NCLS Research

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NCLS Research NCLS Research is a world leader in research focused on connecting churches and their communities.Our most well known five-yearly project is called the National Church Life Survey, which has had millions of participants.

In 2024 we started offering the Student Spiritual Life Survey (SSLS) for faith-based High schools. The SSLS is designed to provide an annual snapshot that explores attitudes and practices around spirituality in general, and Christianity in particular.

Student Spiritual Life Survey

Understand the spiritual beliefs, attitudes and practices of your students and the impact of your school activities on their faith. Developed by NCLS Research, this survey is based on more than 30 years of experience in world-class research into faith, church life and spirituality.

Why a Student Spiritual Life Survey?

A survey provides the opportunity to hear from all students – not just the loudest. Being anonymous, it encourages honest and real answers. The responses will provide an evidence base through an annual survey of the spiritual life of students. It will inform schools about how well students are engaging with the message of Christ and the impact of faith in their life.

02/11/2026

Happy (slightly late) All Saints and All Souls day!

How do you give thanks to the people in your life that model Christianity?

30/10/2026

Which age group is prioritising sharing their faith?

Do these results surprise you?

Follow along for more results from our 2021 NCLS

28/10/2026

The Legacy of the National Church Life Survey

Watch the full podcast to learn more about how NCLS is getting a picture of evangelism in church, and how that can help church leaders wanting to prioritise church health

23/10/2026

What percentage of church goers actually invite others to church?
Watch the full podcast on Youtube at Alpha Australia

20/10/2026

Ruth Powell shares the key finding from research on evangelism in this clip from the Alpha Chat Podcast with Ben Higgins, and Skip Smith. See the full podcast hosted by Alpha here: https://youtu.be/rEEz3jstWtc?si=7hGCW4P10rNDPO67

18/10/2026

Which denomination is most enthusiastic about inviting people to church?

Are you surprised by the answer?

At NCLS we take decades of research and look at the trends in attender views, and provide reports for the church community to benefit from; like this report on Faith Sharing, Discipleship, and Evangelism. This report describes how churchgoers, leaders and local churches create a culture of evangelism and faith sharing, and reach out to their community

Follow along for more information!

14/10/2026

Women in Church Leadership

Across Australia’s major denominations, our research shows that a strong majority of everyday church attenders — both men and women — support the ordination of women as ministers, pastors or priests,.

This is just one of the many questions we’ll be exploring in the 2026 NCLS — will your church take part?

05/10/2026

Safeguarding children and vulnerable people matters.

For the past decade, the National Church Life Survey has been tracking safeguarding in Australian churches. Between 2016 and 2021, we saw encouraging improvements in policies, procedures, training and leaders’ awareness of how to raise safeguarding concerns.

The 2026 NCLS gives us the opportunity to see what has changed five years on — and, importantly, to hear from church attenders about their own awareness and experiences of safety.

Through our Child Attender Survey (ages 8–14), churches can also hear directly from children about how safe they feel, who they can turn to for support, and whether church leaders listen to their experiences and ideas.

Because creating safer churches starts with listening.

29/09/2026

The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation to the Australian people from First Nations Australians. An invitation, “to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future”.

In order to walk together, you need a relationship.

How many church attenders have relationships with First Nations people?

Sign up to the 2026 NCLS and have your voice heard

26/09/2026

The Uluru Statement from the Heart invites all Australians to “walk with us … for a better future.”

But what does that look like in practice?

How connected are Australians with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples? How often do we share life, relationships and community? And where do we stand on treaty-making and truth-telling?

In the 2026 Australian Community Survey, just over half (53%) said they know First Nations people, while 16% said they regularly mix with First Nations people in their day-to-day lives.

Now, we want to hear from Australian church attenders.

As part of the 2026 National Church Life Survey, we’re asking the same questions to better understand how Australian churches are engaging with First Nations peoples.

Your voice matters. Take part in the survey and help us understand what walking together looks like in Australia today.

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