Talking Jesus report is now live – available here
The hotly anticipated Talking Jesus report is now available here to download, view and share freely:
This ground-breaking report by Alpha, the Evangelical Alliance, HOPE Together, Luis Palau Association and Kingsgate Community Church shows the state of faith in the UK, how people come to faith in Jesus and how we, as the church, can talk about Jesus more effectively with our friends and in our community.
Since the special launch event, evangelists and Christian media have already been widely sharing the encouraging findings that 45% of the UK population believe in the resurrection, 20% of the UK population believe that Jesus is God, but also that only 6% of UK adults are practising Christians. The partners hope this wave of encouragement and challenge will spur the church on to greater confidence and boldness in sharing the gospel.
So much more to be explored
Yet there are so many further fascinating findings still to be explored, putting a wealth of insights in the hands of the UK church to empower evangelism and inform strategy, for example:
- Growing up in Christian family was the most common route to faith, followed by reading the Bible (24%), and attending a church service (19%).
- Non-white ethnic minorities make up 25% of practising Christians.
- 26% of non-Christians would go to Google search as the place to find out about the Christian faith closely followed by reading the Bible.
- 40% of Christians found the biggest barrier to sharing faith was difficult questions.
- While many non-Christians perceive the church as hypocritical and narrow-minded, many perceive their Christian friends as caring and friendly.
How have things changed since 2015?
This research, that was first undertaken in 2015, enables us to look over seven years and see trends that will help us strategically with church growth, for example:
- 4% of Christians came to faith through seeing Christian content on social media, a higher percentage than in 2015.
- Practising Christians make up 6% of UK adults; this is a similar percentage to 2015.
- 53% of non-Christians know a Christian, which is down from 68% in 2015.
- One in three non-Christians, after a conversation with a Christian, want to know more about Jesus Christ – up from one in five in 2015.
For insights, stories and ideas on how we can share the gospel, watch the Talking Jesus report launch which walks viewers through key findings, recorded on 28 April: watch the launch event.
All the partner organisations involved are working with the research to shape their strategies over the coming months to empower local churches in effective evangelism.
Notes to editors
Contacts:
Rachael Heffer, head of mission at the Evangelical Alliance: contact Helen at [email protected] 07920117595
Dr Rachel Jordan-Wolf, executive director of HOPE Together: contact Alex at [email protected] 01788 542782
Marie Aitken, Alpha UK: [email protected]
Luis Palau Association: [email protected]
are available for interview and comment upon request. For more information, interview or image requests, please get in touch using the details above.
About the Evangelical Alliance
We are the Evangelical Alliance. We join together hundreds of organisations, thousands of churches and tens of thousands of individuals for the sake of the gospel. Representing our members since 1846, the Evangelical Alliance is the oldest and largest evangelical unity movement in the UK.
We love Jesus and we want everyone in the UK to be given an opportunity to know Him.
We love His church, and we will do all we can to unite evangelicals, building confidence in the gospel and speaking as a trusted voice into society to see it changed for Him.
Working across the UK, with offices in London, Cardiff, Glasgow and Belfast, our members come together from across denominations, locations, age groups and ethnicities, all sharing a passion to know Jesus and make Him known.
