EVANGELICAL Christians are hard workers, often putting in long hours, a report from the Evangelical Alliance suggests.

More than a third (37 per cent) work more than 40 hours per week, and among men the figure rises to half. Seven per cent work more than 60 hours.

But the report,Working faith­fully?, found that only 59 per cent felt that they achieved a good work-life balance, and only fractionally more than half (53 per cent) thought that they had an acceptable work­load. More than a third (35 per cent) regularly brought work home with them.

But the figures suggest that Evan­gelicals are very committed to their work; 47 per cent were in their job for more than ten years, and 27 per cent of these for more than 20 years. Some 62 per cent had never been made redundant or lost their job. They also enjoyed their labours. Only 11 per cent got bored, and 84 per cent felt valued for the work that they did.

The survey was based on follow-up questioning of more than 17,000 respondents for 21st-Century Evan­gelicals, a series of research booklets first produced for a group of Evan­gelical organisations in 2011.

It found that feeling fulfilled and helping others were more import­ant factors for Evangelical Chris­tians than making money. Only 22 per cent said that a good rate of pay was very important when looking for work. Almost 70 per cent felt a strong sense of calling to their work; and 59 per cent said an op-por­tunity to serve and help others in their work was very import­ant.