Are women leaving churches because they feel excluded from leadership roles?
We do not (yet) have a study of people who have left church. However, we have analysed responses from current church attenders and local church leaders about their experience of church life.
An overview
Newcomers to church life
- Women and men are joining churches as newcomers in similar proportions.
About church attenders
- Women are more likely than men to attend churches (61% vs 39%)
- There are more female church attenders than males across all age groups.
- Around 55% of both female and male attenders have leadership roles in local church life.
- In some roles the proportion of women and men differ, however there are similar proportions of women and men involved in leading music, small group leadership, leading or assisting in worship services, and other roles.
- When asked if they agreed that their local church helped them flourish, there was no difference in the responses of women and men.
About local church leaders
- Women are under-represented in local senior leader roles. Some 22% of women hold senior roles in local churches (senior minister/pastor/priest)
- Women hold senior leadership roles across different faith traditions (e.g. Mainstream Protestant, Pentecostal).
Denominations with the highest proportion of women in senior leadership roles
- the Salvation Army,
- C3 Churches (Pentecostal), and
- the Uniting Church.
Newcomers to church life
- Around 5% of all church attenders are newcomers, having started going to church in recent years
- Younger Australians in their 20s and 30s are most likely to be newcomers without a church background (around 9-10% of all attenders in these age groups are newcomers).
- Women and men are joining churches as newcomers in similar proportions.
- There are only small gender differences among newcomers to church life across age groups.
Newcomers to church by age and gender
|
Age group |
Female |
Male |
|
15-19 |
5.9% |
6.6% |
|
20-29 |
9.6% |
9.0% |
|
30-29 |
9.3% |
8.7% |
|
40-49 |
6.6% |
6.6% |
|
50-59 |
5.1% |
4.9% |
|
60-69 |
3.3% |
3.5% |
|
70-79 |
2.0% |
2.5% |
|
100% |
100% |
Source: 2021 NCLS Attender Survey (n=119,053)
About church attenders
- Women are over-represented in church life: 61% of church attenders are female.
- There are more female church attenders than males across all age groups (from 8 to 80 plus).
Attenders in local church leadership roles (formal and informal)
- Around 55% of both female and male attenders have leadership roles in local church life.
- Women are more likely than men to have roles in children’s ministry, and pastoral care/visitation roles
- Women are less likely than men to have roles in teaching/preaching, administration, and in governance roles (councils, boards etc)
- Some roles in church life have similar proportions of women and men involved. These include music, small group leadership, leading or assisting in worship services, and other roles.
Local church attenders by church leadership roles and gender
|
Leadership roles held by attenders |
Female |
Male |
|
Teaching/preaching |
5.7% |
9.0% |
|
Music ministry |
11.1% |
12.0% |
|
Children’s ministry role |
8.7% |
4.0% |
|
Youth ministry role |
2.6% |
3.7% |
|
Small group leadership |
10.9% |
11.1% |
|
Administrator role |
4.0% |
5.4% |
|
Compliance role (e.g. safe church) |
2.9% |
3.8% |
|
Lead/assist in church services |
15.6% |
17.9% |
|
Council/board/elder/deacon |
5.9% |
9.4% |
|
Committee/task force member |
4.6% |
6.5% |
|
Pastoral care/visitation role |
9.5% |
7.0% |
|
Communication/news |
3.7% |
3.1% |
|
Some other role |
18.7% |
18.3% |
|
No such role |
44.4% |
44.8% |
Source: 2021 NCLS Attender Survey (n=119,053)
About local church leaders in senior roles (i.e. ministers/pastors/priests)
- Women are under-represented in local senior leader roles. Some 22% of women hold senior roles in local churches (senior minister/pastor/priest)
- Women hold senior leadership roles across different faith traditions
- Denominations with the highest proportion of women in senior leadership roles are the Salvation Army, C3 Churches (Pentecostal) and the Uniting Church.
Local church senior leaders by denomination and gender
|
Tope three denominations |
Female |
|
Salvation Army |
53.10% |
|
C3 Churches (Pentecostal) |
40.50% |
|
Uniting Church |
38.00% |
Source: 2021 NCLS Leader Survey (n=2247)
