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THE PATMOS WORLD BIBLE ATTITUDES SURVEY
The Patmos World Bible Attitudes Survey, undertaken by the British and Foreign Bible Society in partnership with Gallup, is the largest Bible engagement research project ever. It provides world-class data to establish a new understanding of how people relate to the Bible.
150
COUNTRIES ANALYSED
89
LANGUAGES
91,000
PEOPLE SURVEYED
PATMOS – A SHARED IMAGINATION
The roots of this vision date back 2,000 years to the island of Patmos. It was here, the Bible tells us, that seven short letters were written to churches in seven distinct contexts, revealing a deeper insight into their spiritual condition.
The encouragement and challenges of those piercing insights continue to agitate the imagination of many communities to this day. Similarly, we hope that the missiological and audience insights from The Patmos Survey will shape a shared imagination and framework for mission. This shared framework will enable collaboration and innovation for generations to come, so that the whole world can encounter the Bible.
Get your copy of the full Patmos report
In the report, we would like to draw your attention to Cluster 5, which is particularly relevant to our Scottish context.
This cluster, described as “a secular context with low interest in learning more about the Bible and a declining Christian population,” strongly resonates with the realities we face in Scotland.
Cluster 5 encompasses economically developed, historically Christian countries in Europe, North America, and Australasia, where the Christian identity has been in decline. Here are some key findings about people in this cluster:
40% indicate religion is important part of their daily life, which is less than half of the global average.
62% think there is probably or definitely a God or a higher power.
53% identify as Christian.
While there are clear challenges in such a secular context, the research highlights many great opportunities to share the Bible. You can learn more about the key findings here – patmos.bfbs.org/PatmosCluster5
Through the Patmos Initiative, Scottish Bible Society has received data specifically about Scotland and the UK.
We are doing a deep-analysis of the data to develop key insights for Scotland, expected to be released in the new year.
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