The Strathfield Campus will be inundated with post over the next few weeks as 500,000 National Church Life Surveys (2011 NCLS) are returned.

The ACU partnered research, which took place between September and November, examines the religious beliefs, experience of church life and attitudes to general social issues. Surveying thousands of churches over 23 denominations, responses will come from church attendees and religious leaders.

NCLS is the second largest survey completed in Australia – second only to the Australian Bureau of Statistics National Census. The survey, which is translated into seven languages, has been running for 20 years and is completed every five years.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to find out what is happening in churches around Australia,” said NCLS Director, Dr Ruth Powell. 

“It clarifies varying attitudes and allows both the church to understand their own values, and the wider leadership to provide support where the results expose need.”   

ACU joined NCLS Research as a primary partner in 2010 and staff are now based at the Strathfield Campus. 

ACU researchers from the faculties of business, arts and sciences, education, theology and philosophy have already commissioned some questions in a special ACU survey that is going to a representative sample of Australian attendees. This will lead to a series of diverse research projects on topics such as theological education, the spirituality of Gen X-ers, financial giving, gratitude, and forgiveness and life satisfaction.

One goal for the survey is to help local churches reflect on their health and build on their strengths for the future.  The 2011 NCLS also has a particular focus on sustainable leadership, looking particularly at how leaders can balance the challenges and rewards of their role. 

Once the surveys have been compiled results will be given to the participating churches and provided to researchers internationally.

Students and staff interested in using the NCLS datasets from the past 20 years for their research projects should contact NCLS Research (info@ncls.org.au).

There will be opportunities available for both volunteer and casual positions to process these surveys over the next few months – if you are interested in being involved in this large scale research project please email logistics@ncls.org.au