• Survey
An annual national survey of congregations in Canada
Collaborators

CIECR, Crandall University

project type

National
Survey

Start date

January
2027

Overview

A comprehensive set of questions about the current state, health, diversity, and vitality of Canadian congregations in a period shaped by secularization, immigration, and changing patterns of religious participation.

The Canadian Congregations Study (CCS) is designed to become the first representative national study of congregations in Canada.

A defining feature of the project is its commitment to serving both academic research and religious practice.

The survey will be developed in consultation with scholars, denominational leaders, and religious organizations, with a shared core of questions that can support national analysis while also allowing participating denominations and faith communities to locate their own congregations within broader Canadian patterns.

The Canadian Congregations Study involves two different surveys that will be launched in 2 phases:

Phase 1: Key Informant Survey (beginning in 2027)

  • Our Key Informant Survey is designed to be completed by a congregation’s senior clergy leader or other well-informed staff member.
  • Participating clergy leaders will recieve a link to our final public-facing report which will allow them to determine where their congregations fit within this national picture.

Phase 2: Lay Survey (beginning in 2028)

  • We will offer a shorter Lay Survey for participating clergy leaders to pass on to their congregants after the clergy leader has completed our Key Informant Survey.
  • Clergy leaders will receive a report summarizing their congregants’ anonymized responses, provided that a minimum threshold of participation is reached.

Why a national survey?

Canadian Centric

Much of our congregational knowledge is based on data from the United States

Help us situate congregations in the broader Canadian religious landscape

Congregation Health and Vitality

Understand the strengths, gaps, and vulnerabilities of religious institutions in Canada

Integrate other administrative and demographic information about congregations' surrounding communities

Leadership Capacity

Discover the dynamics of clergy workload, including increasing bivocationality, satisfaction, and longevity

Explore the impact of demographics, education, and outlook on ministry life

Comprehensive Study

Create an empirical framework to study congregational change over time

Allow Canadian congregations to be indexed with similar studies in other countries, such as the United States, Australia, and Switzerland

Survey Themes

  • Congregation Demographics
  • Cooperation and Collaboration
  • Ministry and Programs
  • Attendance Trends
  • Financial Health
  • Volunteer Capacity
  • Community Engagement
  • Future Outlook
  • Openness to Change
  • Leadership
  • Mission
  • Values

KEEP ME INFORMED

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Do not worry, we will never spam you.

CONTACT US

Questions or concerns about this project?
Contact our research team at:   wycliffe.ciecr@utoronto.ca

Dr. Sam Reimer
Professor of Sociology, Crandall University

Dr. Stephen Hewko
Director of CIECR, Wycliffe College

Dr. Janelle Zeeb
Postdoctoral Researcher, Wycliffe College

Project Timeline

Publications

Watch for our national public-facing reports to be published here in September 2027.

Findings will also be communicated through denominational reports, academic research, presentations, practical resources, and a book intended for both scholarly and ministry audiences.

Partner With Us

If you are a leader or decision maker for a Canadian denomination, convention, association, or network of congregations:

  • Contact us before February 15, 2027 to enroll your congregations in the 2027 Canadian Congregations Survey.
  • Participating denominations, conventions, associations, and networks of congregations can add up to 5 extra optional customized survey questions for your clergy leaders to answer.
  • Receive a custom report that summarizes anonymized survey results from all your congregations and indexes them against the national average, as well as the anonymized responses to your 5 customized questions.
  • Help spread the news about our survey to other clergy leaders.
  • For the 2027 CCS Survey we are offering this work for free thanks to grant funding from the Louisville Institute and Lilly Foundation.

Our Data and Methods

The project builds on a major new research infrastructure created by CIECR.

Using publicly available Canada Revenue Agency T3010 data, CIECR has developed and cleaned a national database capable of distinguishing congregations from other charities and linking them to demographic and census information.

This makes it possible, for the first time, to draw a representative national sample of Canadian congregations and study them systematically.

From this data set, we will randomly select approximately 3000 Canadian congregations to ask to participate in our survey. Survey invitations will be sent out to selected congregations either via their publicly-listed email addresses, or by phone, beginning in January 2027.

We aim to develop partnerships with denominations and other religious networks to encourage and enable even more congregations to participate.

Following data collection, the research team will clean and analyze the survey data and integrate it, where appropriate, with existing administrative and demographic information.

Participating clergy members who indicate in our Key Informant Survey that they are open to having an interview with one of our research team may be contacted to explore their survey answers in greater depth and answer further qualitative questions about their opinions on ministry, congregational life, and more.

Frequently Asked Questions

For the first year of this study (2027) we are only inviting Christian congregations to participate. In future years we hope to expand this study to include congregations from more faith traditions across Canada.

Yes! Beginning in January 2027, links to our surveys in both English and French will be posted here on this project website for any Christian clergy leader in Canada to complete for his or her congregation until April 30, 2027.

Send us an email at wycliffe.ciecr@utoronto.ca before February 15, 2027 to tell us you’re interested in participating in this project, and we will arrange a meeting to give you more details.

No, in 2027 this work is free for all participating congregations and denominations, conventions, associations, or networks of congregations thanks to grant funding from the Louisville Institute and Lilly Foundation.

All participating clergy leaders will receive:

  • A link to our final public-facing national report summarizing all participating clergy leaders’ anonymized responses to our Key Informant Survey.
  • For those congregations which opt to complete the Phase 2 Lay Survey, a summary of their congregants’ anonymized responses, provided that a minimum threshold of participation is reached.

Leaders of participating denominations, conventions, associations, or networks of churches will receive:

  • A link to our final public-facing national report summarizing all participating clergy leaders’ anonymized responses to our Key Informant Survey.
  • A summary of all your participating clergy leaders’ anonymized responses to our Key Informant Survey indexed against the national average, as well as your clergy leaders’ anonymized answers to your 5 optional customized questions.