A new survey launched in September 2024 aims to gather information on Rainbow and Takatāpui Christians' experiences of safety and inclusion in Aotearoa New Zealand churches and faith spaces.

The ‘Safe Faiths’ survey is hosted by the Kingi Ihaka Research Centre, a Christian, kaupapa Māori research initiative and was co-created with Diverse Church, a network of safe faith communities in Aotearoa. 

The Safe Faiths project is led by five Christians who created the survey to address the major gaps in research and quantitative data about Takatāpui/Rainbow people's safety when attending their church or faith community. 

Safe Faiths will use the survey results to raise awareness of issues faced by Takatāpui/Rainbow people of faith in Aotearoa New Zealand and to support advocacy for Takatāpui/Rainbow people within the church and more widely.

While the primary focus of this survey relates to sexuality and gender diverse people's experiences of Christian communities, Safe Faiths have chosen to use the phrase ‘faith community’ in order to capture the widest variety of Christian experience. Faith-based social environments may include church communities, youth programmes, faith-based NGOs and educational institutions, residential Christian communities, worship spaces and other places where people of faith gather to participate in faith-based activities. 

The 2024 survey for Aotearoa replicates a 2021 survey that was conducted in the UK, which was overseen by an independent academic research advisor and carried out by the Ozanne Foundation and a coalition of nine Rainbow Christian organisations. The Ozanne Foundation has given permission to Safe Faiths to modify the UK-developed survey format to suit the context of Aotearoa New Zealand.

More information about the UK survey that informed the Safe Faiths survey design is available here. 

The Safe Faiths survey is available to all people of faith over the age of 16 in Aotearoa New Zealand who attend Christian faith community gatherings, would like to attend Christian faith community gatherings, or who choose not to attend such gatherings.

 To complete the Safe Faiths survey for Aotearoa New Zealand go to the Safe Faiths website.