Reaching Unbelievers: How Effective Is Your Church?

 

by Kent R. Hunter

It was Tuesday morning and that meant the weekly ministry review at Starbucks. Jonathan and Jason are ministers with small churches south of Portland, Oregon. Today”s topic drifted toward Pathway, the megachurch in town.

The conversation was similar to thousands occurring among ministers. Megachurches offer more programs, better worship music, slicker printed pieces, and specialty staff. People in our society seem to shop for everything, including church. The membership of small congregations””such as the two these men serve””is declining, while megachurches make headlines.

Jason and Jonathan enjoyed their coffee, but had a bittersweet attitude about Pathway. Fighting both anger and jealousy, they wondered about the future for their small churches.

But the focus on perceived competition really avoids the most important issue: how do churches effectively reach the largest single block of people””the unchurched? When Jonathan and Jason meet for coffee next week, the agenda ought to be how to reach the unchurched. This article could help.

 

Four Fishing Pools

Jesus called fishers of men and women. Those effective at fishing usually know the different types of fish in the lake. That knowledge is the first step toward developing a strategy for each.

The De-churched“”They consider themselves Christians, but do not attend church. They have been away from the church six to eight years or longer. They include young adults who graduate from high school and stop attending church.

They include those who experienced some traumatic event in a previous church: a division, disagreement with leadership, or emotional blowup with members. Occasionally it”s a traumatic event in their own family: divorce, death of a parent, or the loss of a job.

The Under-churched“”They also may feel they”re Christians. Their occasional attendance usually is triggered by a stressful event: a job loss, marital challenges, difficulty with children or parents. On rare occasions, under-churched people will attend for a joyful celebration, like a 50th wedding anniversary.

The Semi-churched“”Frequently known as holiday attendees, they most often attend at Easter. Their attendance may reflect a traditional habit or peer pressure from family members. Semi-churched people may also attend on Christmas, Mother”s Day, Father”s Day, or Thanksgiving.

The Unchurched“”Identified by their own perception, they respond to the census question about religious affiliation by saying, “I have no church (temple, mosque, synagogue).” Research shows most of them would say they are “spiritually interested.” They also may subscribe allegiance to a “higher power.”

Those self-described as “unchurched” represent 50 to 60 percent of the U.S. population. Another 10 to 20 percent would say they have a church, but could not tell you the name of their pastor or priest. They are “functionally unchurched.” Collectively, the unchurched and the functionally unchurched represent between 60 and 80 percent of your friends, relatives, neighbors, and people with whom you work or go to school. They are the majority of the population. They represent the largest “fishing pool” for those called to be fishers of men and women.

 

 

A Secular Nation

 

If Jesus has called your church to be a community of outreach, the unchurched is a primary population group on which to focus your ministry. How effective is your church?

For more than 30 years, Church Doctor Ministries has worked with churches to help them become more effective for the Great Commission. We have a growing conviction that if churches learn to reach unchurched people effectively, the Christian movement will experience a dramatic renewal and increased influence on the nation”s culture.

The Slide to Ineffectiveness

In the diagnostic phase of our consultation ministry, we provide an anonymous questionnaire for each attendee of our client churches. One of the questions is, “Did you become a Christian before you started attending this church or after?” The core issue is this: “What is the effectiveness of this church at reaching unchurched people?”

The graph above shows the color-coded responses from a cross-section of the churches consulted in the last year. It includes churches of all sizes, in a variety of settings (rural, suburban, urban), throughout the United States. The margin of error is plus/minus 5 percent accuracy.

The graph divides the respondents based on how long they have been at the church. Reading left to right, those who have been members more than 20 years have the largest percentage, 18 percent, who indicated their church reached them while they were not Christians. For those who have attended for 11-20 years, that percentage drops to 17 percent. Only 10 percent of those who have been at the church 6-10 years became Christians after attending their church. In the time frame of 4 to 5 years, it drops to 9 percent, and in the last three years, it is 4 percent.

We started seeing this trend about 12 years ago. We discovered this stark reality: During a time in U.S. history when the population of unchurched people has grown significantly, the church has become increasingly ineffective at reaching them (see the chart below).

The church in America is falling behind the curve in its ability to reach unchurched people. Why? The strategies used in the past are not working for the new, postmodern, unchurched populations.

 

Strategies that Work

In observing churches that are effective at reaching unchurched people, we have identified at least 10 strategies.

1. Add a “go” strategy to your church”s “y”all come” strategy. 

 The Great Commission clearly says, “Go” make disciples. This implies going to your target audience. Most churches encourage members to invite others to a worship service (or spaghetti dinner). The key to reaching unchurched people is to meet them where they are.

2. Teach church members to see themselves as missionaries of the church“”not participants on a committee or board, or in a program.

Churches effectively reaching unchurched people reflect a higher percentage of members who look in the mirror and see a missionary to the American mission field.

3. Train church members to identify events and signs when the unchurched may be receptive to the gospel. 

 Events include a birth or death in the family, relocation, job change, chronic illness, recovery from chronic illness, extraordinary challenges, stress, the collapse of Wall Street, recession, and other major issues that capture people”s attention.

Signs of receptivity include””in the context of relationship””questions asked about God, conversations about faith or spirituality, peace, joy, meaning of life, questions about death, illness, and comments about your faith journey.

4. Encourage members to spontaneously share their story of faith. 

 The best story of faith is an unrehearsed, unpolished, transparent, honest answer to the question, “What has God done in your life recently?” The story of faith is best shared when it is relevant to a conversation initiated by an unchurched person with whom you have an established relationship.

5. Move the majority of ministry and fellowship activities to neutral sites in the community. 

 The work of the church must increasingly move from the facilities that appear as sacred, foreign monuments and into the marketplace of life, where unchurched people live and interact.

6. Give church activities a missional perspective. 

 For example, if your church hosts fund-raising projects for missionaries, ask your members to purchase tickets to invite their friends at no cost.

7. Challenge members to develop a list of unchurched friends, relatives, neighbors, and people with whom they work or go to school who live within the ministry reach of your congregation. 

 Ask members to post the list in a place they will see it every day””perhaps the bathroom mirror or refrigerator. Ask them to pray every day for an opportunity to be a missionary.

8. Train members to see that their primary sphere of ministry is their workplace, neighborhood, school, sports club””wherever they develop relationships. 

This demonstrates their primary sphere of ministry is not on a church board, committee, or serving in a program for members.

9. Gather members together in “missional clusters.”Â 

 For example, a cluster I have attended in England is called Radiate. Everyone in Radiate works in the medical community: physicians, nurses, pharmacists, clerks at pharmacies, medical secretaries, those who work in a medical supply warehouse, and janitors at the hospital. The mission of Radiate is to reach people for Christ in the medical community. Radiate meets regularly for fellowship activities. It is to these events, organized as backyard barbecues, a dinner at a restaurant, or a picnic in a park””all neutral community sites””that Radiate members invite unchurched, but receptive, friends. The Christians share what God has done in their lives lately. The cluster is a “middle step,” relational platform for the unchurched person who is very likely not ready to make the huge leap to enter a church.

10. Start worship service extensions in theaters, bars, hotel meeting rooms, private rented rooms at restaurants, funeral homes, and other neutral community sites. 

 Use video venue technology to bring the message. Provide support through members who have the missionary mentality and recognize this as an extension of the church.

Move from Institution to Relationship

Churches in previous decades used strategies to invite people to the church building. In a secular world, the key is to change your definition of church from a facility to a community in ministry all week, beyond worship. On this mission field, the primary mission is what happens during the week, away from the institution, through relationships that already exist. The missional potential of your church is not reflective of the facilities or programs, but the unchurched relationships that already exist among the members.

 

 

 

Kent Hunter leads the team of consultants at Church Doctor® Ministries. He has authored many books including The Jesus Enterprise: Engaging Culture to Reach the Unchurched. You can reach him at www.churchdoctor.org.