At the start of the academic year of 2022, we started surveying students to try to get a sense of what values they have, what drives them and how they feel about the world they live in. The survey turned out to be an incredible tool for creating missional opportunities to share the Gospel with students and invite them to church.
We surveyed over 1,200 students and found that 74% of non-christians would go to church if a friend invited them. On top of that, 73% of non-christian students were open to hearing the story of Jesus. This generation is spiritually open. There is so much opportunity out there to invite students to know more about Jesus. The survey has highlighted the desire among students to explore faith and new ideas, they are just waiting to be invited!
“Amazing survey! I’m in my lecture and asked a friend to fill it in and for the question that said ‘do you know the story of Jesus?’ she said no and asked me to tell her!” - Libby, Student Reading.
The churches we've surveyed with have also told us about how their students' confidence is rising for what God is doing in this generation. As a result, we've created some resources to support churches in confidently using the survey in their locations. These resources share our best practices and pieces of advice for how to make the most out of a conversation using the survey. There are also sections to help you think about equipping your students/student team to use the survey as well. Lastly, the resources are aimed at helping you think about what happens after a survey is complete and how to take the conversation further.
We will close this year's survey at the end of May as students head home for the summer - now is your chance to get out on campus. Get an afternoon in the diary to gather some students, get your head around the survey and get out on campus. There are students waiting to be invited to church, and the year isn't over yet!
