Covid-19 & Church-21 Survey 

A new survey seeks to find out people's thoughts as they look forward to a post-pandemic future for their denomination - and Baptists are encouraged to participate. Andrew Village and Leslie Francis of York St John University explain more 

If we have learnt anything since last March it is that, with Covid-19, nothing stands still. Just when you think you have worked out what’s going on, another twist in the saga seems to plunge you back to square one. Has Lockdown 2021 simply returned us full circle, or are we in a different place now from last March?

Since then, a lot has changed, and we have also learnt great deal. What is different this time is that vaccines offer a genuine hope that there will be a better future somewhere down the road. So now seems a good time to take stock and look ahead.

Last year we ran a very successful survey during the first lockdown, which attracted more than 7,000 replies. You can read about some of the results on our webpage. Although aimed mainly at the Church of England, we had responses from more than 250 Baptists, a summary of which you can find here. For our follow-up survey we would like to include many more.

In the new survey we would like to get a sense of how clergy and lay people are coping with the current lockdown. It builds on our experience of the last survey, which should enable us to both assess how things have changed and find out what people think as they look forward to a post-pandemic future for their denomination.

The Covid-19 & Church-21 survey is your opportunity to be part of this crucial research project. It will take about 20 minutes of your time, which will enable you to give a thorough picture of your experiences and opinions.

This is an online survey: most of the questions simply require you to click boxes, though there are options to specify your particular circumstances, and an opportunity at the end for you to tell us your views in your own words. Nearly all the questions are common to all denominations, but there are some which are specifically tailored for Baptists or those in other Free Churches.

The survey can be completed on mobile phones (point your camera at the QR code), or it can be accessed using the following link: https://tinyurl.com/y4fqgrzq

You might need to update your browser if you have an older version because our online platform only works on those with sufficient security.

Please forward this link to any circuits, congregations, or individual churchgoers you feel might want to take part in the survey and support this research. We should have some initial results within a few weeks and will make these available as widely as we can.
 

The Revd Professor Andrew Village,
York St John University  a.village@yorksj.ac.uk
 
The Revd Canon Professor Leslie J. Francis,
Visiting Professor York St John University