Why Evangelism Still Matters
Barna’s long-term research points to a troubling gap among American Christians: spiritual openness remains high, but evangelistic conviction remains low. This article argues that evangelism is not only a biblical responsibility but also a practical, life-giving motivation for work, parenting, politics, care, and discipleship.
- Barna’s research shows declines in Christian identification, church attendance, and the perceived importance of religious faith.
- Only 31% of Christians strongly agree that sharing their religious beliefs is a personal responsibility.
- The article calls Christians to recover the evangelistic heart of Jesus for those who are lost.
By Tyler McKenzie
For twenty-five years, Barna has conducted a longitudinal study on Christianity in the USA. The goal is to understand larger trends in the church. While Barna has reported elsewhere that spiritual openness among all Americans is encouragingly high (https://www.barna.com/research/spiritual-openness/), key metrics of spiritual vitality are in continuous decline among American Christians (https://www.barna.com/trends/faiths-shrinking-influence/). Specifically, while openness is high, evangelism is low.
The Decline in Spiritual Vitality
Since 2000, there has been a 12% decline in U.S. adults that identify as Christian, from 83% to 71%. There has also been a 7% decline in monthly church attendance, from 66% to 59%. And there has been a 20% decline in those who see religious faith as very important, from 74% to 54%.
And then there’s evangelism … Only 31% of Christians agree strongly that it is a personal responsibility. Sadly, this is not new. While it is by far the lowest score, it only reflects a 4% drop from twenty-five years ago. Christians in the year 2000 felt basically the same.
This means approximately seven out of ten Christians (REMINDER! This is not the general population being measured here, these are CHRISTIANS!) do not strongly agree with the statement “I have a personal responsibility to share my religious beliefs with others.”
How!!!?
At a theological level, I need to understand how! 71% of U.S. adults say they are a Christian while 40% less think they ought to evangelize. How!? What Bible are these 40% reading? 54% say their faith is very important while 23% less think they ought to evangelize. How!? What Jesus are these 23% following?
How do we read Jesus’ final words in passages like Matthew 28:18-20, Luke 24:46-49, Acts 1:8 (and a slew of other New Testament passages) and conclude that sharing about God with those who are far from God isn’t absolutely a part of Christian faith? Considering the imperative nature and culminating placement of these great commissions in the ministry of Jesus, I wonder … If you don’t strongly agree you ought to evangelize, can you even call yourself a serious Jesus follower?
The Power of Evangelistic Purpose
And WHY!? Why would we not? Beyond the obvious emphasis in Scripture, whatever reason it is that we don’t evangelize, diminishment of it is more than just unChristlike … it leaves a reservoir of untapped spiritual power in the tank.
- An evangelistic motivation in your work injects your day-to-day with eternal importance. It can give an invigorating “why” to an otherwise boring job.
- An evangelistic vision in parenting helps keep the many things competing for your family’s time and your kids’ attention in perspective.
- An evangelistic purpose beneath your politics helps keep you from hating your political enemies and losing yourself. You can pray foremost, as Martin Luther King Jr. did, for the conversion of your enemy over their humiliation and demise.
- An evangelistic emphasis in your care for loved ones struggling with mental illness, trauma, or addiction offers them one of the most powerful tools for peace and healing there is … the Holy Spirit.
Leaving evangelism out isn’t just disobedient, it is wildly impractical.
Why Christians Avoid Evangelism
There are many reasons why people don’t evangelize.
We are embarrassed by hypocrisy in Christian leadership. Pastors and parachurch leaders acting immorally embarrass people. Government leaders coopting God for their political agendas in loud and unfaithful ways embarrass us. There was recently a report released by the Wheaton Billy Graham Center Research Institute that surveyed 2,365 Gen Z adults (ages 18-28). When asked if “Christians’ support of Trump has made me less likely to go to church,” 19% strongly agreed, 14% agreed, and 15% slightly agreed (https://religionnews.com/2026/07/20/half-of-gen-z-says-trump-support-keeps-them-out-of-church/). This was widely reported on because of the polarizing nature of President Trump. I also believe it was incompletely reported because most left out that while 48% agreed in some way with this statement, 52% disagreed. That said, it is worth acknowledging here the power of polarizing political figures and how Christian support of them can impact our evangelistic efforts with different generations.
We’ve seen many unhealthy examples of evangelism. From obnoxious street preaching to tactics grounded in cruelty and insult to highway billboards about hell, the bad examples of evangelism abound.
We don’t feel like we know enough. That can intimidate us.
We’ve accepted the cultural maxim that religion must be respected as a private matter of personal choice. Many have been conditioned by our culture that personal choice is the highest value in society! So, impressing your religion on others is shameful. Even suggesting to someone that their way of seeing God, life, identity, or morality is off is an example of bigotry and intolerance and is highly inappropriate.
We think that some people don’t need it. It is easy to come to believe that when people appear to have their lives together. But, in more cases than we might imagine, if we could get behind the shiny veneer that most feel obligated to project, we would find a lot of loneliness out there. We would find a lot of discontentment, insecurity, addiction, brokenness, grief, and pain. Life is pretty hard for most people. For some people, it’s downright brutal. For many people, this season has been hell for them. There are folks you will laugh with today who had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. But we are all so good at hiding it. We need to have the confidence to bring Jesus into their lives when we sense a need.
We have sin in our life that undermines evangelism. This obstacle to evangelism is not talked about enough. Sin blocks evangelism. Racism can block evangelism. Greed can block evangelism. Fear can block evangelism. Lust can block evangelism. Pride can block evangelism. Sometimes the shame we have over our own sin can block evangelism. Which is a shame because people don’t need perfect evangelists, they need real people being carried in real ways by a real God through real life!
The Heart of Jesus for the Lost
At the end of the day though, I think what this boils down to for most is this: we don’t care that much. Cultural pressures and generational obstacles to evangelism have changed in twenty-five years, but the percentages have remained almost the same. This perhaps points to an obstacle that transcends time itself … selfish apathy.
We don’t care all that much about evangelizing. The reason we don’t share is because we don’t think all that much about it! We’re too busy taking our kids to practice, making money, watching Netflix, scrolling Tik-Tok, going on vacation, living life. We may read the Bible, but we do it for what I get out of it! We may pray, but we pray for my kids, my family, and my problems. We may go to church, but we do it for what it does for me! Our hearts simply don’t break for the lost.
But the Bottom line is this … Jesus cared. May we be serious followers of Jesus.
Luke 19:10 (New Living Translation) – “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”
Matthew 9:36-38 – “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is great, but the workers are few. Pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.’”
Look at the heart of the one we are called to follow!
Author: Tyler McKenzie
Tyler McKenzie serves as lead pastor at Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He also produces a fun Bible podcast for parents and their kids called “the Preacher and the Piano man.”
