Over the past 15-years, census data indicates the Christian faith has been steadily on the wane in Australia.
But a more specific National Church Life Survey (NCLS) found that at the same time, church attendance surged from 15% to 21% of the population.
Social researcher Mark McCrindle told Vision Radio that younger people especially, are seeking “purpose”,”meaning” and “belonging” in their lives.
His company McCrindle has just released a new study on the latest trends for the faith.
“I think everyone who’s across Christianity would have seen the census data that in 15 years, the total proportion of Australians who said their religion was Christianity, went from 61% down to 44%.”
“That’s a pretty big drop from a sort of majority status in Australia to a minority status in just 15 years.”
SOCIAL RESEARCHER TAKES A CLOSER LOOK AT CHRISTIANITY TRENDS
That prompted Mr. McCrindle’s research team to take a closer look at what, at first glance, appeared to be a faith in crisis.
“We wanted to look at what else is going on, because there is much more to the story.”
“We’ve called our report Undercurrents of Faith: Exploring Australians’ Renewed Relationship With Christianity because of what we found.”
“Over that same 15-years that the census saw Christianity dropping fast, NCLS data shows that the proportion of Australians attending church at least once a month, has increased from 15% to 21% of the population.”
“So, it’s not as though by any measure, Christianity is fading and evaporating.”
MORE THAN 5 MILLION AUSTRALIANS ATTEND CHURCH REGULARLY
Mark McCrindle concedes: “Maybe cultural Christianity is somewhat dissipating, but the measures of the practice of faith and indeed those looking for meaning, purpose, and belonging as experienced in Christianity, strongly indicate an increase there.”
“We’re talking about more than 5 million Australians regularly attending church in person and online across all denominations. That’s a significant number.”
“That’s more than will attend over any given weekend, all the AFL matches, the NRL matches, the Super Rugby and the A-League combined.”
“We think we’re a sports mad nation. Well, actually we’re a church-going nation to some extent.”
NEARLY 800,000 AUSTRALIANS TURNED TO CHRISTIANITY IN JUST FIVE YEARS.
Census data revealed that during the five years from 2016 to 2021, 11% of those who in 2016 ticked No Religion on their census form, in 2021 ticked Christianity.
That is a movement towards Christianity from No Religion of 784,000 Australians. Relatively few were migrants.
Around a quarter of them were older Australians over 55.
Mr. McCrindle believes they’re the least likely demographic to lie on their census forms.
“So if they ticked Christianity this time, it’s a more meaningful decision to embrace Christianity, they’re not choosing it because it was their upbringing.”
THE MCCRINDLE STUDY’S CONCLUSIONS
The McCrindle study highlights several undercurrents including:
- Despite the decline in Christian affiliation, many Australians are turning to Christianity in large numbers.
- The people embracing Christianity are not always who you’d expect.
- Youth are on a quest for meaning
- The decline in Christian identification is driven more by dissatisfaction with its practice than a loss of belief.
- Regional areas are moving faster than cities away from Christian identity
Mark McCrindle gave Vision Radio some context to those findings.
“The materialism of our nation, the land of safety and opportunity as much as we have; it hasn’t really delivered purpose, meaning and belonging.”
“That’s why we’ve found an increasing proportion of Australians — 45% in fact — say that they are extremely or very open to spiritual conversations that may involve a different perspective than their own.”
“That’s almost half of Australians saying: Yeah, I’m up for the chat.“
TOP REASONS FOR AUSTRALIANS TURNING TO CHRISTIANITY.
The McCrindle study found the top reasons for people turning to Christianity were:
- A feeling of spiritual connection and a sense of the divine presence.
- Finding personal meaning and purpose in the faith.
- Christianity offers answers to questions they couldn’t find elsewhere
“Young people are moving away from Christianity, but they’re also the most open to spiritual conversations,” observed Mark McCrindle,
“They’re 50% more likely than the baby boomers to say: I’m open to having spiritual conversations.“
“They’re the most likely to be searching for meaning and belonging.”
“People are coming to faith from that personal perspective.”
TOP REASONS FOR AUSTRALIANS MOVING AWAY FROM CHRISTIANITY
The McCrindle study’s top reasons for Australians leaving the church and the fatih were:
- Disappointment in the church.
- Religion no longer relevant or meaningful in their life.
- Disillusioned with Christianity and how it’s practised by leaders or institutions
Mark McCrindle concluded: “People move to faith from that personal search for meaning, identity, and experience with God, but they move away from identifying with Christianity more from a social perspective, from how brand Christianity or brand church is performing.”
FINAL THOUGHTS
Mr. McCrindle gave Vision Radio some final thoughts:
“The Christian faith is a personal walk, usually within a community of believers.”
“We have Christian ministries, organisations and churches and they put on a display to our society.”
“If we’re doing poorly at that public measure, then we can’t really be salt and light, and we will see numbers dwindle and that’s what this data is highlighting.”
To hear Mark McCrindle’s full interview click on the link below:
