Unchurched are Not-Invited

With Easter a few days away, I have encouraged our people to make an extra effort to invite unchurched family and friends to our services this Sunday. If you had not thought about it, let me add some motivation for you from a survey published by Thom Rainer of LifeWay a few years ago. This has been edited and condensed. To read the report in full, go here.

Survey finds many unchurched would come to church if invited

Every person interviewed was deemed to be both unchurched and non-Christian.

*Surprise #1: Most of the unchurched feel guilty about not attending church. Though we did not ask a specific question about their feelings about not attending church, the majority of the unchurched expressed guilt in different ways. These guilty feelings were especially prevalent among adults who had children living at home.
So, if they feel guilty, why did the unchurched continue to avoid church? As strange as it may seem to a churchgoing Christian, the church intimidates the unchurched person. They do not think they can fit in a place they have never attended. And they are uncertain about church protocol. They just fear that they will feel out of place. As strange as it may seem to a churchgoing Christian, the church intimidates the unchurched person. Is there anything that could get the unchurched to attend church? That answer led us to the next surprise.

* Surprise #2: Ninety-six percent of the unchurched are at least somewhat likely to attend church if they are invited. Perhaps we need to pause on this response. Perhaps we need to restate it. More than nine out of 10 of the unchurched said they would come to church if they were invited. If you glean anything from this article, please remember this point.
We estimate that 160 million people in the United States are unchurched if we define unchurched as attending church two or less times in a year. If our research is close to accurate, the implications are staggering. More than 153 million people would start attending church if they were invited!
What constitutes an invitation? For many of the unchurched, it was a simple invitation to come to one’s church. For others, it was an invitation that included an offer to meet someone at church to show them around or walk them in the building. In either case, the process was pretty basic. If we invite them, they will come.
The next obvious question is: Are Christians inviting non-Christians to church? The heartbreaking answer is "no." Only 21 percent of active churchgoers invite anyone to church in the course of a year. But only 2 percent of the church members invited an unchurched person to church. Perhaps the evangelistic apathy so evident in many of our churches can be explained by a simple laziness on the part of church members in inviting others to church.
Perhaps the evangelistic apathy so evident in many of our churches can be explained by a simple laziness on the part of church members in inviting others to church.
Walk with me through one more calculation. Let us suppose that, instead of 96 percent, only half of the unchurched in America would come to church if invited. That means, out of 160 million unchurched persons, 80 million would be willing to come to church. Can you imagine how many people would be reached for Christ if that happened? When is the last time they invited an unchurched (non-christian) person to church?

* Surprise #3: Very few of the unchurched had someone share with them how to become a Christian. And Christians have not been particularly influential in their lives. The surprise is no longer a surprise in light of the previous discussion. If Christians do not invite non-Christians to church, we cannot be surprised if they do not share the gospel with or influence the unchurched.
If you could have heard how many of the unchurched are waiting on someone to explain the way of salvation, you might have a whole new outlook on reaching these people. You might be surprised that, when some Christians may think "the time is just not right," the unchurched are wondering why we are so reticent.

* Surprise #4: Most of the unchurched have a positive view of pastors, ministers and the church. Only a few said the ministers are
hypocritical, only after money, always drive nice cars, and have a condescending
view of others. The scandal of the televangelists and other Christian leaders is a faded memory for most of the unchurched. Perhaps even more surprising was
the generally positive attitude the unchurched had toward the church. For the
vast majority of the unchurched, the church is still relevant today. Indeed many of them perceive the church to be the most relevant institution in society today.
This surprising response then begs another question. If the unchurched see the church in a positive light, and if they perceive the church to be relevant, why are they still unchurched? The answer seems to be twofold. First, some of the unchurched have visited churches, but their experiences have been
negative. Unfriendliness, unkempt facilities, poor signage, and general
confusion have been some of the descriptions about the church from the unchurched... But the second reason for their not attending church takes us back to the third surprise. Most of the unchurched have never been invited to church. And most of them would attend if invited.