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Evangelism
in a Pluralistic Context
C. Thomas Wright, Ph.D.
How do churches reach the unchurched in their community? This is one of the questions answered by Dr. Michael Lindsay at the Alabama state evangelism conference in Mobile.
A fellow in the department of sociology at Princeton University, Lindsay’s presentation was based on the results of recent national surveys where more than 10,000 people were interviewed. According to Gallup, 44 percent of US residents are unchurched. Someone is classified as "unchurched" if they are not a member of a local faith community or if they have not gone to church in the last 6 months outside of special occasions like funerals and weddings.
Lindsay said, "It is interesting that only nine percent of people in the US have no faith tradition at all. But these secularists are hard core and their influence is growing." It is alarming that only nine percent of the population is driving so much of the secularist agenda in the media. Even the recent attempts to secularize Christmas are coming from a very small, but vocal, part of the population. Churches need to encourage Christians to stand up for our beliefs.
Top Concerns of the Unchurched
It is important that church leaders understand the top three concerns from those who do not attend church. Fifty nine percent said "organized religion is too concerned with organizational concerns." Thirty-nine percent said "Churches are not concerned enough with social justice causes."
Lindsay commented, "The unchurched think we focus on the wrong things. They think we look inside more than we look outside the church. The best public relations we have had in the Northeastern United States has been the response of Southern Baptists to the September 11 attacks. The people saw us giving and caring with expectation for nothing in return."
Pastor Benny Still and the congregation of First Baptist Church Grand Bay has been actively involved in disaster relief ministry since Katrina devastated many parts of the Gulf Coast. He has also seen the unchurched respond "to churches that have shown people we care about their physical and spiritual needs." Katrina has given many opportunities to show the relevance of the church. "Even the local newspapers have commented that it was the Christian churches that were first to respond and are providing the best long term help."
The third top concern was voiced by 28 percent of the respondents "There is too restrictive morality being preached by churches." While biblical morality is not negotiable, we can learn from these surveys that the church’s involvement in the social sector is expected and needed. Churches need to actively provide biblical solutions for many of the economic and social ills in our culture.
Coming Back to Church
An important observation is that ninety percent of the unchurched who came back to church were invited by someone in person. Seventy-nine percent were invited more than once. The survey shows that unchurched people will come back to church if they are invited personally and on several occasions. Women are more likely to return to the church than men and married people are considerably more likely to return than singles. African Americans are much more likely to respond favorably than Whites or Hispanics.
Christians Sharing Their Faith
The research shows that people respond to personal invitations. But the same survey shows that only 54 percent of those surveyed say it is important to share their faith. Only 30 percent say it is very important to encourage conversions.
Charles Gibbs, pastor of West Mobile Baptist Church, comments "The only way people can come to this conclusion is to reject biblical truth and spiritual reality. If we believe the Bible, we can not escape the great commission. If we have a living, intimate relationship with Jesus, we can not help but tell the things we’ve seen and heard."
Why People Become Unchurched
The survey reveals that twenty-five percent of the people who stopped attending did so because they moved to a new home and never found a church. Christians could reduce the unchurched population by 25 percent just by developing an active plan to personally invite people to attend church. Lindsay suggested, "The one thing that we need to do to bring people to church is a face-to-face invitation. Personal relationships are more effective than mail outs or phone calls."
Another 25 percent will be harder to reach. These people said they "found other interests which led to less time for church related activities." They have found that entertainment, education, or other pursuits are more valuable to them than anything the church has to offer. Many of them will not come back until the Holy Spirit convicts them of the need.
An important figure reveals that 16 percent of the unchurched say the "church no longer helped me find meaning and purpose for my life." This reveals a weakness in applying the truth of the gospel, not a weakness in the gospel message. Lindsay says, "Finding meaning and purpose are very important among the unchurched."
The age most stopped attending church is between 16-24 years old. This indicates that youth programs need to help youth see the importance of remaining involved. It also shows the importance of interesting and effective church programs and outreach to young adults. Only 25 percent of that age group started attending church again at a later time.
Brantley Bonds, Baptist Campus Minister at University of South Alabama believes that churches can reverse that trend by involving students in community and missions. "Community entails getting to really know one another. Churches that form meaningful relationships with this age group and show them Jesus' love will earn their trust and respect (and subsequently, their involvement). Along with community, another way to get this group involved in church is to get them involved in missions. Get them involved in something bigger than themselves and they will stay involved."
In a surprising discovery, 17% of unchurched left after they turned 50. Lindsey explains, "This age group has more money and more time than almost any other group. We need to be sure that we offer a variety of ministry and worship approaches to reach people willing to give a lot of time to church. We have become so focused on those that only want to give 60-90 minutes that we forget there are those who are willing to give much more time and commitment." The research indicates that those over 50 would respond very favorably to being invited to return to church and trained for places of responsibility.
Reaching the Unchurched
Lindsay suggests churches "need to reach people at ‘hinge moments’ in life." Hinge moments include "change in family structure, recent college graduation, nearlyweds and newlyweds, and families with young children. The average American moves every 5 years.
He recommends the church take "Responsibility for our community" through evangelism, social justice, care for the neighbor, racial reconciliation, and specific biblically-based support groups. "Forty percent of those surveyed say they feel intensely lonely. Offer many short, intensive training classes. These tend to appeal to the unchurched more than long term classes."
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