PUBLISHERS

LIVING THE

CHRISTIAN LIFE:

Becoming

like Jesus

2

Living the Christian Life

Introduction

This booklet summarises some of the key findings from a comprehensive survey on Christiandiscipleship in evangelical church life in Britain in 2012. The survey was commissioned byLangham Partnership (UK and Ireland) in the form of three collections of data, which havebeen merged together.

The first was a survey of the entire congregations across all services in 7evangelical churches across England, 3 Anglican, 1 Baptist and 3 Independent, with acumulative congregation of over 800 people. Covering the whole of a congregation has thehuge advantage of including people newly Christian as well as those who have beenChristians for many years, thus with a range of practical and experienced discipleship.Further questionnaires were received from those answering advertisements in Christiannewspapers and magazines who wished to participate in this study, and who were found toaugment the lay people already covered. The third stream was a comprehensive cross-denominational survey of evangelical ministers, 31% of whom responded to the postal form.Total response to these 3 streams was 1,999 people, a random sample more than sufficientto give robust statistical results. We are enormously grateful to all those who responded.

Twelve major findings are briefly introduced here. Those who would like to obtaina full copy of the results may do so (details are on the inside back cover). Further copies ofthis booklet are also available. To help readers consider the implications of these findingsa question(s) is given at the foot of each page.

Langham Partnership (UK & Ireland) was founded in order to help churches growin maturity or simple Christlikeness. During 2013 the “9-a-day: Becoming like Jesus”campaign was launched in order to encourage Christians in that transformative process.Langham was originated by John Stott in 1969, who wanted to provide quality theologicalteaching for the church globally. That initiative continues but its work has expanded intoother directions since, focussing on literature, preaching and developing Christian leadersto doctoral level.

We chose the Brierley Consultancy to undertake this work because of the researchexperience of Dr Peter Brierley who heads it up, based on his work researching the Christianchurch over many years, not least as Director of Christian Research, the body responsiblefor many Church Censuses, and the volumes of Religious Trends and the UK ChristianHandbook. We are grateful to him for all the work undertaken for this study.

Ian BuchananExecutive Director

© Dr Peter Brierley 2012 ISBN: 978-0-9566577-4-9

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1) Church teaching helps people grow in their faith

When respondents were asked, “Which aspect of church life has been the mostinstrumental in helping you grow in your faith?” three-fifths, 58%, said the

teaching in church services. Ministers agreed (55%). Its place was stated asimportant by 83% of lay people (and 96%) of ministers. How was the teaching

helpful?

Ways in which teaching in church is useful

85% of churchgoers said that the teaching in their churches was the second

most important thing that they appreciated (first was the fellowship).

This 85% varied slightly by denomination (90% of non-Anglicans, 79% of Anglican), andage (93% those 60 or over, 80% those under 40) but not by gender.

# If the teaching is so important for growth in faith, what shouldministers aim to be teaching their congregations?

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2) Christian growth comes in other ways also

Respondents indicated that while teaching was important, it was not the only waythey learned about faith matters.

House Groups were also important for two-thirds (65%) for growing in their faith,and so were recommended books and CDs/DVDs (20%) and special training

sessions (18%).

A third (34%) of churchgoers said House Groups were THE most important way their faith grew.

House Groups

Anglicans > non-Anglicans

Younger > older people

Women > men

Faith also grows through:

! Seeing answers to prayer (53%)! The encouragement and support

of other Christians (52%)!Sunday worship (52%)

! Personal study and prayer (42%)

# How effective are these means of growing in faith in your life andin your church? How could they become more effective?

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3) Factors which influence the depth of growth

Respondents were asked if they thought their faith had grown in the past year.Five in every six (84%) said it had, and a quarter (24%) said it had grown “much.”

What were the key factors which caused this difference?Their answers are shown in the bar-chart.

Factors enabling significant growth in the faith

Seeing answers to prayer was more important for older people than younger(and also seeing others come to faith).

One-to-one personal spiritual direction was more importantfor younger people than older.

These did not vary by denomination or gender.

# What steps do we need to take to encourage a deeper growth infaith either personally or among the members of our congregation?

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4) Christian attitudes to the Bible

Lay people read their Bible to learn more about God (90%), andto seek guidance and inspiration (85%). It was also used to

find comfort in times of illness, crisis, etc (64%).

Ministers used their Bible to help them know God better (99%),prepare their sermons (96%), equip them to minister to others (91%)

and to improve their Biblical knowledge (87%).

The Bible influenced lay people and ministers alike in their faithin God (96%), their knowledge of God (96%), their moral conduct (92%)

and their daily Christian life (92%).

It also influenced lay people’s attitude towards:

The Bible is not influencing younger people in church congregations

as much as it does older people.

# How do we encourage greater study, understanding of theScriptures? How best can teaching be applied so that its impact is

felt in all parts of the lives of churchgoers, especially youngerpeople?

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5) Becoming more Christlike

Christlikeness proved a difficult term for many people.They felt Christlike people were:

1) Like Jesus in His relationships with others – selfless, giving time, affirming,trustworthy and caring (51%)

2) Like Jesus with a sense of commitment and purpose, a heart for God (27%)3) Like Jesus as He exuded inner glow and beauty, full of the Spirit (22%)

How did a person become more Christlike? Answers are shown in the pie-chart

Who were the most Christlike people respondents were aware of?In order of suggestion, they were:

John StottBilly Graham

Archbishops John Sentamu, Rowan Williams and Desmond TutuMother Theresa and Nelson Mandela

# How can churches encourage and challenge their membersto live out their faith, commitment, values and attitudes

in the way that Jesus did?

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6) Length of Christian experience

On average the lay people in the survey had been a Christian for 22 years. Ministers had been Christians on average for 34 years and ordained

for 20 years, suggesting that, on average, they were ordainedafter being Christians for 12 years.

However, people are accepting the Christian faith and joining congregations allthe time, and the proportions who had been Christians for a given

length of time in Spring 2012 are shown in the bar chart.

Length of time lay people had been Christians in 2012

Just 2% of lay people had been Christians for under 3 years, while 76% had beenChristians for over 20 years, reflecting, perhaps, a lack of priority in evangelism.

On average Christians had been attending their existing church for 13 years. Perhaps two-fifths (39%) of current attenders had always attended their

present church, which means that the other three-fifths had moved to theirpresent church from another church at some time. This suggests that what

passes for “church growth” is, in reality, relatively large numbers of Christianpeople moving from one place of worship to another.

# In what ways can churches encourage and prioritise moreevangelism?

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7) Key functions of Church Life

The survey listed 6 key functions of church life and asked respondents (a) to say whichhad the highest priority in their church at present in their opinion, and (b) what should be

the greatest priority. Their answers are given in the charts, where “service” means“service overseas.”

The bar-chart shows that Worship iscurrently seen as the top priority in thechurch’s life by both clergy and laity,followed by Prayer and Discipleship. Both clergy and laity on the chart feelDiscipleship should be the top priority,followed by Worship and Prayer andEvangelism by clergy and Prayer andEvangelism and then Worship by laity.

Evangelism is currently seen as fourthpriority in the church’s life by both clergyand laity and is seen as either third orfourth priority in an ideal church.

Perhaps this helps to explain why sosmall a proportion of churchcongregations are recent Christians. When clergy were asked in the surveywhat they saw as the greatestimpediment to church growth, thedominant answer (33%) was “a lack ofburden for evangelism.”

Only two-thirds (65%) of both clergy andlaity agreed with the statement, “Thechurch should give highest priority toevangelistic preaching of the gospel.”

# What guidance is there in Scripture as to the relative importanceof Worship, Prayer, Discipleship and Evangelism in a church’s life? How far is the New Testament pattern of church life appropriate in

today’s culture?

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8) Some doctrines are not universally agreed

The survey asked both ministers and lay people how far they agreed with each of12 doctrinal statements. There was widespread agreement by both groups (at

least 94%) for each of the following:

! God the Father, Jesus Christ & the Holy Spirit are all equally God! The world was created by God! The Bible is a relevant source of guidance and inspiration for today! My faith has a direct impact on the way I live! I have an obligation to make sure my children have the opportunity to

become Christians! All people will be judged by God after death! Christians have a divine commission to share their faith with others! The gifts of the Spirit are relevant for today’s church! Christians have a goal of seeking spiritual maturity! The Holy Spirit has an active role in my daily Christian life

There were, however, two statements which were not agreed so wholeheartedly byeither ministers or lay people (90% and 67% respectively who were evangelical):

# In what ways do these latter two views affect a church’s cultureand functions?

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9) Evangelical church culture is primarily one of kindness

Survey participants were asked to rate, on a scale from 1 (high) to 5 (low),how far they felt their church reflected Christlikeness. The results are shown in

the bar-chart, where, in this context, the lower the mark the better.

The character of Evangelical Churches

The over-riding culture of evangelical churches was seen to be one of kindness,followed by faith, gentleness and joyfulness.

Ministers felt that patience and self-control were least evident in their churches,and while lay people agreed with these two, they also added

in equal measure as least evident unity and forgiveness.

# In what ways does your church exhibit kindness? Could that beenhanced? How could your church overcome some of the less

positive traits that others might see?

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10) Prayer life of ministers and lay people

71% of lay people and 89% of ministers pray every day22% of lay people and 11% of ministers pray several times a week

7% of lay people pray less often

Three-fifths, 62%,

of couples praytogether,

and two-fifths,

44%, of these do

so frequently.

In households with children, two-fifths, 42%, prayed with them frequently

The survey asked how many people were in a person’s household, and theirmarital status, questions not often requested. Marital status is shown below,

where “divorced” includes those who were separated. Churches have far fewercohabiting people and single parents than in the general population, where

together they account for a fifth of all households. The church also has far moremarried people among its congregations than in the general population, and toofew single people. The number of households represented is about 40% of the

total congregation – which grossed up across the UK would mean that only 5% ofhouseholds have any connection with the church.

G roup

Single

%

Married

%

Cohabiting

%

Single Parent

%

Divorced

%

W idowed

%

Base

(=100% )

Overall 17 71 1 ½ 4½ 6 811

# How can couples in the church be encouraged to pray togethermore often, and more frequently with their children?

In what ways could your church reach the unmarried andsingle parents in your area?

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11) Church planting by evangelical congregations

The ministers’ form had a section on church planting which was not replicated inthe lay version of the questionnaire.

Number of churches per church planted over the last 5 years

The average number planted by churches planting at least one was 1.4 churches,these results being very similar to a study of larger churches in 2008.

Ministers were asked their experience of planting churches. Two-fifths (41%)made positive comments, and a sixth (17%) were negative. A further sixth (18%)said how difficult it was, and the remaining quarter (24%) made comments about

the type of church that had been planted. Anglicans more than non-Anglicansstressed the hard work involved. Few female ministers had planted a church, but

all their comments were positive. Almost twice as many of the failed churcheswere started by ministers under the age of 50 (48% to 26%) compared with those

60 or over.

Virtually every minister (97%) said they would plant another church given asuitable opportunity.

# How important to your church is the vision of planting anotherchurch? What place, if any, does it or should it occupy

in your church agenda?

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12) Christlike behaviour and Biblical preaching

The final question on the form gave 8 behavioural statements and askedrespondents how far they agreed with them. Lay people and ministers stronglyagreed the first three, given below, were somewhat less certain about the next

four, but both had significant disagreement with the last.

Percentage agreeing with StatementLay

people%

Mini-sters

%

Becoming more Christlike will make us more distinct from thosearound us

91 97

The gospel message is undermined when Christians do notbehave like the Jesus they proclaim

90 96

If a Christian does not grow in Christlikeness then there issomething lacking in his or her walk with God

83 94

A Christian is transformed solely through the work of theindwelling Holy Spirit

73 76

It is (un)realistic to expect Christians to behave in a consistentlyChristlike manner in public or at work in today’s secular society¹

67 88

A lack of Christlike behaviour in a church-going Christian maybe directly linked to a lack of systematic Biblical preaching from

their church

65 78

The church should give highest priority to evangelistic preachingof the gospel

65 65

Becoming more Christlike will increasingly alienate Christiansfrom the culture around them

54 49

¹ Reverse coded; the letters in brackets were not part of the original statem ent on the form

.

# Which of these is the most significant from your point of view? Why?

ADBC publishers are part of Brierley Consultancy which helps buildstrategic vision for individual churches and Christian agencies, undertakesresearch and interpretation for Christian leaders, and enables directionalthinking in churches or agencies using the latest analyses of Christian life

in the UK and the world. A full copy of the Living the Christian Life reports isavailable: Vol 1 gives lay answers from the 7 participating churches and Vol 2 givesclergy replies and a summary of both. Price is £7.50 each including postage.

God’s Questions, Vision, Strategy and Growth follows through theimplications of “Adam, where are you?” (you and the big picture),“Moses, what’s that in your hand?” (understand your strengths), “Elijah,what are you doing here?” (priorities), “Amos, what do you see?” (vision)and “Ezekiel, can these dry bones live?” (faith to take risks). “Always ina context of encouragement ... someone who understands the realitiesof church life” (from the Foreward by Prof John Drane). Price £6including p & p. RRP £8.99.

Published 2011, this A4 volume is an updated compilation of keyinformation about the 300+ denominations in the UK, withsummary tables, explanatory articles and other data. It gives adenomination by denomination overview of church membership,churches and congregations and the number of ministers(including gender), covering each year from 2005 to 2010 with aforecast for 2015. The Introduction draws out the major trendsfrom this mass of data, and other essays are included. Price £20,including p and p. RRP £25

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