Recent research based in America shows that the majority of Protestant clergy in America believe strongly that salvation comes only through Jesus Christ. In addition, they agree that Christians have a responsibility to evangelise members of other faiths. They are also willing to partner with non-Christian faith groups to accomplish good for society.

In the research, 700 active Protestant ministers from all Protestant denominations in all 50 states were asked about their views on the statement, “Regardless of what other faiths believe, Jesus Christ is the only path to salvation.” 88 percent of them agree strongly.

Pentecostal ministers and Southern Baptist ministers have a stronger belief on the exclusivity of Jesus as the only Saviour; the survey result recorded 100 percent of the Pentecostal ministers and 98 percent of the Southern Baptist ministers strongly agreed with the statement. Strong agreement was much less likely among Lutherans and Methodists at 77 and 65 percent respectively.

For another statement “it is a Christian’s responsibility to try to lead people to belief in Christ, including active members of non-Christian faith groups.” 98 percent of Southern Baptists placed a high emphasis on evangelism and responded very positively. Ministers associated with the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) are comparatively more ready to evangelise other faiths as well. 92 percent of ministers associated with the NAE agreed strongly while just 51 percent among the National Council of Churches (NCC) members agreed.

In addition, 37 percent agreed strongly with the statement, “Churches, temples and mosques from different faiths should cooperate to tackle societal problems.”And most of them “would be willing to partner with a local non-Christian faith group to accomplish something good for your community.”

However, in reality, only 15 percent of all the ministers said they were “personally friends with one or more clergy from non-Christian faith groups”. Ron Sellers, President of the research group in this survey - Ellison Research, concluded, “It also may be desirable to believe you’re willing to work with other faith groups, but when so few pastors have relationships with any non-Christian clergy, it’s hard to see much interfaith cooperation developing.”

Ellison Research is a full-service marketing research firm in Phoenix. The detailed analysis on this survey is published on the September/October issue of LifeWay’s Facts & Trends magazine.