Presbyterians compare favorably with Canadians generally in terms of their involvements in the community. A study of 47 types of involvement reveals that Presbyterians are more committed than Canadians in 36 ways, including some of the most important in the list – see the table, first column. For example, Presbyterians are 23% more inclined to volunteer, and over twice as likely as Canadians generally to volunteer in religious organizations. They are 10% or more likely to volunteer in education, health and social services organizations, and to be members of civic organizations, and political parties and associations.

They are 10% more likely to donate to charity, and the donors give 30% more to charity than the average Canadian donor. The donors to religious organizations give 18% more than the average Canadian donor to religious organizations. The donors to education, health and philanthropic organizations give over 25% more than the average Canadian. They are more likely to vote in federal, provincial and municipal elections. Nor do Presbyterians ignore their neighbour – they are 9% above the national average in terms of the inclination to help out informally, and 49% more likely to teach or coach, 22% more likely to visit the elderly, 17% more likely to help out with yard or maintenance work, 14% more likely to baby sit, and 12% more likely to help their neighbour with shopping.

In a few other respects Presbyterians mirror the Canadian population. Some 34% attend church at least monthly, and 18% weekly (32% and 20%, respectively, nationally). Their volunteer hours per volunteer matches the Canadian average exactly, and while the volunteers for social service organizations contribute 35% more than the Canadian average, the volunteers in health, education and religious organizations average fewer hours than Canadians generally. Presbyterians are equally inclined as the average Canadian to follow the regional, national and international news on a daily basis. They are less likely to give to the homeless and to provide care on an informal basis. These average and below average commitments are relatively minor, however, compared to the many more above average commitments noted above.

The 1991 census shows 636,295 Presbyterians, 2.4% of the population, including 121,245 immigrants, 2.8% of immigrants, and 3,235 non-permanent residents, 1.4% of non-permanent residents. Religion data from the 2001 census will be available in 2003.

A closer look at church attendance reveals some similarities to other liberal faiths, and marked differences from the Catholic and more conservative Christian faiths – refer to the chart. The weekly attendance rate is 18%, about the same as the United Church, Anglican, French Catholic and Lutheran rates, but lower than the English Catholic and non-Christian rates (31% each), Baptists (50%) and Pentecostals (60%). The regular attendance rate (at least monthly) is the same as the United Church rate (34%), and slightly higher than that for the Anglicans and French Catholics (31%), but much lower than the English Catholic and non-Christian (51% each), Baptist (60%) and Pentecostal (65%) rates. On the other hand, the less frequent attenders are 42% of Presbyterians, a rate higher than that for any other faith except French Catholic. The infrequent attenders in any faith would be more easily attracted back into regular attendance than the non-attenders, so Presbyterians are relatively favored in this regard.

A few years ago an article appeared in the Presbyterian Record asking how Presbyterians were different from other Canadians. Based on the this study the short answer is that their range and intensities of community involvements are relatively impressive, though they still have some work to do regarding church membership development.