Talking Jesus research (UK) – first of its kind – relevant to NZ

NZ Christian Network’s sister organisation in UK has just published the results of a research project described as the “first of its kind”.  The research was conducted by Barna Group on behalf of the EAUK (Evangelical Alliance UK), the Church of England, and HOPE.

When I was with EAUK director Steve Clifford in June, the research project called “Talking Jesus – Perceptions of Jesus, Christians, and evangelism in England”, was still underway, but there was already a strong sense of excitement building.

This week I received a copy of the findings in the post, and when I checked on EAUK’s website I found that everything I’d received – AND MORE – is available online.

And it’s well worth a look!

Click on the link button below to access the report, Powerpoints, and video presentations of the results.

It’s possible that the similarities between UK and NZ will mean that the research can be reasonably applied to our context without needing to run a similar survey in NZ.

NZ Christian Network is involved with the CRA (Christian Research Association) which runs the CLS (Church Life Survey), so this is a question we will discuss at our next meeting.

In the meantime, here’s a snapshot of what EAUK found:

• 57% of people in England identify as Christians (9% are practising)
• 41% of practising Christians attribute their faith to growing up in a Christian home
• 40% of people do not realise Jesus was a real person who actually lived
• One in four 18 to 34-year-olds thinks Jesus was a mythical or fictional character
• 43% of people believe in the resurrection
• 66% of practising Christians have talked about Jesus to a non-Christian in the past month
• 72% of practising Christians feel comfortable talking to non-Christians about Jesus
• 31% of 18 to 34-year-olds felt more positive about Jesus after such a conversation
• 44% of practising Christians credit their friends for introducing them to Jesus
• 17% of practising Christians said a spiritual experience they could not explain was a key factor in them coming to faith.
• Spiritual, loving and peaceful are the words most commonly used to describe Jesus
• 36% of practising Christians say talking to a Christian about Jesus was important in their coming to faith

We highly recommend you click on this link Talking Jesus research and resources to access all of the resources.