2026 Empower and Equip Survey

Following the analysis of data from the National Survey of Churches of Christ and the Ministers’ Salary Survey, we found a need to learn more about churches in rural areas and small towns. Specifically, we are interested in how Churches of Christ currently navigate their ministries and programs for congregational health, their degree of engagement and collaboration among the local communities, and the leadership support for those congregations. 

To gather this information, we designed a survey specifically for churches in rural areas and small towns. In November 2025, we launched an electronic survey and emailed it to a list of just under 1,000 Churches of Christ. We also included a link to the survey in the Siburt Institute for Church Ministry's monthly newsletter and posted it on their social media accounts. In late December, we added a mailed questionnaire option to our data collection. We sent paper surveys to 974 Churches of Christ. In total, we received responses from 192 individuals; of those, 152 surveys were complete and included in the analyses reported here. Unless otherwise noted, the total number of congregations is 152 for all charts and graphs.