Global Church Member Survey 4
Deadline: January 31, 2026
The General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists (the GC) sponsors human-subject research through its Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research (ASTR) to understand the current reality of the Church for the purpose of future research-based strategic planning. For this reason, the GC has mandated ASTR to conduct the fourth Global Church Member Survey (GCMS4). Adventist scholars around the world are invited to work as teams and to submit their proposals for a grant to fund participation in this global research project. This document provides important information, guidelines, and the timeline that will be helpful in preparing your proposal and in carrying out this important project.
ELIGIBILITY
The application is open to all Seventh-day Adventist scholars worldwide. For an application to be considered, the following criteria will be considered:
- All the applicants must be active members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
- They must preferably be working for the Adventist Church.
- The applying team must include one person with survey research expertise, one theologian, one linguist (or missiologist), and any other member(s) they deem important.
- At least half of the team must be members of AHSRA (or regional AHSRA chapter).
- The principal investigator of the team must have a completed doctoral degree and at least 3 published peer-reviewed research journal articles.
- The proposal can be for one division but can cover up to 3 divisions if all are on the same continent. Previous GCMS reports can be accessed here.
- The application must be prepared in English.
- Primary communication must be done in English.
- Only one application is allowed per team.
- The requested funding must not be more than $65,000 per application. The requested amount must be reasonable for the proposed study.
Note: For the 13 divisions and 3 attached unions of the World Church, we are aiming to have 5 to 8 research teams for the GCMS4 globally.
PROPOSAL TEMPLATE
Title Page
Proposal for GCMS4 for (list division[s])
Total Requested Funding (in US dollars)
Second Page
GCMS4 Target Divisions/Attached Field (list 2 or 3 divisions)
Investigators
Principal Investigator
(Name, highest academic title, current position, institutional/organizational affiliation, city, country, email address)
Co-Investigators
(Name, highest academic title, position, institutional/organizational affiliation, city, country, email address of each co-investigator)
Primary Contact Person
Institutional/Organizational Supervisor/Administrator
(Name, highest academic title, position, institutional/organizational affiliation, city, country, email address of the authority who oversees the permission of grant applications for research at the principal investigator’s institution/organization)
Starting with the Third Page
A. Background of the Study
In one to three paragraphs (300-500 words), present the background of the study. Cite some scholarly books and journal articles to back up your claims.
B. Research Setting
In 200-300 words, explain in more details the territory where your study will be carried out. This must include the Division(s) and Attached Union(s) that will be involved.
C. Significance of the Proposed Study
In 200-300 words, explain how useful this proposed study will be to the target research setting.
D. Sampling Procedure
In 200-500 words, explain how you will go about selecting your sample.
E. Data Collection
In 500-1500 words, describe the well-established research process that you will use to collect data. If you will use more than one language to collect your data, indicate which ones they are and how you will go about the translation. Briefly discuss how you will analyze the data in order to meet your research objectives.
F. Data Analysis
In 200-300 words, discuss how you will go about analyzing the data, interpreting it, and writing the final report.
G. Potential Challenges
In 200-300 words, discuss challenges that you may encounter and how you will deal with them.
H. Research Partners
Create a table for all your potential research partners. List the names, institutional/organizational affiliations, positions, and locations of people that you have identified as potential research partners to carry out this study. The last column must present the role that each potential research partner will play in this proposed study. You obviously cannot travel to all the countries included in your study, so you will need to work with partners who will help with data collection.
I. Proposed Budget
Please prepare a detailed proposed budget for this project. It must be a table with at least three columns: one for the budgetary items, another for a very brief explanation/description of each item, and the last for the budget of each item.
J. Other Contributions
If you have secured or are expecting to receive additional financial or non-monetary support from other institutions/organizations/departments to support this project, please declare it here.
K. References
List all cited sources here either in APA or Turabian format.
Appendix A: Investigators’ Biographical Information
Present a brief resumé of each of the investigators that highlights the highest academic training, necessary scholarly publications, and/or content experience/expertise pertaining to the proposed study. Each investigator must be allotted one page to provide this biographical information.
Appendix B: Data/Documents that You Need to Receive from ASTR
If you believe you will need access to some ASTR data or documents (e.g., letters of support) to carry on this research project, please list them here with a brief explanation about why and when you may need them.
Appendix C: Timeline
Create a timeline for all the major milestones of your project. Use the timeline provided below as a starting point but elaborate on it to include other key milestones that you deem necessary
GCMS 4 Timeline
- November 20, 2025, at 9am, US Eastern Time: Special Zoom session about Call for Proposals with potential applicants (Register here)
- January 15, 2026, at 9am, US Eastern Time: Optional Zoom session about Call for Proposals (if needed) (Register here)
- March 15, 2026: Proposal evaluation outcome announcement
- April 1 to July 15, 2026: Pilot study data collection
- July 15 to October 15, 2026: Pilot study analysis & instrument revision
- October 15 to December 31, 2026: Translation of instrument into local languages and back-translation into English
- January 1 to September 1, 2027: Data collection
- September 1, 2027: Draft of data files of research teams to be submitted to ASTR
- September 1 to December 31, 2027: Report writing for each division
- January 1, 2028: Final version of data files of research teams to be submitted to ASTR (including SPSS file, MS Word file, PPTs for Union results, PPT for Division Results, and other relevant files as requested by ASTR)
Prepare the proposal carefully, save it as a PDF file, and then submit it to [email protected]. Please use the same address for all inquiries pertaining to this Call for Proposals.