Local church, lasting transformation (2024)

Between 2022 and 2024, Tearfund partnered with evaluation and social value specialists State of Life to assess the impact and social value of Church and Community Transformation (CCT) processes in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Burundi, Malawi and Nigeria. 

This large-scale quantitative research used a rigorous and pioneering approach that included social value measurement and social cost-benefit analysis. This means putting a monetary value on the transformation that CCT brings to individuals and communities. 

The research found that:

• CCT brings positive, whole-life transformation 
• CCT creates sustained, far-reaching change 
• CCT is great value and has high social returns 
• CCT strengthens the local church 

The findings are supported by an extraordinary amount of data, collected from diverse contexts across the world. 

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.

You can read the latest research summary or final report, which explores these compelling findings across all eight countries in more detail and explains the methodology that was used. 

The latest reporting is comprehensive, and covers all key findings with data collected from all eight countries. 

The interim report, with results from phase 1 of the study only, is also available.

Strengthening the local church 

The most recent phase of data collection in Bangladesh, Burundi, Malawi and Nigeria included a survey of local church leaders to understand whether involvement in CCT had a positive impact on the health of local churches. Based on our definition of church health and responses to the survey questions we asked, we found that CCT churches were healthier than those that had not yet started CCT. 

You can read the research summary on church health to learn more about the difference CCT makes to the local church.