The ‘Talking to Jesus’ report presented to the Anglican Synod in late November showed that 40% of people don’t believe Jesus was a real person. But it also showed that younger people are actively sharing their faith.
However, more than half of non-Christians have had a conversation with a practicing Christian about faith in Jesus (57%). Having had that conversation, of those who had not become a Christian, one in five (19%) still wants to know more about Jesus Christ.
When people do become Christians, 41% say they were influenced by growing up in a Christian family, 36% by a conversation with a Christian, 28% by attending a church service, and 27% by reading the Bible. Only 5% talked about attending a course as being influential in their conversion.
Christians are good friends
Commenting on the report, Dr Rachel Jordan, national adviser for mission and evangelism for the Church of England, said: ‘We did this research because we thought Christians were not talking to others about their faith. And we found that more people are interested than I ever imagined. The survey shows that followers of Jesus are good friends and they are fun. We can take confidence from this.’
She drew Synod’s attention to the statistics which show that only one per cent of the population knows a church leader. ‘The task of evangelism has to be enabling all the people in our congregations – who are in touch with 67% of the population – to talk about Jesus.’
Faith and 30-somethings
More under-34-year-old non-Christians know a practising Christian peer than any other age group and the same age group are more active in sharing their faith than any other age group.
