Evangelical Alliance Northern Ireland (EANI), which the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s (PCI) Council for Mission in Ireland is a member of, released a new report this week that revealed that 50 per cent of people in Northern Ireland describe themselves as a practising Christian and one in five consider themselves to be evangelical.

Launched at the Mac in Belfast today, the results of the survey revealed a stark contrast with the 2021 census of England and Wales. The census revealed that less than half of the population there would describe themselves as Christian and more would class themselves as having no religion, other than being Christian.

Talking about the report, David Smyth, head of Evangelical Alliance in Northern Ireland, said, “We always suspected that the Christian faith continued to play an important role in life here and this research confirms high levels of religious identification and practice. The findings in this report have challenged, surprised and encouraged us!

“However, we are aware that evangelicals are often perceived negatively in the media. Our research confirms this, but also affirms that when people know us personally their responses are much more positive. Evangelicals show up at church, but also in their local communities and care deeply about wider society. Evangelical Christians are just like our neighbours in many respects, but are understandably distinctive in many ways too.”

Mr Smyth concluded by saying, “Our hope is that this report helps those in government and media understand us and religiosity in Northern Ireland better. Our prayer is that some might even explore this Good News God that so many people here follow!”

The Report found that:

• One in every two people in Northern Ireland describe themselves as a practising Christian.
• 40% of practising Christians, that is one in five people in Northern Ireland, consider themselves to be an ‘evangelical Christian’
• 38% of practising Catholics also consider themselves to be evangelical Christians.
• Each week in Northern Ireland; 35% of people pray, 23% of people go to church and 13% of people read the Bible
• Over 80% of the general population agree or strongly agree that more effort is required when it comes to encouraging peace and reconciliation and that now is the time to reform the Northern Ireland Assembly to bring about more stability and accountability.

EANI serves and represents churches, organisations and individuals across Northern Ireland, encouraging churches to work together in evangelism and social action. As part of their passion for advocacy EANI offer a prophetic and evangelical voice to those at Stormont and in the media.

Former Moderator, Very Reverend Dr David Bruce, who served for many years as Secretary to PCI’s Board for Mission in Ireland and its successor Council, was a founding board member of EANI, and spoke at the launch.

Dr Bruce explained that Evangelical Christians across the world had long searched for categories to describe themselves. He referenced Emeritus Professor of History at University of Stirling, David Bebbington, and his ‘quadrilateral’ that was mentioned in report. Professor Bebbington names four key identifiers of evangelical life, which are the Bible, the Cross, the rebirth and Christian social activism.

Dr Bruce also spoke about how the report hinted at the prospect of greater community cohesion, “…with people from all Christian traditions on this island, irrespective of their denominational affiliations, being ready to describe themselves in this [evangelical] way.”

The former Moderator went on to say that, “I too was surprised at the numbers. We don’t know what lies ahead of us in Ireland – but we can confidently say that the Ireland of our grandchildren will not resemble the Ireland of our grandparents. In the providence of God, the evangelicalism of our grandchildren and their children will carry the same passion for God’s Word, the same confidence in the Cross as the locus of our redemption, the same transformative power demonstrated in a converted life and the same unrelenting commitment to social activism which makes society more compassionate.”

He concluded by saying, “It is my continuing prayer that a mature evangelicalism will find its home in all parts of this island, unthreatened by difference and with the same zeal, will continue to witness that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

You an download a copy of the report from the Evangelical Alliance’s website here.