Background to the Research

• The theme of this report is the opportunities which churches provide for volunteering and participation both in various aspects of the life of the church and also in service, through the church, to the wider community.
• The research was conducted in Coleraine, the geographical area of the local District Council from Downhill and Portbllintrae in the north to Ashlamaduff and Drumimerick Hill in the south, a spread of 310 square kilometres with a population of 50,438 people.
• So far as it is known, this report is the first study in Ireland to consider and to evaluate the voluntary action work of churches.
  

Research Approach

• Within the Coleraine area, 90 worshipping groups were found, and their places of worship located with the help of local press, church directories, Ordinance Survey maps, informants, and by physically covering the ground.
• From the 90 groups found, three declined to be included, giving a return of 97%. Telephone interviews averaging 65 minutes were conducted using a structured interview schedule. In addition to this, five churches were invited to take part in a follow-up face to face interview.
  

Main Findings

• In all, the grand total of voluntary roles in connection with the main Sunday service of the 87 responding churches in the area, came to an estimated 1,922 - representing approximately 3,197 voluntary hours per week. The total number of worshippers attending the main service was a reported 15,000.
• The grand total of voluntary roles in leadership of the church-based groups and organisations came to some 2,047, representing approximately 3,662 reported voluntary hours per week.
• There were 1,025 people believed to be engaged in voluntary roles in pastoral visitation and care, giving an estimated total of 500 voluntary hours per week.
• Sixteen churches were operating parent and toddler groups. Twenty-three were engaged in significant work with unattached young people, five majoring in sporting activity.
• In terms of contact with government agencies or statutory groups, the Social Services, Probation Board, Education and Library Board, Department of the Environment and the Housing Executive were the most frequently mentioned.
• In connection with voluntary service overseas, 51% of the churches had members who had given time in, amongst other places, the United States, South America and the Caribbean, in Africa and India, in former Soviet Republics and satellite states, in China, Thailand, the Philippines and in France.

Conclusions

• When it came to measuring the churches' contribution to social well-being, what may be called 'public benefit' activity, in the form of time being given by volunteers to caring specifically for and about others in the community who were not church members, only 15% felt able to make any estimate.
• Further, it became a problem to disentangle voluntary effort on behalf of the life of the church from effort on behalf of the community, and to discern where the benefit was going.
• Without the presence, energies and imagination of the local churches, the social fabric of the area would be thinner, reserves of social capital would be depleted, and civil society would be the poorer.