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Farmhouse-Living, Glastonbury-Going, Facebook-Networking, Highland-Dwelling… It’s Jesus 2.0
National Research Shows Move To Modern Day Living By Jesus 2008
Charity Donation Supports Rural Village Chapel

5th May 2008 Farmhouse-Living, Glastonbury-Going, Facebook-Networking, Highland-Dwelling… It’s Jesus 2.0

Research reveals public’s opinion on modern day Jesus

A farmhouse in the Scottish highlands is Jesus’ most likely home should He be house-hunting today, a national poll issued today ahead of next week’s National Christian Resources Exhibition at Sandown Park, Esher, has revealed.

The independent research of more than 1,500 people, on behalf of national Church and home insurance company Congregational & General, also shows that the public believe He would almost certainly choose a traditional, character property.

The top five responses to the question ‘In which type of property would Jesus be most likely to live in the UK today?’ showed a perceived opinion that He would adopt a rural lifestyle, with half (49.8 per cent) divided over whether His preferred choice would be farmhouse, cottage, log cabin or barn conversion with only inner city tower block (6.7 per cent) skewing the results.

In terms of location, Scotland was runaway favourite (28 per cent), beating London into second place (25 per cent) in response to the question ‘In which part of the UK would Jesus most likely settle today?’. It was followed by the Midlands (7.7 per cent), the Home Counties (6.7 per cent) and the South West (6.7 per cent).

Meanwhile, in an interesting observation on the British public’s fascination with all things celebrity, the majority believe that a music festival such as Glastonbury (35.3 per cent) would be the best medium for Jesus to reach His audience today, ahead of places of worship.

In fact, a national tour (30.2 per cent) was also deemed better than a place of worship (28.5 per cent), with social networking sites (26 per cent) fourth and a personal TV channel (23.3 per cent) ranked fifth.

Margaret Slater, Congregational’s Marketing Manager, said: “There is a definite trend that people think Jesus would choose a character property to live in, with four of the top five responses having that traditional, country feel.

“Scotland occupied two of the top five spots for where the public think He would settle in the UK, and the Scottish Highlands was cited as the favourite. This does seem to suggest that we think He would live a more rural existence, perhaps in a smaller community rather than a city environment.

“It is interesting that of the 1,500 people polled from across the UK from varied age groups and social demographics, a festival like Glastonbury, or a national tour, were deemed the best way of Jesus reaching His audience.

“What is probably no surprise is the use of social media, which is so de rigueur among those looking to raise their profile, reach new people, or hook up with like-minded individuals.”

“What is interesting is that in a time of falling Church attendances and some cynicism regarding the role of the Church today, 28.5 per cent of respondents thought a place of worship would be the best medium for Jesus to reach His audience today.”

Finally, when it comes to His social networking preferences, the British public is in no doubt of the likely favoured application: Facebook (39.7 per cent) was the clear favourite, ahead of MySpace (16.3), Friends Reunited (13), Bebo (3.5) and, ironically, WAYN – Where Are You Now? – (1.3).

For more information on Congregational insurance, visit www.congregational.co.uk and more on home insurance visit www.shared-values.co.uk

Research carried out 26 March 2008 by YourSayPays, a research panel operated by The Leadership Factor. A national sample of 1,587 people were polled.

ENDS –

Notes to editors

Congregational & General is one of the country’s most respected insurers of homes and churches with over £9 billion household assets and almost £5 billion church assets covered in the UK.
Based in Bradford, it is wholly-owned by a charitable trust which to date has received over £6million for disbursement through grant application to churches and other worthy causes.
In addition to issuing policies for nearly 7,000 places of worship of all denominations, the fastest growing area of its business today is the private homeowner. For more information visit www.shared-values.co.uk
All research carried out by YourSayPays, a research panel operated by The Leadership Factor (www.leadershipfactor.com), the UK’s leading source of customer satisfaction data. It has a panel of 12,000 members covering the UK with all demographic sectors represented. Surveys are conducted in line with the MRS code of conduct

For further information
Contact Adrian Johnson or Nick Wood in theCongregational Press Office on 0113 243 1117. Email adrian@lucrecommunications.com; nick@lucrecommunications.com

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5th May 2008 National Research Shows Move To Modern Day Living By Jesus 2008

Research reveals public’s opinion on how Jesus today would operate

Ahead of the National Christian Resources Exhibition (13th to 16th May) at Sandown Park, Esher, a national poll has revealed that people believe that if He was living today Jesus would consider using music festivals - and even a personal TV channel - to reach his audience.

The independent research of more than 1,500 people, on behalf of national Church and home insurance company Congregational & General, shows that both Christians and non-Christians (35.3 per cent and 35 per cent) feel He would embrace modern events such as Glastonbury to get His message across.

Additionally, both groups thought that a national tour (32.2 per cent and 26.7 per cent), social networking sites (23.9 per cent and 29.4 per cent) and a personal TV channel (23.6 per cent and 22.8 per cent) would be the best medium for Jesus to reach His audience.

When it comes to His social networking preferences, the British general public is in no doubt of the likely favoured application: Facebook (39.7 per cent) was the clear favourite, ahead of MySpace (16.3), Friends Reunited (13), Bebo (3.5) and, ironically, WAYN – Where Are You Now? – (1.3).

What’s more, respondents believed that despite reported falling Church attendances, people still believe that places of worship would be one of his favoured mediums (28.5 per cent of the public – and 31.5 per cent of Christians).

Margaret Slater, Congregational’s Marketing Manager, said: “It is remarkable that of the 1,500 people polled from across the UK from varied age groups and social demographics, a festival like Glastonbury, or a national tour, were deemed the best way of Jesus reaching His audience.

“What is probably no surprise is the use of social media, which is so de rigueur among those looking to raise their profile, reach new people, or hook up with like-minded individuals.

“It is also interesting that in a time of falling Church attendances and some cynicism regarding the role of the Church today, 28.5 per cent of respondents thought a place of worship would be the best medium for Jesus to reach His audience today.”

The survey also revealed that if Jesus was house-hunting today, a farmhouse in the Scottish highlands would be His most likely home and the style of a traditional, character property.

Margaret Slater continued: “Interestingly, Scotland occupied two of the top five spots for where the public think He would settle in the UK, and the Scottish Highlands was cited as the favourite. This does seem to suggest that we think He would live a more rural existence, perhaps in a smaller community rather than a city environment.”

For more information on Congregational insurance, visit www.congregational.co.uk and more on home insurance visit www.shared-values.co.uk

Research carried out 26 March 2008 by YourSayPays, a research panel operated by The Leadership Factor. A national sample of 1,587 people were polled.

ENDS –

Notes to editors

Congregational & General is one of the country’s most respected insurers of homes and churches with over £9 billion household assets and almost £5 billion church assets covered in the UK.
Based in Bradford, it is wholly-owned by a charitable trust which to date has received over £6million for disbursement through grant application to churches and other worthy causes.
In addition to issuing policies for nearly 7,000 places of worship of all denominations, the fastest growing area of its business today is the private homeowner. For more information visit www.shared-values.co.uk

All research carried out by YourSayPays, a research panel operated by The Leadership Factor (www.leadershipfactor.com), the UK’s leading source of customer satisfaction data. It has a panel of 12,000 members covering the UK with all demographic sectors represented. Surveys are conducted in line with the MRS code of conduct

For further information
Contact Adrian Johnson or Nick Wood in theCongregational Press Office on 0113 243 1117. Email adrian@lucrecommunications.com; nick@lucrecommunications.com

18th February 2008 Charity Donation Supports Rural Village Chapel

Congregational & General provides helping hand to listed building

A rural chapel dating back to the 18th century is set to benefit from a free prize draw held for those requesting home insurance quotes from national ethical insurer of homes, Congregational & General Insurance.

The company, which provides a range of ethical home insurance products under its ‘Shared-Values’ brand, offered everyone who requested a home insurance quote between October and December 2007 the opportunity to be automatically entered into a free draw where the winner could have a £500 donation made to their charity of choice.

Lucky winner, Alun Morgan of Llandeilo in Dyfed, nominated his local chapel in Cwmifor to receive the cheque for £500. Cwmifor Baptist Chapel is one of the few remaining chapels in the area where services are conducted in Welsh and serves more than fifty people from the surrounding villages.

Mr Morgan said: “It was a lovely surprise to win the money and it will be put to great use. The Chapel is a listed building so is constantly in need of repairs and maintenance. It is also widely used by the community so we have to be careful to ensure that it complies with current health and safety regulations - and this can be an expensive process.

“A new Minister has just been appointed so this cheque will be a lovely way to welcome him to the community.”

Congregational’s Marketing Manager, Margaret Slater, said: “The prize draw has proved to be a real success and Mr Morgan’s chosen charity is a very worthy cause. Cwmifor Chapel is the hub of the village and is used by the wider community for a range of activities, in addition to worship.

“Church buildings are often taken for granted so it is great to see a community actively involved in preventative maintenance. As a specialist insurer of homes and churches we know that small maintenance jobs that are left untouched often turn into more serious and expensive concerns later on. We’d like to congratulate Mr Morgan and wish him, and Cwmifor Chapel, all the very best.”

ENDS –

Notes to editors

Congregational & General is one of the country’s most respected insurers of homes and churches with over £9 billion household assets and almost £5 billion church assets covered in the UK.
Based in Bradford, it is wholly-owned by a charitable trust which to date has received over £6 million for disbursement through grant application to churches and other worthy causes.
In addition to issuing policies for nearly 7,000 places of worship of all denominations, the fastest growing area of its business today is the private homeowner. For more information visit www.shared-values.co.uk

For further information

Contact Adrian Johnson in the Congregational Press Office on 0113 243 1117. Email adrian@lucrecommunications.com