I am reading a very eye-opening book titled Surprising Insights From the Unchurched and Proven Ways To Reach Them, by Thom Rainer. The author and his research group conducted in depth surveys with 350 people who had come to know Christ and began attending a church. The surveys took place within the first two years of these people coming to faith and beginning to attend a church, and actually most had been a Christian less than one year. 90% of the respondents said that the pastor and his preaching were the primary reason they returned to church. 49% said they came back a second time because of he friendliness of the people, 41% came because someone from the church invited them or told them about Christ, 37% came back because they sensed the presence of God in the church services. Surprisingly, only 11% came back because of the worship/music style. 25% came back because of children's or youth programs, and only 7% cared about the location of the church.
This research project is eye-opening for church leaders who are trying to figure out how to reach out to the vast unchurched population of our country. In most cases, we think like people who already attend our churches. We think that if our worship style is the most contemporary, if our kids and youth programs are top notch and that our publicity is sharp and eye catching, these things will bring people in. And yet, apparently this is not the case, and the failure of most American churches to grow is evidence of that. Wow... more later after I read further in the book.
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