is “honest” (90), “credible” (86), “relevant” (86), and “timely” (85).
Of course, when we ask if you are satisfied, we also want to know reasons for dissatisfaction. Fortunately, there were few: 31 percent said we had “too many inserts” and 24 percent, “too many ads.” (Still, because of advertising and inserts we have over ten more pages for articles in each issue than we did a few years ago—see Inside CT, Oct. 6, 1997, p. 6.) Eleven percent think our articles are too long, though this is tempered by the fact that 5 percent think they are “not in-depth enough.” Eight percent of you don’t agree with the theology in the articles, though again the results are tempered by that fact that 7 percent judge articles as “too liberal” and 4 percent as “too conservative.”
What do all the numbers add up to? Mostly, they mean that we are making a more concerted effort to provide you the information, analysis, and services you need. Thanks for the feedback—and stay in touch.
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