Research Partnerships and Data Sources

 

Denomination Partnerships

Denominational partnerships permit the use of data reported by congregations each year for the Religious Workforce Project. We have formal data-sharing arrangements with US the following denominations

Church of the Nazarene (2000-2019)
Research Services

The Episcopal Church (2000-2019)
General Convention

Evangelical Lutheran Church in American (2000-2019)
Research and Evaluation

United Church of Christ – (2000-2019)
Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data

United Methodist Church (2000-2019)
General Council on Finance and Administration

In some cases, denominations or their agencies are able to share congregational trend data. In other cases, they have been able to share both congregational trend data and clergy data. All shared data has any personal data removed. Some such sources include:

American Baptist Churches USA

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Wesleyan Church

Additional data is often reported publicly such as these sources we have used:

Assemblies of God Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
National survey data and other statistical reports have been essential to understanding church trends over recent decades. Some of these include:

Association of Theological Schools
Annual Data Tables, Data Visualization, Institutional Data, Questionnaires Principal Investigators: ATS Research Team
Availability of Data: Public

Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA)
Georgetown University

Faith Communities Today, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2015, and 2020
Principal Investigator: Scott Thumma
Sponsoring Institution: Hartford International University for Religion & Peace Availability of Data: Public

National Congregations Study, Waves 1, 2, 3, and 4
Principal Investigator: Mark Chaves
Sponsoring Institution: Duke University Availability of Data: Public

National Study of Congregations’ Economic Practices
Principal Investigators: David P. King, Brad R. Fulton, Christopher W. Munn, and Jamie L. Goodwin Sponsoring Institution: Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
Availability of Data: Public Report

Presbyterian Panel Surveys
Principal Investigator: J.P. Marcum, 2000-2002 through 2012-2014 panel; A. Androit and J. Kopacz, 2015- 2017 panel
Sponsoring institution: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

U.S. Census Bureau

U.S. Religion Census, 2000, 2010, and 2020
Principal Investigators:
2000:ale E. Jones, Sherri Doty, Clifford Grammich, James E. Horsch, Richard Houseal, Mac Lynn, John P. Marcum, Kenneth M. Sanchagrin, and Richard H. Taylor
2010: Clifford Grammich, Kirk Hadaway, Richard Houseal, Dale E. Jones, Alexei Krindatch, Richie Stanley, and Richard H. Taylor.
2020: C.A. Grammich, E. Dollhopf, M. Gautier, R. Houseal, D.E. Jones, A. Krindatch, and S. Thumma. Sponsoring organizations: Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, Glenmary Research Center
Availability of data: Public