First of all, thank you for participating in the National Churches Survey. We are grateful for your support, which will help funders, policymakers and denominations address some of the biggest challenges facing churches like yours and help ensure their future.
We have split the guidance into two sections. The first are general questions about the survey, and the second relate to the different sections in the survey itself. If you are still unsure about anything, or would like to know more, please contact us at policy@nationalchurchestrust.org
Cliciwch yma i weld y dudalen yn Gymraeg
We have created a downloadable PDF of all the questions in the survey, so that you can read through them in advance and print them off should you want to. By doing this, you can make sure you have the information you need before you start the survey.
In the trial, we found that it is best to collate results as part of a team exercise or by talking to people who are responsible for your building and familiar with your accounts.
Our PDF containing all the questions in the survey can help with this, as each person can have a copy to hand, which will help your church to prepare the answers to the questions.
In order to make sure you save your progress and get back to the survey, there are a couple of steps to follow:
In the trial the average length of time for completion was an hour and a half, but if you are working as part of a team, it can be quicker than that.
If you are responsible for multiple churches within a group or benefice, please answer on behalf of one of the individual churches. If some figures in your accounts are combined, then please estimate the actual figures. For example, if three churches are combined in your accounts then divide the scores by three.
Please include the church itself and any church halls, attached rooms and outside areas too.
We use the word ‘congregation’ throughout the survey to refer to your worshipping community and ‘church’ to refer to your church, chapel or meeting house.
If any questions are not applicable to you, please leave them blank. Where you are unsure, an estimated answer is acceptable.
There are many different denominations, churches, forms of worship, traditions, customs, terminology, and rules across the UK’s 38,500 churches. The survey is not intended to show that one kind of church is more valued than another. We respect and acknowledge that all churches are different. Where we can, we have allowed some free text boxes to so you can elaborate on your particular circumstances. The survey is designed to capture as much information as we can to understand the challenges that you face and celebrate the successes that you achieve every day.
We recommend you work together with others from your church, so that you can answer as completely as possible. If any questions are not applicable to you, please leave them blank. Where you are unsure, an estimated answer is acceptable.
The National Churches Survey provides an opportunity to build an evidence base, by listening to the voices of those who care for churches on a daily basis.
It will help journalists, politicians and decision-makers to better understand church buildings, challenging misconceptions, and enabling better support for those who keep them open and in good repair.
It will also bring greater attention to the issues that churches face and the amazing things that they do.
The survey is being conducted in accordance with the Marketing Association Code of Conduct. The information you enter will be kept securely and responses will be anonymised.
After the survey closes, we will start work on analysing the data. This will be carried out over August and September. We will look to publish the results in October. Please consider signing up to our monthly church newsletter, where we will let you know about the results of the survey.
The aim here is to learn more about the make-up of your building and its congregation. We are aware that there are different relationships that congregations have with their place of worship. So, what we are trying to do here is get a deeper understanding of this relationship, as well as those who are completing the survey, which will help us to get an overall picture of church buildings across the the UK.
One of the questions in this section relates to listed buildings. If you are unsure if your place of worship is listed, here are some useful links from each nation.
In this section, we are trying to establish the condition of your church buildings. By understanding the current repair and maintenance needs of your buildings, we will be able to work out the state of church buildings across the UK. It will also help to identify what types of support, including funding and volunteers, will be needed to help ensure church buildings are kept in good repair.
We have also included in this section a question on objects or artefacts, which are of particular artistic merit and/or national or local historical significance. There is inherently some subjectivity here, but the aim is to try and build a picture of the wonderful and interesting items that are in the UK’s places of worship.
In this section we are gathering information on the range of care services that take place in churches, including the church hall. Different denominations have different approaches to community activities in their church buildings. There are also differences between churches in a rural or urban setting. This section is not intended to favour one denomination or type of church over another. Your answer here will help us to understand where these activities take place and how extensive they are.
Where we refer to volunteer hours, if you have two people who volunteer for three hours each (six), and five people who volunteer for one hour (five), then will be a total of eleven hours.
If this information is not recorded, please include your best estimate.
In this section we are trying to learn more about how the UK’s churches are supported by different groups, including staff, volunteers and local ‘Friends of’ groups. There are also questions around fundraising tasks too.
Here we are trying to understand a churches finances. It would help here to have access to your church’s accounts. In essence what we are asking here is:
Thank you for reading our guidance and FAQs on the survey. Click the button below to begin.
With special thanks to Ecclesiastical Insurance and to Yeomans, who have made this survey possible.
