Our Purpose

The Christian Research Association was formed in 1985 to serve the churches of Australia. Its task is to provide up-to-date and reliable information about religious faith and church life in Australia.

Our Supporters

The Christian Research Association is directly supported by the following organisations which have members on its board:

• The Anglican Diocese of Brisbane
• The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne
• The Assemblies of God
• Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference
• Baptist Union of Victoria
• Council for Christian Education in Schools (Vic)
• The Interchurch Trade and Industry Mission
• Lutheran Church Australia
• Prahran Mission
• Salvation Army (Southern Territory)
• Seventh-day Adventists
• Uniting Church, Synod of New South Wales
• Uniting Church, Synod of Victoria
• World Vision of Australia.

What We Do

The Christian Research Association has several aspects to its work:

1. Major research projects - often using national surveys, as determined by the Board; (the results of these are usually published, see for example, Believe It or Not, Religion in Australia: Facts and Figures, and Australian life and the Christian Faith: Facts and Figures). From 2003 to 2006, the major project of the CRA is a study of how young people put their lives together and the role that religion and/or spirituality has in that process.
2. Overview of research on religion and church-life in Australia, primarily through
   Pointers, a quarterly bulletin of reports of research.
3. Contract research for individual churches, denominational bodies, and other church-related organisations.
4. Reports for local areas using the latest Census data plus data from other sources. We produce reports which include data and interpretation for churches, schools, welfare and other organisations for any area in Australia.