Feature article published in Engage Issue 18, April 2025 by the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Charles Sturt University
There are more than 10,500 Christian congregations across Australia, plus congregations of other religions. In fact, there are more local congregations than any other organisations which are embedded within local communities. This includes schools, service stations or post offices.
This article provides a brief overview of the strengths of these local faith communities, based on various research studies conducted by NCLS Research.
Our research has found that congregations act as sources of social capital, and compared to all Australians:
• People of faith experience higher levels of social cohesion;
• People of faith are more likely to have higher civic engagement; and
• People of faith have higher levels of wellbeing.
Data sources for these findings are, first, from Australian Community Surveys (ACS) run by NCLS Research, which provide a picture of social attitudes, religion, spirituality, and wellbeing in Australian communities. The ACS is a sample of Australian adults with quotas based on the age, gender and location of the whole population. Second, findings come from the National Church Life Survey, a study of Christian congregations (or churches), their local leaders and attenders, which has been running for more than 30 years. Further details about these data sources are described at the end of this article.
Congregations help people bond together and help make bridges to others
Congregations provide religious worship services and support for those on a journey of faith, seeking meaning and purpose. They offer a place to belong.
They also provide social services. Eight in 10 local churches are estimated to have provided or run social services or social action activities in the previous 12 months. Beyond Australian shores 86% of churches have had a specific commitment, through relational or financial support, to people in developing countries over the past 12 months. In sociological terms, we can describe congregations as offering sources of social capital, both in the form of bonding between participants as well as bridging capital.
People of faith experience higher levels of social cohesion
The Scanlon Foundation has invested in tracking social cohesion in Australia over many years. There are five domains of social cohesion in their framework: belonging, social inclusion and justice, participation, acceptance and rejection, and worth. The latest result on the Social Cohesion index is the lowest score on record since 2007. The baseline set for the Index in 2007 was 100 points and it is now sitting at 78. (Note that a score of 78 remains a high measure of cohesion for a nation). (https://scanloninstitute.org.au/mapping-socialcohesion-2024) Studies run by NCLS Research of the wider community have also found high levels of social cohesion overall. Over time there have been consistent positive responses to questions about national life and personal satisfaction. In general, multicultural policies have been seen in positive terms.
In an analysis which compared church attenders with all Australians, we found that church attendance was significantly positively related to higher social cohesion across all five domains: belonging, worth, participation, social justice/equity and acceptance.
Why might church attenders have higher levels of social cohesion? Using sociological tools, explanatory factors may be social, demographic, economic, religious etc. Perhaps it is due to the stronger relational ties that come with group involvement. Perhaps the demographic profile of attenders as older and having higher education and income levels equates with them being more established. Church attenders are economically conservative, while also socially progressive with regard to tolerance of diversity. Perhaps their religious beliefs positively influence self-worth and acceptance of “the other” eg migrants/refugees.
People of faith are more likely to participate in civic engagement
Church attenders are more likely than all Australians to be volunteers through formal organisations. They are also more engaged on an informal level.
Using both NCLS and ACS results, we have found that church attenders were significantly likely to offer informal help to others, compared to all Australians. This includes donating money to charities, lending or giving money or possessions outside the family, helping someone in crisis, helping the sick, and also advocacy, such as contacting a politician about a public issue.
People of faith have higher levels of wellbeing
There is a lot of research evidence that religious beliefs affect subjective well-being, generally in a positive way. Psychological studies find that religious people are generally happier than non-religious people, irrespective of their faith. Further, people with strong religious beliefs tend to experience higher levels of life satisfaction than those with weaker religious beliefs. Regular engagement in religious activities appears to be positively related to well-being.
Our analysis of the ACS supports the findings from many other studies. Australians who identify as Christian or “Religious and Spiritual” have higher levels of life satisfaction on average, than other Australians. Christians who attend church had the highest average scores. More research work needs to be done to disentangle what factors might drive these differences. In summary, faith communities can and do play a positive role in people’s lives with a range of benefits that flow.
The research evidence highlights:
• Higher social cohesion across all domains
• Higher levels of civic engagement, both collective and informal/individual
• Higher levels of subjective wellbeing.
While there is always more to be done to explore 'why', these findings point to some positive outcomes of being a participant of local faith communities, such as churches.
About the data sources
The Australian Community Survey (ACS) The Australian Community Survey (ACS) provides a picture of social attitudes, religion, spirituality, and wellbeing in Australian communities. It has been run on 10 occasions from 1998 to 2024. In recent years we have aimed for an annual survey wave to track changes more closely. Our most recent wave was collected in May 2024 from a large online research panel of Australians managed by Online Research Unit (ORU). It is a representative sample of adults on age, gender and location. The dataset is weighted to reflect the demographic profile of the Australian population aged 18+ on age, gender and education. About the National Church Life Survey The Australian National Church Life Survey (NCLS) is a study of Christian congregations (or churches), their local leaders and attenders which has been running for more than 30 years. This is now the largest, longest running survey of religious congregations in the world. The most recent research was done in 2021 and 2022 and we have information from around 125,000 attenders and leaders in more than 3,000 congregations in 22 Christian denominations and movements. www.ncls.org.au
This article is based on a feature article first published in Engage Issue 18, April 2025 by the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Charles Sturt University
