The Christian Life Survey helps people see the spiritual centers, lifestyles, and Bible engagement approaches that define their spirituality. Administrations to tens of thousands of students at 46 different Christian colleges in the United States have allowed us to see the trends in the students’ spirituality and to track those trends across time. The trends have been consistent across the decade the Christian Life Survey has been used. To exemplify those trends, results from 2012 and 2014 are provided below.

The Christian Life Survey 2020-2021

Bible Approaches

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Spiritual Centers

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Spiritual Lifestyles

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Older Results

The 2014-2015 Christian Life Survey was administered on 25 Christian college campuses fall of 2014. Reporting to the colleges was completed by the end of April 2015.

The results provided here are for 6,074 full-time, traditional age, traditional program respondents from the 22 colleges that provided appropriate information for data weighting.

Results
Students’ religious self-identifications: Bible-believing, born again, nondenominational Brief
Students’ views of the Bible: Authoritative, contextual, nuanced Brief
Students’ relation of self to others: God, family, and friends Brief
Students’ spiritual foci: God, others, Bible Brief
Students’ spiritual orientations: Connectedness, outreach, reflective Brief
Increasing focus on God Report
Increasing focus on others Report
Spiritual orientations Report
The Scripture engagement of students at Christian colleges Report

In March of 2013 we collected responses from over 4000 students at 13 Christian colleges. The online survey looks at a variety of aspects of their Christian identity, beliefs, and behaviors.

Survey Results for the 4,210 full-time, traditional-age students at Christian colleges:

Results
How do students religiously self-identify? Video (~3 min) PDF
What are students’ views of the Bible? Video (~3 min) PDF
Who do students believe have a right to make demands of them? Video (~3 min) PDF
Students’ focus on God, others, and the Bible Video (~4 min) PDF
Students’ spiritual orientations Video (~4 min) PDF
Report: Increasing focus on God   PDF
Report: Increasing focus on others   PDF
Report: The Scripture Engagement of Students at Christian Colleges   PDF

Older Results

The 2014-2015 Christian Life Survey was administered on 25 Christian college campuses fall of 2014. Reporting to the colleges was completed by the end of April 2015.

The results provided here are for 6,074 full-time, traditional age, traditional program respondents from the 22 colleges that provided appropriate information for data weighting.

Results
Students’ religious self-identifications: Bible-believing, born again, nondenominational Brief
Students’ views of the Bible: Authoritative, contextual, nuanced Brief
Students’ relation of self to others: God, family, and friends Brief
Students’ spiritual foci: God, others, Bible Brief
Students’ spiritual orientations: Connectedness, outreach, reflective Brief
Increasing focus on God Report
Increasing focus on others Report
Spiritual orientations Report
The Scripture engagement of students at Christian colleges Report

In March of 2013 we collected responses from over 4000 students at 13 Christian colleges. The online survey looks at a variety of aspects of their Christian identity, beliefs, and behaviors.

Survey Results for the 4,210 full-time, traditional-age students at Christian colleges:

Results
How do students religiously self-identify? Video (~3 min) PDF
What are students’ views of the Bible? Video (~3 min) PDF
Who do students believe have a right to make demands of them? Video (~3 min) PDF
Students’ focus on God, others, and the Bible Video (~4 min) PDF
Students’ spiritual orientations Video (~4 min) PDF
Report: Increasing focus on God   PDF
Report: Increasing focus on others   PDF
Report: The Scripture Engagement of Students at Christian Colleges   PDF