Would you agree or disagree with the question? “Many people who know me are not aware that I am a Christian.” You might be really private about your faith. I have had people tell me, “I’ve always believed in Jesus, I just didn’t talk about it.” You might be really open about your faith, where your …
I’ve often listened to personal testimony stories that have the following elements: A friend of mine had been praying for me. I had lots of conversations with my friend about their personal faith. I was intrigued by my friends desire to serve the poor with their church I was invited to church. I heard about …
Thom Rainer surveyed adults who became church going believers. Through interviews with the formerly unchurched, he discovered some top reasons why they would choose their church.
Want to grow your church attendance by 20% this year? I once coached a church that set 20% as their goal. Is 20% growth a realistic? Visitors are the key to growing your church. Without keeping your first time church visitors, your church will not grow. Likewise, you will not replace the members who drop out, move to …
Darrell Davis points out how many conversations that Jesus had. Out of 132 contacts that Jesus had with people recorded in the New Testament, 6 were in the temple, 4 were in the synagogue, and 122 were out in the mainstream of life. (Adapted from Why Christians Sin, by J.K Johnson, Discovery House, 1992) As …
I found an interesting post at Farming the Field blog that looks at the types of evangelistic encounters that were had in the New Testament. The author is a teacher of Ray Comfort’s material from the way of the Master. He cites a book that looks at contact evangelism, a popular style in that method. …
I found this article on Todd Rhodes Monday Morning insight blog (link below). It features the results of a survey of formerly churched adults. (Photo: WanderSick) Highlights: Only 11 percent would be willing to self-identify as a visitor on first visit. 26 percent would visit some kind of reception. Most would want to “size up …
For youth pastors, young adult pastors, and others who work with this group, this research gives current insight based on survey data. Lifeway has published a podcast with it, found at Stetzer’s article. From Ed Stetzer’s research: In fact, 73 percent of unchurched twentysomethings consider themselves “spiritual” and would like to know more about “God …
Why is there no noticeable change even after all time and effort to do training and provide resources?
The short answer: Personal Invitation from a Trusted friend. Charles Arn has surveyed thousands of people: (Source: 3 Questions for Charles Arn) In your research, have you found that there’s one specific reason that visitors come to church? The friendship factor. We’ve asked more than 50,000 people over the last 10 years why they came …
At my kids Christmas school musical this year, the emcee said “No matter what holiday you celebrate this time of year, it’s all about giving back.” Our kids school is multi-cultural, made of immigrants from more than 30 countries and likely just as many different religions.
This week, I’ve been reading unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters. It is the fruit of a 3 year study of perceptions that those not it in the church have about Christians and the church. Simply put, Christianity has an image problem. One surprise to the researchers was …
In Unbinding the Gospel, Martha Grace results presents the results of studying over 1000 mainline churches.
Outreach’s website reports in “Coming Home – Outreach & Evangelism (link broken)” some statistics about why people leave churches and what churches can do to reach back out. Why people drop out of church The Number One reason people drop out of church is a change in life situation (almost 60%). I think of the …
