my questions survey january 2011 on calvinist and arminian beliefs

My Questions surveyJanuary 2011

on Calvinist and Arminian Beliefs

Survey of 1,002 Protestant Pastors

2

Methodology• The telephone survey of Protestant pastors was

conducted January 17-27, 2011• The calling list was randomly drawn from a list of all

Protestant churches. Up to six calls were made to reach a sampled phone number

• Each interview was conducted with the senior pastor, minister or priest of the church called

• Quotas were used to maintain an accurate size distribution of Protestant churches

• Responses were weighted within the size groups to reflect the geographic distribution of Protestant churches

3

Methodology continued

• The completed sample is 1,002 phone interviews• The sample provides 95% confidence that the sampling

error does not exceed + 3.2%• Margins of error are higher in sub-groups

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Summary of the strongest opinions among pastors about personally being Calvinist or Arminian

I am theologically reformed or Calvinist.I am theologically Arminian or Wesleyan.

• 29% are strongly neither (strongly disagree with both the Calvinist and Arminian labels)

• 12% are strongly Arminian (strongly agree to being theologically Arminian and strongly disagree to being Calvinist)

• 10% are strongly Calvinist (strongly agree to being theologically Calvinist and strongly disagree to being Arminian)

• 4% are strongly confused (strongly agree to being both theologically Calvinist and Arminian)

Among Protestant Pastors

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“I am theologically reformed or a Calvinist.”

For the following questions, please tell me whether you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree.

Strongly Disagree Somewhat Disagree

Somewhat Agree Strongly Agree0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

50%

15% 15% 17%

Not sure 4%


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• No significant differences exist by pastor age, pastor education, region, and whether the pastor indicates they are Evangelical or Mainline.

• Pastors of churches with average worship attendance of 250 or more are more likely than those in churches with attendance of 100-249 to strongly disagree they are Calvinist (57% compared to 47%).

Differences by sub-groups of Protestant pastors

“I am theologically reformed or a Calvinist.”

7

“I am theologically Arminian or Wesleyan.”




20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

49%

11% 15%22%

Not sure 4%


8

• No significant differences exist by pastor education, region, and whether the pastor indicates they are Evangelical or Mainline.

• Pastors under age 45 are more likely than other age groups to strongly disagree they are Arminian (55%)

• Pastors of churches with average worship attendance of 100-249 (14%) are less likely than those in churches with attendance under 50 (27%) and 50-99 (28%) to strongly agree they are Arminian.


“I am theologically Arminian or Wesleyan.”

9

“My church is theologically reformed or Calvinist.”




20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

54%

13% 16% 13%

Not sure 4%


10

• No significant differences exist by pastor age, pastor education, church size, region, and whether the pastor indicates they are Evangelical or Mainline.


“My church is theologically reformed or Calvinist.”

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Comparison of Calvinist pastors and whether they describe their church as theologically reformed.

I am theologically reformed or a Calvinist.My church is theologically reformed or Calvinist.

• Among pastors who strongly agree they are personally theologically Calvinist, 64% strongly agree and 26% somewhat agree their church is theologically reformed.

• Among pastors who somewhat agree they are personally theologically Calvinist, 10% strongly agree and 67% somewhat agree their church is theologically reformed.

• Among pastors who strongly agree their church is reformed, 85% strongly agree they personally are theologically Calvinist.


12

“My church is theologically Arminian or Wesleyan.”




20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

48%

11%17% 20%

Not sure 4%


13

• No significant differences exist by pastor age, pastor education, region, and whether the pastor indicates they are Evangelical or Mainline.

• Pastors of churches with average worship attendance of 100-249 (14%) are less likely than those in churches with attendance under 50 (25%) and 50-99 (26%) to strongly agree their church is theologically Arminian.


“My church is theologically Arminian or Wesleyan.”

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Comparison of Arminian pastors and whether they describe their church as theologically Arminian.

I am theologically Arminian or Wesleyan.My church is theologically Arminian or Wesleyan.

• Among pastors who strongly agree they personally are theologically Arminian, 84% strongly agree and 14% somewhat agree their church is theologically Arminian.

• Among pastors who somewhat agree they are personally theologically Arminian, 9% strongly agree and 77% somewhat agree their church is theologically Arminian.

• Among pastors who strongly agree their church is Arminian, 90% strongly agree they are personally theologically Arminian.


15

“It diminishes God’s sovereignty to invite all persons to repent and believe.”




20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

82%

5% 2%10%

Not sure 2%


16

• No significant differences exist by region and whether the pastor indicates they are Evangelical or Mainline.

• Pastors age 65+ are more likely than other age groups to strongly agree (21%) and less likely to strongly disagree (72%) that it diminishes God’s sovereignty to invite all persons to repent and believe.

• Pastors with some college or less education are more likely than other age groups to strongly agree (21%) and less likely to strongly disagree (70%).

• Pastors of churches with average worship attendance under 50 (16%) are more likely than those in churches with attendance of 100-249 (8%) and 250+ (8%) to strongly agree.

Differences by sub-groups of Protestant Pastors

“It diminishes God’s sovereignty to invite all persons to repent and believe.”

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“God predestines some people to salvation before the foundation of the world, and predestines some to damnation.”




20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

75%

9% 8% 5%

Not sure 2%


18

• No patterns of clear differences exist by pastor education, church size and whether the pastor indicates they are Evangelical or Mainline.

• Pastors in the Northeast are more likely to strongly disagree that God predestines than pastors in the South (84% compared to 71%).

• Pastors age 65+ (1%) are less likely than those ages 55-64 (6%) or under age 45 (7%) to strongly agree.


“God predestines some people to salvation before the foundation of the world, and predestines some to damnation.”

19

“Christ died only for the elect, not for everyone in the world.”




20%

40%

60%

80%

100%89%

3% 3% 4%

Not sure 1%


20

• No significant differences exist by pastor age, pastor education, church size, and whether the pastor indicates they are Evangelical or Mainline.

• Pastors in the Northeast (7%) are more likely than those in the Midwest (2%) or West (1%) to strongly agree that Christ died only for the elect.


“Christ died only for the elect, not for everyone in the world.”

21

“God loves only the elect, not everyone in the world.”




20%

40%

60%

80%

100% 96%

2% 1% 0%

Not sure 0%


22

• No significant differences exist by pastor age, pastor education, church size, region, and whether the pastor indicates they are Evangelical or Mainline.


“God loves only the elect, not everyone in the world.”

23

“I am a five-point Calvinist.”




20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

78%

8% 4% 6%

Not sure 4%


24

• No patterns of clear differences exist by pastor age, pastor education, region, and whether the pastor indicates they are Evangelical or Mainline.

• Pastors of churches with average worship attendance under 50 are less likely than those in churches with attendance 250+ to strongly disagree they are a 5-point Calvinist (72% compared to 83%).


“I am a five-point Calvinist.”

25

“A person can, after becoming a Christian, reject Christ and lose their salvation.”




20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

34%

10%16%

38%

Not sure 3%


26

• No patterns of clear differences exist by pastor age, pastor education, region, and whether the pastor indicates they are Evangelical or Mainline.

• Pastors of churches with average worship attendance of 50-99 are more likely to strongly agree a person can lose their salvation than those with attendance of 100-249 (44% compared to 34%).

• Pastors of churches with average worship attendance of 50-99 (25%) are less likely to strongly disagree than those in churches with attendance under 50 (37%) or 100-249 (39%).


“A person can, after becoming a Christian, reject Christ and lose their salvation.”

27

“God is the true evangelist and when he calls someone to himself, his grace is irresistible.”




20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

27%20% 19%

31%

Not sure 3%


28

• No significant differences exist by pastor age, region, and whether the pastor indicates they are Evangelical or Mainline.

• Pastors with some college or less education (26%) are less likely than pastors with a Doctorate degree (37%) to strongly agree.

• Pastors with some college or less education (33%) are more likely to strongly disagree that God is the true evangelist than pastors with a Bachelor’s degree (22%).

• Pastors of churches with average worship attendance of 50-99 (27%) are less likely to strongly agree than those with attendance of 100-249 (35%)

• Pastors of churches under 50 (12%) are less likely to somewhat agree than other church sizes; pastors of churches 100-249 (16%) are less likely to somewhat disagree than other church sizes.


“God is the true evangelist and when he calls someone to himself, his grace is irresistible.”

29

“People become Christians NOT because they first put their trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord; God makes them Christians first, and then they believe in Christ.”




20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

53%

17% 13% 12%

Not sure 6%


30

• No significant differences exist by whether the pastor indicates they are Evangelical or Mainline.

• Pastors age 65+ are more likely than those ages 55-64 to strongly agree God makes people Christians (61% compared to 51%).

• Pastors with some college or less education are more likely than pastors with a Doctorate degree to strongly disagree (61% compared to 48%).

• Pastors in the South (47%) are less likely to strongly disagree than pastors in the Midwest (56%) and West (62%).

• Pastors of churches with average worship attendance under 50 have significantly different responses than those with attendance of 100-249: they are less likely to strongly agree (8% compared to 14%) and more likely to strongly disagree (60% compared to 50%).


“People become Christians NOT because they first put their trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord; God makes them Christians first, and then they believe in Christ.”

Survey of 1,002 Protestant Pastors

My Questions surveyJanuary 2011

on Calvinist and Arminian Beliefs

my questions survey january 2011 on calvinist and arminian beliefs

Documents

pastors of churches

pastor age

pastor education

arminian beliefssurvey

arminian labels12

age groups

senior pastor

significant differences