2015 Research
In March 2015, more than 40 key Christian leaders from across the spectrum of the English Church gathered in the Lake District. For 24 hours they prayed and talked, sharing their heart for mission and their collective longing to see God move in this nation.
The 2015 Talking Jesus research was born out of these discussions, giving a unique and fascinating insight into how our friends and neighbours view us as Christians, what they think about Jesus and how they react when we share Jesus with them. It also told us how often practising Christians* are sharing their faith, and how confident they feel when they talk about Jesus.
* It’s important to note that the definition of ‘practising Christian’ used in the 2015 Talking Jesus report referred to those in England who pray and read the Bible at least monthly, and attend a church service at least monthly. This definition has changed for the 2017 Talking Jesus publications, which use a tighter definition of ‘practising Christian’ – referring to those in England who report praying and reading the Bible at least weekly, and attending a church service at least monthly
Since the 2015 research was released, Christians and church leaders across the country have been unpacking the findings together. We’ve heard stories of individuals and churches re-inspired in sharing Jesus after hearing about the research, and of unity movements across the nation responding to the challenge of making Jesus known in their village, town or city. You can now explore our latest publications from 2017, including Talking Jesus: what can I do? – our new short summary booklet complete with stories and discussion questions.
Our original 2015 research documents are also available below.
The original 2015 research documents
- an A5 booklet outlining the summary of the research (~2.6MB)
- the executive summary of the report (England) (~1.6MB)
- the executive summary of the report (UK) (-1.6MB)
- PowerPoint presentation (~37MB)
- PDF presentation (~1.2MB)
- PowerPoint presentation (England only) (Not available to download)
- PDF presentation (England only) (~0.9MB)
- PowerPoint presentation (UK only) (Not available to download)
- PDF presentation (UK only) (~0.9MB)
- original questionnaire (~70KB)
The original Talking Jesus booklet, 2015
You can read our original 2015 Talking Jesus booklet online here, but it is not currently available to download.
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About the 2015 research
The research was carried out by Barna Group and ComRes. Barna Group is a visionary research and resource company located in Ventura, California. Started in 1984, the firm is widely considered to be a leading research organization focused on the intersection of faith and culture. ComRes is a market research consultancy operating in the United Kingdom and internationally. Established in 2003 as Communicate Research Ltd. ComRes was founded to bridge the gap between communications strategy and traditional market research.
The researchers designed an online survey to administer among a carefully screened sample of 2,545 English adults ages 18 and older who are nationally representative by age, gender, region and socioeconomic grade. The sample error on this survey is plus or minus 1.9% points at the 95% confidence level. Additional data were collected through an online survey among an oversample of 1,592 English practising Christians. The sample error on the oversample data is plus or minus 2.5% points at the 95% confidence level.
It’s important to note that the definition of ‘practising Christian’ used in the 2015 Talking Jesus publications referred to those in England who pray and read the Bible at least monthly, and attend a church service at least monthly. This definition has changed for the 2017 Talking Jesus publications, which use a tighter definition of ‘practising Christian’ – referring to those in England who report praying and reading the Bible at least weekly, and attending a church service at least monthly.
