Protestant Pastors’ Use of Statistics

2 Methodology  The telephone survey of Protestant pastors was conducted November 5-12, 2009  The calling list was randomly drawn from a list of all Protestant churches. Up to six calls were made to reach a sampled phone number  Each interview was conducted with the senior pastor, minister or priest of the church called  Responses were weighted to reflect the geographic distribution of Protestant churches

3 Methodology  The completed sample is 1,002 phone interviews  The sample provides 95% confidence that the sampling error does not exceed +3.1%

4 Two-thirds of Protestant pastors think Christians frequently misuse statistics to fit their own agenda Not Sure: 6% Q. 30 I think Christians frequently misuse statistics to fit their own agenda

5 More than 9 out of 10 Protestant pastors consult statistics about church and culture, but the frequency varies widely Not Sure: 1% Q. 31 How often do you consult statistics about church and culture? Twenty-four percent of Protestant pastors consult statistics once a month or more, but 35% rarely or never consult statistics about church and culture

6 Protestant Pastors obtain statistics and research from the following sources Not sure: 1% Q. 32 From which of the following sources do you get statistics and research? Note: examples were provided for two options: Foundation websites (such as Pew) and Research websites (such as Gallup, Barna, or LifeWay Research) Among Protestant pastors who consult statistics about church and culture

7 Ways in which Protestant pastors consider statistics and research helpful Q33 In which if any of the following ways do you consider statistics and research helpful for church leaders? (Choose all that apply ) Not sure: 1%

Protestant Pastors’ Use of Statistics