The Portuguese Evangelical Alliance (AEP) recently released a report about the situation of the evangelical churches in the country between 2020 and 2023.

In a first article, we already summarised the figures regarding the growth of church planting; the background of new converts and leaders; and the need of evangelism in the largest municipalities and the interior regions of Portugal.

Attendance and social action grow after pandemic

Of the 350 pastors who responded to the survey, over half (53%) said that attendance has "grown in the post-pandemic", 4% pointed out that their community is "declining", while 11% reported it may be "stagnating".

Furthermore, almost 40% of the pastors underlined that church members are more regular in attending services than in 2019.

The pandemic also impacted on the involvement in social action of the churches and in the way they do it.

The number of churches that, in 2020, were not involved in social action activities fell in 2023 from 19% to 11%.

At the same time, there was an increase of the churches with foundations/associations created for this purpose (from 16% to 29% in three years), with more and more communities working in partnership with other entities.

It has also grown the number of churches involved in cross-cultural missions.

Leadership getting older

The report also analyses the age of the pastors, showing that most of them are 41-50 (32%) and 51-60 years (31%) old. 19% are over 60, a percentage that grows to almost 25% when considering only pastors of Portuguese nationality.

Although 88% of pastors say they started their work under the age of 40, only 18% of those who answered the survey are currently under that age.

Moreover, 27% of the pastors surveyed are "bi-vocational", that is, they work in another profession in addition to the pastorate.

According to the AEP, “the time pastoring the same church, the age of the pastor, and the pastor's nationality are not variables that affect the formation of new leaders”.

Recommendations

The report finishes giving recommendations for the churches to improve their situations.

Th AEP, calls on churches to “accelerate the planting of new churches in major urban centres”, as well as to “reinforce the missionary presence in the interior of Portugal and the autonomous regions”.

In order to achieve that it recommends to “invest decisively and intentionally in the involvement of bivocational workers in planting, revitalizing and pastoring churches”.

Churches that value and celebrate their cultural diversity are more effective missionary agents in reaching an increasingly cosmopolitan Portugal concludes the AEP.

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