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Discover the evidence-based results of Church and Community, from research across eight countries.
How local churches help their communities overcome poverty
While Church and Community is currently being piloted as a new cause for us, the Tearfund family has experience with this programme that spans decades.
We are championing Church and Community in South Sudan, partnering with local churches to reach their communities in practical ways they’ve never been able to before.
Between 2022 and 2024, Tearfund UK partnered with evaluation and social value specialists State of Life to assess the impact and value of Church and Community (CC) processes in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Burundi, Malawi and Nigeria.
This large-scale research used an innovative approach to measure the lasting benefits CC created for people and their communities, and to estimate that value in financial terms.
The research found that:
CC brings positive, whole-life transformation CC creates sustained, far-reaching change CC improves social and human rights conditions CC strengthens the local church
The findings are supported by extensive data, collected from communities in different parts of the world.
About the research
In 2022, the first phase of the study was completed across four countries in Africa: Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. In 2023 and 2024, data was gathered from four more countries – Bangladesh, Burundi, Malawi and Nigeria – to explore CCT in a broader range of contexts, including in Asia and in megacities like Lagos and Dhaka.
Read the Research Summary or Final Report, which explores findings across all eight countries and explains how the research was carried out.
Strengthening the local church
In the most recent phase of research, church leaders in Bangladesh, Burundi, Malawi and Nigeria were surveyed to understand how CC was impacting the local churches.
The research looked at multiple factors like how churches support and disciple their members, serve their communities, and live out their faith in practical ways.
It found that churches involved with CC showed stronger signs of church health and community engagement than those not yet participating in the CC programme.
Read the Church Health Study Summary to learn more about the difference CC makes to the local church.
Local church, lasting transformation: evidence of the impact of working with the local church.
We’d love to hear from you. You can contact us by emailing us at info@tearfund.org.nz or contact our lovely Supporter Services Team on 0800 800 777 (Mon-Fri).