Evangelical Christians in Switzerland are defying the nationwide decline in religious belief and practice, standing out for their commitment to regular worship, prayer, and spiritual engagement, according to newly released government data.
According to the Réseau évangélique suisse (RES), which represents 250 evangelical churches across French-speaking Switzerland, the data comes from a report released Monday (June 23) by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (SFSO) titled Religiosity and Spirituality in Switzerland (2024).
“The Swiss Evangelical Network (RES) is delighted that evangelical churches are mentioned for the first time in the study and that they stand out from the general trend in religious practice,” stated RES in a news update [in French].
“It is also [encouraging] that around 40% of the population prays at least once a month and that, according to the SFSO, religion and spirituality still play an important role in the daily lives of a large proportion of the population.”
The report highlighted that Switzerland is historically a “Christian country” but also added that people with no religion are increasing despite the diversity of religious beliefs.
“Contrary to the title of the SFSO press release, ‘Decline in religious faith and practice continues’, evangelical churches are bucking this trend,” stated RES, outlining how evangelicals are bunched under the “other Christian communities” category.
The 2024 figures show that Christianity remains “the most widespread religion in Switzerland,” and this is “despite a downward trend.”
More than half (51%) of the population surveyed agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: “More spiritual thinking would benefit society.” At the same time, half of those surveyed believe in an afterlife.
Population figures quoted for 2024 show 31% Roman Catholic, 19% Reformed Protestant and 6% evangelicals.
However, on matters of religion and spirituality, there are differences between religious communities. RES highlighted that a third of Swiss Roman Catholics are religious and spiritual, in comparison to nearly a quarter of Reformed Protestants. For evangelical churches, however, this “proportion rises to almost 50%.”
In the past 10 years, the SFSO outlined how regular reading of spiritual books, magazines or internet articles has spiralled upwards from 13% to 20%.
“The increase in spiritual reading is strongest among members of evangelical churches (+21%), the Reformed (+12%) and 15-24 year-olds (+13%),” reported RES.
“Reading religious books is more widespread among members of Evangelical churches (45%) and Muslims (35%) than in other religious communities.”
Evangelicals are also more likely to participate in “spiritual events and religious services” with 30.3% attending at least once per week. Regular prayer times have also increased in evangelical churches by a margin of at least seven percent.
RES explained that the “other Christian communities,” which evangelical churches are included in, are listed in the report as Evangelical Free Churches (FREE), International Evangelical Churches, Baptist, Anabaptist, Charismatic and Adventist Churches, as well as Sanctification, Pentecostal and Latter-day Saint Churches.
Other churches in the category include Eastern Orthodox and other Eastern Christian churches, Evangelical Lutheran churches, other churches of the Reformation, as well as international, Anglican, Catholic-Christian and ecumenical Christian churches.
The Religiosity and Spirituality in Switzerland report relies on data from the Language, Religion and Culture Survey (ELRC) taking place every five years since 2014.
