Sound The Trumpet : Research Indicates An Increasingly Unchurched America

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“Research Indicates An Increasingly Unchurched America”
by Prophecy New Watch
October 28th, 2014

“When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Jesus posed this question 2000 years ago (Luke 18:8). Perhaps a recent Barna research polling reveals the answer to that query.

The Barna group has been studying the steady decline in church attendance for the past twenty years and has published their results in a new book titled ”Churchless” by George Barna and David Kinnaman. The research findings reveal what many of us may have feared; church attendance is decreasing in a post-Christian America! The study identified these five trends among those who are unchurched;

1. Increasing secularization has occurred among American adults with 38% of adults surveyed indicating that they are post –Christian (meaning they do not attend church, believe in God, or read the Bible) and 10% of those identifying as “highly post-Christian.” The younger the respondent, the more likely they are to consider themselves “post-Christian”, with 48% of Milliennials identifying as such.

2. Barna found that people are less open to the very idea of church. Even though a personal invitation by a friend continues to be the most successful method of getting someone to come to church, over the past 20 years even this tried and true method has declined in efficacy, down from 65% to 47% of respondents who were willing to attend church following an invitation by a friend.

3. Church attendance is no longer considered a normal part of American life. Surprisingly, the vast majority of persons reporting that they do not attend did at one point attend church services.

4. Today’s unchurched would not be interested in Sunday morning services, at least 43% say they would not, and increasingly, if they did attend, would not limit themselves to attending one church.

5. Finally, the unchurched have no idea of what Christianity has done for America, either positive or negative. Almost half, 49%, of those surveyed could not name any positive impact the church has had on American society.

These five points may come as a surprise to regular church attendees, but, according to David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, this”research indicates a growing indifference toward churches among the unchurched. Kinnaman predicts an expanding gap between “Christian communities of faith” and those who are outside those communities.

Interestingly, Barna’s research finds that methods to attract church attendees such as; TV, radio, and internet advertising, direct mailings, and billboards, have little impact to encourage attendance by the unchurched. The personal touch; pastoral visits and phone calls are much more effective ways to persuade visitors to attend, and as was stated earlier, personal invitation by a friend is most successful.

While this study indicates the importance of personal interaction when inviting someone to attend church, a Barna study from last year revealed that only about 50% of born- again Christian respondents actually shared their faith with an unbeliever over the past year, although three quarters of born-again Christian’s understand their responsibility to evangelize.

It appears that efforts by churches to be relevant in society, to relate to the culture, and attempts to conform the gospel to the world have fallen short of reaching hearts for Christ. This should not be surprising, given that the method of evangelism Jesus and His early disciples used, emphasized the uniqueness of the message and its effect on the messenger, and instead of conforming to the culture, the Gospel caused such a radical change in the culture that detractors from it claimed that the gospel message had” turned the world upside down!” (Acts 17:6) Just think about it, 2000 years ago, 120 born-again Christians accomplished the impossible; they “turned the world upside down!”

No doubt, the culture will continue to change, but the call on the church and the great commission to preach the gospel throughout the world will not. So where does the church go from here? How does the church member actively evangelize while respecting those who are churchless? And how do we recapture the urgency to accomplish the great commission in an increasingly secular and post-Christian America?

David Kinnaman answers, “Wrestling with answers to this question will help prepare a faith community to engage more meaningfully with unchurched people.”

This recent Barna study should motivate all born-again Christians to reexamine the methods they use to evangelize as they seek to lead the lost to Christ.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13