About 1 out of every 4 clergy (24 per cent) believe their church is very involved in social or moral issues, such as supporting or opposing abortion, gay marriage, or gambling. Interestingly, while an equal proportion are not very involved in these issues, only 3 per cent of all clergy say their church actively tries to avoid social or moral issues.
An even lower proportion - 15 per cent - is very involved in social justice issues such as poverty, homelessness, racism, or immigration. But again, while 37 per cent are not very involved, few churches (3 per cent) actively avoid involvement in these issues.
Clergy tend to see their churches as relatively uninvolved in politics or political issues. 7 per cent are very involved in national politics, and 6 per cent in local politics. In fact, it is more common for churches to actively avoid political involvement (12 per cent for national politics and 11 per cent for local politics) than to be actively involved in political issues.
The tested area with the lowest level of involvement was environmental issues. Just 3 per cent of clergy feel their church is very involved in these issues, with 20 per cent somewhat involved, 65 per cent not very involved, and 12 per cent actively avoiding environmental issues.
There are dramatic differences in what churches are involved in according to whether they are from an evangelical or mainline denomination. Mainline churches are more likely than their evangelical counterparts to be very involved in social justice issues (23 per cent to 10 per cent), and to be either very or somewhat involved in environmental issues (37 per cent to 14 per cent).
However, evangelical churches are more likely than mainline churches to be very involved in study of the Bible (84 per cent to 61 per cent), personal morality issues (71 per cent to 40 per cent), overseas missions and evangelism (49 per cent to 20 per cent), local evangelism and missions (44 per cent to 20 per cent), personal finance issues (31 per cent to 18 per cent), social and moral issues (26 per cent to 14 per cent), and domestic evangelism and missions (25 per cent to 13 per cent). There are not large differences between evangelical and mainline churches, only on political issues at both the national and local level.
Broken down by specific denominational groups, there are even greater differences. For example, 89 per cent of Pentecostal clergy say their church is very involved in study of the Bible, compared to just 55 per cent among Methodist clergy. Forty-four per cent of Southern Baptist clergy report being very involved in local missions and evangelism, versus just 17 per cent among Lutherans. And 24 per cent of Methodist pastors say their church is very involved in social justice issues, compared to only 8 per cent of Southern Baptist pastors.
The people in the pews tend to perceive their church as being more involved in various issues than do the people in the pulpits. Pastors and laity have similar perceptions about their church's involvement in study of the Bible, overseas evangelism and missions, and national and local politics. But laity are more likely than clergy to say their church is very involved in personal morality issues (70 per cent to 62 per cent), local evangelism and missions (50 per cent to 37 per cent), personal finance issues (45 per cent to 28 per cent), domestic evangelism and missions (41 per cent to 23 per cent), social justice (31 per cent to 15 per cent), and environmental issues (11 per cent to 3 per cent).
Among laity, denominational differences are present, but not nearly to the extent they are among ministers. Essentially, laity of all denominations see their church as fairly involved in many issues, while pastors have widely divergent views of their church's involvement according to their denominational membership.
For instance, on the issue of personal morality, perceived high levels of involvement by clergy range from 86 per cent among Pentecostal pastors all the way down to 32 per cent among Methodists (a gap of 54 points), while among laity, the range is from a high of 76 per cent among those in non-denominational congregations to a low of 62 per cent among Methodists (a gap of just 14 points).
Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, noted that these findings suggest laity may have a view of how involved their church is that is based in assumptions, rather than reality.
"The consistency of laity responses among different denominational groups, and the frequent belief among laity that their church is more involved in various issues than their pastor believes it is, both suggest that lay people may be making evaluations of their church's involvement that are based on assumptions or guesswork," Sellers explained. "Clergy are in a position to know much more about what is actually happening throughout the whole church, while lay people often are involved just in certain areas or activities."
Sellers also noted that this lack of real awareness of what the church is involved in may hinder ministers who want to increase the church's involvement in a particular issue.
"If the pastor wants to get the church more involved in social justice issues, for example, and the congregation already has the assumption that the church is involved, they'll have little motivation to support further involvement," he advised. "It's important that the congregation understand what's really going on in the church, and what the church is actually doing or not doing, if the clergy wants to increase involvement in a particular area."
