Where the data comes from
Every finding on this site traces back to one of three lanes — MSTRD's own data, a direct partner relationship, or outside research — and every outside source is listed here with what's actually usable.
First-party
MSTRD's own multi-voice church assessments and quarterly pulse polls. See methodology.
Second-party
Direct data-sharing partnerships with denominational networks, staffing firms, and church networks. Not active yet — this section is reserved for when those agreements are in place.
Third-party & adjacent
Public and licensable research, monitored below. Cite freely where marked public; anything else needs a license first.
Third-party & adjacent sources
Grouped by category, with what's usable as-is versus what requires a licensing conversation.
Church & faith research
Closest analog to MSTRD's own content cadence — pastor-survey findings, church trend commentary.
Public blog. Cite "Lifeway Research" with a link; syndicated data tables may require permission.
Treat as second-party-in-waiting: strong brand recognition with church leaders, but licensing is a prerequisite for using their proprietary numbers directly.
Public articles only — cite with attribution. Full datasets and syndicated numbers require a Barna license; do NOT republish figures from paid reports without one.
Strongest source specifically on youth / Gen Z faith — useful once MSTRD segments findings by generation.
Public. Cite "Springtide Research Institute" with a link.
Annual report site, not a blog — check each spring for the new release rather than polling a feed.
Public annual report. Cite "American Bible Society, State of the Bible."
Academic survey
Best source for national religiosity/attendance trend lines to set MSTRD benchmarks in context.
Public. Cite "Pew Research Center" with a link back; no licensing needed for citation.
Home of the multi-denominational Faith Communities Today (FACT) survey — the best academic peer for MSTRD's own cross-church benchmarking.
Academic / public. Cite the Hartford Institute and, where applicable, the Faith Communities Today (FACT) survey.
No feed — check thearda.com and the study homepage directly ahead of each wave release for new microdata or summary reports.
Academic / public data archive (via ARDA). Cite the National Congregations Study, Duke University.
Longest-running US trend line on religious affiliation/attendance — decades of historical backdrop.
Public microdata. Cite "General Social Survey, NORC at the University of Chicago."
Cross-national religiosity context if MSTRD ever wants a global rather than US-only comparison.
Public microdata for academic/noncommercial use. Cite "World Values Survey."
Financial / giving
Giving/financial-accountability trends among member churches and ministries. No working RSS feed as of the last check — scan the news listing page directly.
Public. Cite "ECFA" with a link.
Macro giving trend for the religion sector — good backdrop for MSTRD generosity/resourcing findings.
Summary stats are public; the full report is paywalled. Cite "Giving USA" for any figure used.
Government data
Community demographic context to check whether a church's congregation reflects its zip code. Check the annual release calendar rather than a feed.
Public domain (U.S. government data).
Adjacent signal
Leading-indicator signal (search spikes for "find a church," "church near me," or topical terms like "deconstruction") rather than a citable dataset. Track manually or script against pytrends later.
Public tool; cite "Google Trends" for any figure used. No bulk API without a partner agreement.
Which roles churches are hiring for is a proxy for where the real gaps are. Track category counts by hand or via an approved API/partnership, not scraping.
Observational signal only — respect each site's terms of service; do not bulk-scrape listings.
Episode and session topics are a fast read on what's on leaders' minds well before it shows up in survey data.
Observational — cite the specific episode/session, don't imply endorsement.
What the standing scan is finding
Candidates only, sorted for relevance to MSTRD's own topics — a human reviews each before anything is cited. Generated September 1, 2026.
How Americans Are Engaged With News, Politics, Religion and Civic Life
Americans’ engagement with others is not one-dimensional. Instead, they sort into four distinct groups that reflect different patterns of participation in society.
Why is Buddhism shrinking worldwide?
The global population of Buddhists shrank by roughly 5% between 2010 and 2020, the sole major religious group to decline.
Buddhism’s Recent Decline in East Asia
Buddhism is the only major religion whose global population shrank between 2010 and 2020. Learn why it declined in East Asia, particularly in Japan and South Korea.
Has there been a Christian revival among young adults in the U.K.? Recent surveys may be misleading
Despite the widely recognized decline of Christianity in the U.K., there have been persistent rumblings of a Christian resurgence.
Catholicism Has Declined in Latin America Over the Past Decade
Growing numbers of Latin Americans are religiously unaffiliated, but belief in God remains high across the region.
How religious is your state?
Explore our interactive database to find how religious adults are in your state based on service attendance, prayer, belief in God, and importance of religion.
Pastors Report Growing Attendance, but Fewer Unchurched Newcomers
Slightly more than half of U.S. Protestant pastors (54%) report their average worship service attendance has increased since 2023. Read More The post Pastors Report Growing Attendance, but Fewer Unchurched Newcomers appeared first on Lifewa
Keep the Change: Four Stages of Visionary Alignment Around What’s Next
Change in your church may begin with a conviction or compelling idea, but it becomes sustainable only through alignment. Read More The post Keep the Change: Four Stages of Visionary Alignment Around What’s Next appeared first on Lifeway Res
Scan runs via npm run scan:sources against research/sources.json. See research/README.md for how to add a source or read the full report.