Thirty-six per cent of British adults “don’t know” whether Christian churches in the UK are making a positive difference in the world, according to new research from Barna Global.
The study, which was conducted in partnership with World Vision UK, also found that just 49 per cent of British Christians agreed that the Christian churches in the UK were making a positive difference in the world while 20 per cent didn’t agree (less surprisingly, just 19 per cent of non-Christians agreed with the statement and 41 per cent didn’t).
And while 36 per cent of British adults said they didn’t know if churches were making a difference, the figure was only slightly less – 31 per cent – among Christians. Some 40 per cent of non-Christians said they didn’t know.
The research, which was based on several surveys of British adults, church leaders and active Christians undertaken earlier this year, also found that 52 per cent of Christians agreed that local churches were making a positive difference in their community but that the figure dropped to 35 per among all British adults and to just 20 per among non-Christians.
Asked their opinions of the Christian church, 24 per cent of the general public described it as “hypocritical”, 23 per cent as “judgemental”, and 20 per cent as “anti-science”. Only nine per cent described them as “relevant”, seven per cent as “generous”, and five per cent as “assisting people with economic needs”. On the plus side, 26 per cent of the general public still said the church was “good for the community”.
Agreement with positive descriptions of the church were generally, unsurprisingly, higher among Christians than non-Christians.
Overall, 59 per cent of British adults said they saw some role for the church in the community.
