Survey finds that 72% of Cavan people want to know God personally

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Survey finds that 72% of Cavan people want to know God personally

A recent survey around Cavan town has found that 72% of people would like to know God personally.
The survey was carried out door to door and on the streets during the last week in September and first week of October by volunteers wearing distinctive blue sweatshirts, drawn from a range of denominations in Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. They were mobilised by the charity, Through Faith Mission, and came at the invitation of Church of Ireland Bishop Ferran Glenfield of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh.

During the fortnight they were based at the Cavan Royal School and endeavoured to share a simple message of the Christian good news in door to door teams and engaging people in the town centre .The teams visited 891 homes where 128 people completed surveys, another 62 people completing surveys on the street.

The volunteers found that:

  • 61% of people believed in a personal God.
  • 26% believe we return to earth in another form after death
  • 19% believe we all go to heaven
  • 62% believe Jesus is the son of God
  • 10% believe he is a prophet or messenger of God
  • 80% of people have prayed at some time
  • 72% would like to know God personally.

Commenting on the findings, Rev Nick Jones, Rector of the Drung group of parishes, noted: “The survey seems to confirm the well know survey that even the atheist prays when in difficulty, with 80% saying they pray at some point in their life. However only 61% believe in a personal God.

“The most encouraging statistic for me was that 72% of people said that they would like to know God personally and the good news is that we can indeed know Him through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. “He walked this earth 2000 years ago and we have eye witness accounts telling us all about his life, death and resurrection.”  I would love to help anyone who wants to know Him personally, we run a course called Christianity Explored and everyone is welcome to join us, please get in contact if you have questions or would like more information about knowing God personally. We are currently running a Christianity Explored Course in the Ballyhaise Community Centre on Sundays at 4pm, which is open to everyone and where no questions are off limits. Thank-you to everyone for taking part in the survey.”
One of the TFM team leaders, David Bolton, added: “It was a real privilege to serve here in Cavan and our volunteers were so pleased at the warm and courteous welcome we received from almost everyone we met. I would also like to thank everyone who took the time to respond to our survey. We we very much encouraged to find that so many people still believe in a personal God, that Jesus is the only son of God and that so many people pray and are  interested in knowing God personally.”

The short gospel booklet handed out by the team, ‘Knowing God personally’ can be downloaded for free at;- www.agape.org.uk/Resources/gospeloutlines/Knowing%20God%20Personally.pdf

Further enquiries should be directed to Rev Nick Jones at [email protected]