FACT 2008 was the third national survey in the Faith Communities Today series. Two reports are available based on the findings:
- FACT 2008: “A First Look”: This preliminary report looks at the story of change over eight years and demonstrates considerable congregational decline, but also a pattern of hope and lessons to be learned to grow a healthy and vital congregational life.
- American Congregations 2008: This full report of the FACT 2008 national survey of churches and other religious communities presents a comprehensive look at the findings, including trend comparisons to FACT 2000 and FACT 2005 survey findings, and new perspectives on worship, conflict, leadership, interfaith involvement, vitality, economic hardships and other challenges churches, mosques and synagogues tell us they face.
FACT 2008 used key informants in each surveyed congregation, typically the senior or sole clergy leader, to complete the survey. The survey sample was a composite of three layers of random national samples designed to represent the universe of American congregations. The final dataset contains questionnaires from 2,527 congregations. The sampling error for such types of samples is difficult to calculate with precision. We estimate it to be +/- 4 percent.
