In a joint partnership with researchers from the University of South Australia, NCLS Research is undertaking a study of older people who are returning to church life after an absence of some years.
NCLS Research is taking responsibility for a quantitative analysis in this mixed-methods study, based on responses to the 2016 National Church Life Survey.
Aim
The stated purpose of the project is to explore the reasons and experiences given by older people for re-engaging with faith communities (Christian churches) after many (10+) years absence.
Background
Increased life expectancy is a key feature and achievement of the 20th century (WHO 2018). Increased longevity has implications for the time that people have post-employment years to engage in a range of pursuits. These pursuits can include established activities or engagements: things they have been doing that they can continue to do more of; new activities and engagements including the proverbial “bucket list” (Dupuis and Alzheimer 2013), and they may also return to leisure activities and engagement that they pursued when younger (Lamb 2011). Our project focuses on the latter area of engagement – specifically the returning to active church engagement by older people after many (10+) years away from the church community.
The spur for undertaking this research is that the returnee phenomenon is not a well-recognised or researched leisure area. A small collection of publications exists looking at this phenomenon in the areas of population aging (Silverstein and Bengtson 2018) social science (Hayward and Krause 2014) and theology (Lamb 2011). Church attendees in Australia are more likely to be aged over 60 (48%) than the population at large (26%) (NCLS 2016) yet it is commonly presumed that this profile is an indication of continuity of engagement rather than a return to older patterns of activities.
It is important to explore why older people might reengage in faith communities as it is part of the rich map of engagements that has been shown to enhance the quality of older lives (Dupuis & Alzheimer 2013). At present there is no ‘targeted’ response or awareness of these people, hence the opportunity to respond in innovative ways is high.
Research questions include:
- Why they (older people) left churches when younger
- Why they have returned (spiritual, community or other drivers)
- What keeps them engaged when they return
- What is different now (compared to when they left)
- What could churches do to attract more people like them?
Methods
Quantitative Research by NCLS Research
In this mixed-methods study, NCLS Research is taking responsibility for a quantitative analysis. NCLS Research holds a large dataset of church attenders from the 2016 National Church Life Survey. We plan to conduct an analysis of characteristics such as demographics and religious faith and practices of the 'older returnee' group of churchgoers, including comparisons with other older churchgoers and other younger returnees. We will also explore whether some types of churches are more likely than others to attract older returnees.
