The National Church Life Survey offers churches a process that:
- gives each person a voice
- organises results in categories related to church health
- compares your church with national benchmarks
- tracks your own church's history.
The insights it offers are essential for shaping a healthy and mission-focused future for the church.
- Rev. Mark Wilson National Ministries, Director, Australian Baptist Ministries, President, Asia Pacific Baptist Federation
It was helpful to capture group perspectives on the church and to consider what focuses to have e.g. evangelism and better articulating values etc. Being the first time we've done it I am more intently interested in seeing how results compare the second time from the first. We intend to take part again soon.
~ Protestant church leader
Nurturing church health
The NCLS is more than counting numbers- it’s about the life of each church its leaders,helping build vitality, develop effective and sustainable leadership, and connecting well with the local community.
Many church leaders find a season of reflection very helpful. As they listen to their attenders they capture a sense of their hopes, passions and concerns, discerning a way forward as a body.
As researchers we believe that having a credible evidence base can help inform decisions, bringing wisdom and insight to the directions and life of a church.
Our church has had a long-standing commitment to honest self-assessment as a means of helping lead our church into greater fruitfulness. We also are deeply committed to listening to and understanding our church community.
Regularly conducting Church Life Surveys has become an invaluable resource and strategy that we rely on to listen to our church, to celebrate how God is at work and to identify key areas to focus on in the coming year.
~ Baptist church pastor
The local church leader is supported..
- Local church leaders will gain a clearer picture of their people - not just their demographics, but their faith life, their commitment to the mission of their church, their Christian living and their hopes for their church.
- Local church leaders will gain insights into the leadership qualities churches need to draw on, and their own leadership strengths, as well as those of their leadership team.
- Leaders will see precisely the areas of church life that the congregation most values and the areas they would most like to see further developed.
- All of this will help leaders not only discern directions but the strategies necessary to build and owned vision and move surely into those directions.
Our plan has been to complete a Church Life Survey each year so that leadership has up-to-date data on the spiritual health of the Lord's people here. This data then helps us to shape areas for investment in the coming year/s.
~ Anglican church minister
The local church is resourced..
- The congregations will gain a clearer understanding of their strengths as a Christian community, on mission and in caring for each other.
- The ministry groups will gain feedback on their own area of ministry.
- The church as a whole will be better equipped to hold meaningful discussions and set goals based on reality rather than surmise.
- The church will come to understand itself more clearly and be drawn to be a stronger Christian community.
- The church will be equipped to determine directions and foster the development of a clear and owned vision, so that the church can move to action together, into the future.
The National Church Life Survey is a unique data set compiled now for many years which gives important insights into the faith experience and attitudes of church attenders in Australia. It is an important tool for church communities to use in their planning. For church leaders it provides an insight into the particular features relevant to their congregation.
~ Brian Lucas, National Director, Australian Catholic Mission
The NCLS highlights not just trends in growth, activity, and leadership, but the key elements driving a thriving church community. It enables churches to identify levers for growth, change and outreach into their communities. It is an invaluable tool for mission planning.
~ Susan King, Head of Advocacy and Research, Anglicare
Invitation to Local Churches
We invite local churches to find out more about the 2026 NCLS. You can attend an online information session, view more information, or simply sign up!
