Mixed Messages

The research that I did on 200 church "affiliates" contains some interesting mixed messages.
Most people who completed and returned my survey seem to feel pretty positive about the church. They don't have any big honking "issues" with the church. They aren't mad. They haven't gone away in a huff. Nor have they lost their faith.
For example, when asked to respond to the statement "My church would be there for me if I needed it," 30% strongly agreed and 56% agreed. That's 86%.
Only 16% strongly agreed that "Going to church is an enjoyable experience for me." No surprise, since seven out of ten of them attend church "a few times a year" or less. But, 56% agreed -- and only 4% strongly disagreed. They might not be there very often, but these results suggest that when they are, they kind of like it.
However, 11% strongly agreed and 34% agreed that "Church people tend to be more judgmental than other people."
And 11% strongly agreed, while 52% agreed that "A few people run everything in the church."
The congregational challenge here is to turn vague impressions into concrete experience. How can congregations take advantage of the relative good will on the part of affiliates to build more meaningful relationships. How can we expand the opportunities for people to turn to and benefit from the church's ministry?
A second challenge is to find ways to break down the impression (unfortunately, often accurate) of the church as a "closed circle" with fairly high, invisible walls separating the insiders from the outsiders. This is one area in which core members and leaders really need to follow Bibby's advice and "think affiliate." I remember Kennon Callahan, one of the earlier generation of church consultants, saying in his laconic drawl, "Every church thinks it is a friendly church. That's because the people who think it's a friendly church are the ones who are left." And it's so true. We assume that we are communicating a message of welcome and hospitality when the experience of those on the outside might be entirely different. (I discuss this at length on page 36 of my report.)
This is not an easy or straightforward task and any meaningful response will be very congregation-specific. But I wonder if anyone has comments on how this might happen within a mature and well-entrenched congregational system? An awareness of the dynamics of systems would seem to me to be critical here.