The Methodist Church in Britain is encouraging its members to stay ahead when it comes to their participation in blood and organ donations in light of a survey showing Methodists are more likely to be blood and organ donors than other Christians.

A new survey found that 12 percent of Methodists gave blood in the last year, compared to 10 percent of Christians who had given blood. Those statistics compare to the four percent of the general population who had given blood in the last two years.

The survey was conducted by Christian Research on behalf of Kore as part of the nationwide fleshandblood campaign in the UK, joint initiative by the NHS Blood and Transplant and church groups to get Christians to become blood and organ donors.

The first initiative of its kind, church organizations participating in the fleshandblood campaign include Church of England, Salvation Army, Methodist Church, United Reformed Church, Baptist Union of Great Britain, Hope and Evangelical Alliance.

The research also revealed that the rate of Methodists and Christians who were registered organ donors was higher than that of the general population, 50 percent to 30 percent.

"It is encouraging that on some of these measures Methodists are above the average for Christians as a whole, just as it is that Christians are more likely to be donors," said Rev. Joanne Cox, the Evangelism in Contemporary Culture Officer of The Methodist Church.

"But we can't be complacent," she continued, "and what's missing is a discussion of how blood and organ donation fits into our whole Christian giving. As Methodists, we want to be generous with our time, talents and money, and this campaign is good in encouraging us to think wider about what we can give."

The study showed that 70 percent of Christians consider blood and organ donation as a part of their Christian giving, or are open to the idea. That figure climbed to 76 percent for Methodists in the UK.

Fleshandblood Campaign Director, Juls Hollidge, said the campaign is to encourage churches in the UK to explore how the donation of blood and organs can help show the Church's "spirit of generosity."