Overview
What areas would today’s Christians like to improve upon? We surveyed 200 believers on the research platform Prolific to find out. Each person surveyed listed 5 areas that they would like to improve upon, for a total of 1,000 areas for improvement.
We then manually examined these lists, tagging each entry with keywords that depict the overarching area of improvement. This resulting keyword list was then plugged into a word cloud generator—a visual depiction of how many times each word is mentioned—to provide a visual representation of what areas today’s Christians would like to improve upon. The results were then tabulated into a bar chart to provide a quantitative summary of the Top 20 improvement areas. Both figures are presented below.
We then manually examined these lists, tagging each entry with keywords that depict the overarching area of improvement. This resulting keyword list was then plugged into a word cloud generator—a visual depiction of how many times each word is mentioned—to provide a visual representation of what areas today’s Christians would like to improve upon. The results were then tabulated into a bar chart to provide a quantitative summary of the Top 20 improvement areas. Both figures are presented below.
Christians’ Self-Reported Areas for Improvement
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Results
Three areas for improvement were listed frequently, including praying more, going to church, and reading the Bible. Some of their frequency may be due to how closely associated these three areas are to religion in general, and thus may come to mind more easily. But this close association can be traced back to the importance of these three areas to the Christian faith for centuries.
Another key theme to emerge was Christ’s command to love others. This surfaces in keywords such as “Help Others,” “Volunteering,” “Service,” and “Love Others.” When combined, the count of these keywords equals the count of those for reading the Bible, tying for 3rd in our ranked list.
Similarly, respondents listed financial giving as an important area for improvement. Participants frequently listed keywords such as “Giving” and “Tithing” (i.e., giving to the church), which when combined rank 5th on our list, just below reading the Bible and helping others.
Relationship with God was another important area that respondents sought to improve upon. This included the direct mentioning of one’s relationship with God, as well as strengthening one’s faith. It could also conceivably include prayer and reading the Bible, the two-way street of communication with God.
Following that logic, extending one’s relationship with God to others was commonly listed, albeit split along two lines—with fellow believers and non-believers. Fellowship with fellow believers was listed frequently, as was evangelism, sharing the good news of Christ with non-believers. Additionally, other social groups like family and community were mentioned as groups with whom respondents would like to improve relationships.
Finally, respondents listed a variety of improvement areas relating to specific virtues, or specific commandments for godly living. For example, kindness, forgiveness, patience, honesty, tolerance, learning, listening, and self-control, among others.
Another key theme to emerge was Christ’s command to love others. This surfaces in keywords such as “Help Others,” “Volunteering,” “Service,” and “Love Others.” When combined, the count of these keywords equals the count of those for reading the Bible, tying for 3rd in our ranked list.
Similarly, respondents listed financial giving as an important area for improvement. Participants frequently listed keywords such as “Giving” and “Tithing” (i.e., giving to the church), which when combined rank 5th on our list, just below reading the Bible and helping others.
Relationship with God was another important area that respondents sought to improve upon. This included the direct mentioning of one’s relationship with God, as well as strengthening one’s faith. It could also conceivably include prayer and reading the Bible, the two-way street of communication with God.
Following that logic, extending one’s relationship with God to others was commonly listed, albeit split along two lines—with fellow believers and non-believers. Fellowship with fellow believers was listed frequently, as was evangelism, sharing the good news of Christ with non-believers. Additionally, other social groups like family and community were mentioned as groups with whom respondents would like to improve relationships.
Finally, respondents listed a variety of improvement areas relating to specific virtues, or specific commandments for godly living. For example, kindness, forgiveness, patience, honesty, tolerance, learning, listening, and self-control, among others.
Demographic Comparisons
We also had respondents answer a few demographic survey questions at the end of the activity to test whether listing certain improvement areas differed between groups of people. Specifically, participants reported their gender, age, how important religion is to them, religious denomination, frequency of church attendance, and frequency of prayer, and political beliefs.
To test for statistically significant differences in the number of times each of the top 10 improvement areas was listed between people of different groups, we used Chi-squared tests of independence. This test is commonly used to measure differences between two categorical variables, such as gender (e.g., Female = 1, Male = 0) and whether or not “Church” was listed as an area for improvement (e.g., listed = 1, not listed = 0). For example, if women listed prayer far more frequently than men, the Chi-square statistic would be large and its corresponding probability value, or “p-value,” would be small. If the p-value is less than 0.05, we consider the difference statistically significant (i.e,. reliable) and not simply an artifact of sampling chance. Significant differences are highlighted in yellow in the tables below. To measure the size of those differences, we use a standardized statistic called “Cramer’s V,” (0.1 = small, 0.3 = medium, 0.5 = large).
It is important to note that groups listing an improvement area more or less than another group are not necessarily worse or better in those areas. For example, someone who prays daily may list prayer as an area of improvement because they believe they should pray both in the morning and in the evening, while someone who prays less frequently may be content with their prayer habits or chose to list five higher-priority areas despite still wanting to also improve prayer down the road.
To test for statistically significant differences in the number of times each of the top 10 improvement areas was listed between people of different groups, we used Chi-squared tests of independence. This test is commonly used to measure differences between two categorical variables, such as gender (e.g., Female = 1, Male = 0) and whether or not “Church” was listed as an area for improvement (e.g., listed = 1, not listed = 0). For example, if women listed prayer far more frequently than men, the Chi-square statistic would be large and its corresponding probability value, or “p-value,” would be small. If the p-value is less than 0.05, we consider the difference statistically significant (i.e,. reliable) and not simply an artifact of sampling chance. Significant differences are highlighted in yellow in the tables below. To measure the size of those differences, we use a standardized statistic called “Cramer’s V,” (0.1 = small, 0.3 = medium, 0.5 = large).
It is important to note that groups listing an improvement area more or less than another group are not necessarily worse or better in those areas. For example, someone who prays daily may list prayer as an area of improvement because they believe they should pray both in the morning and in the evening, while someone who prays less frequently may be content with their prayer habits or chose to list five higher-priority areas despite still wanting to also improve prayer down the road.
Demographic Results
Overall, we noted that groups were more similar than different, averaging about 2-3 statistically significant differences per demographic or behavioral comparison, and an absolute difference of about 8 percentage points per improvement area across all groups. Where groups did differ on improvement areas listed, those differences were small-to-medium in size, about 10-20 percentage points.
The most different groups were Protestants vs. Catholics with 5 improvement areas listed significantly more or less relative to each other. Whereas Protestants were more likely to seek improvement on reading the bible, evangelism, and fellowship, Catholics were more likely to seek improvement on giving and helping others.
Younger vs. Older respondents also differed quite a bit in their improvement areas, with 4 areas listed significantly more or less relative to each other. Younger respondents were more likely to list praying, attending church, fellowship, and kindness as areas for improvement, relative to older respondents who listed those less frequently.
The following sections provide statistical tables that highlight any significant differences in listing the top 10 improvement areas between each group.
The most different groups were Protestants vs. Catholics with 5 improvement areas listed significantly more or less relative to each other. Whereas Protestants were more likely to seek improvement on reading the bible, evangelism, and fellowship, Catholics were more likely to seek improvement on giving and helping others.
Younger vs. Older respondents also differed quite a bit in their improvement areas, with 4 areas listed significantly more or less relative to each other. Younger respondents were more likely to list praying, attending church, fellowship, and kindness as areas for improvement, relative to older respondents who listed those less frequently.
The following sections provide statistical tables that highlight any significant differences in listing the top 10 improvement areas between each group.
