Last chance to make yourself heard

The Church 2024 survey has been taken by some four thousand people and there is still time to take part and make your opinions known before the survey closes.

Initial looks at the data so far suggest there will be some important insights into a wide range of issues facing the Church. One of those is assisted dying, which has featured in public debates recently, and which may be subject to a change in legislation in the future.

The survey has several questions related to assisted dying. There are currently responses from about 2,500 from people in the Church of England, and less than a third (29%) said they were in favour of allowing assisted dying. Opposition may have practical and theological reasons: 65% agreed that there was too much risk of abuse, and 52% agreed that only God can give and take life. While we cannot be sure if the sample is truly representative of the whole of the Church of England, it does suggest a broadly conservative stance to change. We hope the survey will offer a baseline for understanding how opinion moves, or does not, in the coming years.

As well as assisted dying, other questions in the survey look at contemporary issues including artificial intelligence (AI), the environment, racial justice, and sexuality. The survey will run for a few more weeks, so now is the time to take part if you want your opinions to be recorded. The final results should enable decisions about doctrine, worship, ministry, and mission can draw on evidence from ministers and congregations at the grassroots.

Participation takes about 15-20 minutes, depending on your role in your church.

Most responses involve ticking boxes to indicate various things about you (such as denomination, country of residence, age etc.), your church life (are you ordained or a licensed minister, do you belong to groups, how often do you attend church etc.) and whether you agree or disagree with a range of ideas.

No information held from the survey will link records to particular individuals. You can see more details on the website (https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/the-church-24-survey) and you can take the survey by https://tinyurl.com/CH24ANG.

Please do all you can to spread the word about this survey. If you are writing a parish newsletter, please include the link. If you are writing an update for clergy please include this invitation. We would like to double the participation over the next few weeks.