Faith Community Research Reports

For 50 years, Search Institute has been a leader in studying young people’s engagement in faith communities. The following research reports are available for free download (PDF format). Please note that they may be difficult to read on your screen (because of the scanning process), but are quite legible when printed.

Is There Common Ground? An Exploratory Study of the Interests and Needs of Community-Based and Faith-Based Youth Workers (2007)

Conducted with the National Collaboration for Youth and supported by Lilly Endowment, this study examined the possibilities and challenges of building bridges between community-based and faith-based youth workers in the United States. Among other questions, it asked about the priority they place on spiritual development as well as their interest in training and professional development related to spiritual development. Download the report, or see a “fast fact” that focuses on the spiritual development findings in the survey.

Building Assets, Strengthening Faith: Results from a Field Test Survey (2003)

How well are congregations nurturing faith and building assets with children, youth, and families? This report offers insights into this question, based on surveys of 1,500 youth and adults in 15 U.S. congregations. The report highlights perceptions of the congregations’ strengths, challenges, and areas of impact. It addresses congregational opportunities for children and youth, opportunities for families, intergenerational opportunities, and community engagement. Youth and adults both rated opportunities for children and youth as areas of strength, and community engagement and family support as challenges.

Uniting Congregations for Youth Development

With generous support from the DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund, Search Institute developed Uniting Congregations for Youth Development (UCYD) to help direct this growing energy toward positive youth development. This four-year initiative (1995-1999) tested models, tools, and approaches for equipping religious leaders from many faiths to build Developmental Assets.

Youth Development in Congregations: An Exploration of Potential and Barriers (1995)

This report synthesized the knowledge about the potential of congregations for nurturing youth development through the lens of Developmental Assets.

The Attitudes and Needs of Religious Youth Workers (1995)

This study of 500 religious youth workers in seven communities examined their goals for youth work, their interests in training and resources, and their openness to interfaith engagement.

Shema: Listening to Jewish Youth (1995)

Based on an in-depth survey of Jewish youth in Minneapolis, this report examines factors in school, family, synagogue, and community life that are associated with issues of identity and continuity for Jewish youth.

Youth in Protestant Churches (1993)

Using data from the Effective Christian Education study, this special report provided in-depth statistics on the faith life, congregational experience, and family life of youth in Protestant congregations.

Effective Christian Education: A National Study of Protestant Congregations—Summary Report (1990)

This landmark study examines the faith maturity of youth and adults in six Protestant denominations [Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Presbyterian Church (USA); Southern Baptist Convention; United Church of Christ; and the United Methodist Church)and factors in congregational and personal life that are associated with growth in faith maturity.