American society may be growing more and more politicized each year, but in a new poll, evangelicals say they don’t want their own congregation to follow suit.
The Grey Matter Research/Infinity Concepts study found that 68 percent of evangelical churchgoers say their church’s current level of political messaging and involvement is fine as is. More than one in five (22 percent) evangelical churchgoers say they want their church to be involved less, while 11 percent want their church involved more.
A copy of the report was shared with Christian Headlines.
“A majority from every subgroup expresses satisfaction with where their church is on this topic, but some types of evangelicals are more divided over this than others,” the report said.
Among the poll’s findings:
Non-white evangelicals “are more likely than whites to want more political involvement from their church” (16 percent to 9 percent) but “also more likely to want less” (26 percent to 19 percent).
Pentecostal/charismatic evangelicals “are more likely than others to wish for more political involvement from their church” (17 percent to 10 percent).
The desire for more political involvement falls as income falls. For example, 17 percent of evangelical households with an annual income of more than $100,000 want their churches more involved in politics. Among households with an income of less than $30,000, it’s 4 percent.
Among evangelicals who attend church once a month or less, 35 percent “would like to see their church less involved in politics or political messages.” The report declared: “Out of 28 possible changes to their church people could call for in this study, this was easily the most common among the evangelicals who do not often attend church.”
Even if evangelicals are twice as likely (22 to 11 percent) to say they want less politics than more, they still want their church confronting social issues, according to the survey. Nearly one in five (19 percent) prefer more focus on social issues – twice the percentage (9 percent) who want less. Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) say their church’s focus on social issues is fine as is.
The survey was based on interviews with 1,000 evangelicals.
Related:
Only 7 Percent of Evangelicals Want Shorter Sermons, New Poll Shows
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Chuang Tzu Dreaming
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
