In 2013, a global survey of church members suggested that there was some degree of uncertainty about the sanctuary doctrine. For example, when asked what they thought of the belief that the pre-Advent Judgement began in 1844, only 62% of church members reported that they embraced it wholeheartedly. The rest of the sample reported feeling varying degrees of uncertainty on the subject: 13% said they accepted it because the Church teaches it, and one in ten respondents said they had some questions about it. Additionally, 5% of respondents said they had major doubts about this belief and the rest either didn’t accept it (6 %) or found it irrelevant (4%).

In the 2018 version of this Global Church Member Survey (GCMS), researchers introduced more questions about the sanctuary given the apparent uncertainty expressed by church members worldwide in 2013. This time, on the same question about the investigative judgement (Q.45.02), slightly more members (64%) said that they accept it wholeheartedly and more people (18%) said that they accept it because the Church teaches it. Another 18% either have some questions on it, or major doubts about it, or did not accept it at all.