Posted on 03/21/2006 7:47:50 AM PST by dukeman
(Ventura, CA) - Marketers devote billions of dollars to penetrating the Baby Boomer market the generation of 77 million individuals that populate the nation. There is another market segment equally as large that is of interest to the faith community: the 76 million adults who regularly avoid going to church.
A new report based on its annual tracking survey by The Barna Group reveals that one-third of the adult population (34%) has not attended any type of church service or activity, other than a special event such as a funeral or wedding, during the past six months.
The Barna report described this unchurched population in relation to its spiritual and demographic background.
The Religious Profile of the Unchurched
Citing past research that discovered most unchurched adults were formerly churched, the new study indicates that six out of ten unchurched people (62%) consider themselves to be Christian, 4% say they are Jewish, 4% are associated with an eastern religion, and 24% say they are atheist. Denominationally, the largest share of unchurched adults is made up of lapsed Catholics: almost three out of every ten unchurched people (29%) associate with Catholicism. One out of every five (18%) say they are Baptist.
In the eyes of these individuals, absence from church life does not indicate a lack of commitment to the Christian faith. Three out of four unchurched adults who consider themselves to be Christian (77%) contend that they are either absolutely or moderately committed to the Christian faith.
Millions of unchurched adults engage in spiritual activity during a typical week. For instance, nearly two-thirds (62%) pray to God, one-fifth (20%) read from the Bible, and 5% participate in a small group that meets in someones home for Bible study, prayer or Christian fellowship.
The aggregate numbers of the unchurched are not as clean-cut as they used to be, however, one out of every eight unchurched adults (13%) is involved in a house church at least once a month, with another 15% involved in a house church less frequently. In the survey, these house church participants stated that they had not attended a Christian church service or event during the past six months, despite having attended numerous house church meetings during that period.
Unchurched Possess A Variety of Beliefs
Adults disassociated with a conventional church have a wide range of beliefs, some of which are biblical in nature. Some of the perspectives held by half or more of the unchurched population, either strongly or moderately, include the following:
50% agree that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches.
66% agree that their religious faith is very important in their life today.
64% contend that Satan is not a living being but is just a symbol of evil.
62% believe that a good person can earn eternal salvation.
51% believe that Jesus Christ sinned while He lived on earth.
61% say their single, most important purpose in life is to love God with all their heart, mind, strength and soul.
55% argue that they are totally committed to having a deeper relationship with God and will do whatever it takes to get and maintain that relationship.
66% say they are completely committed to making the world, and other peoples lives, better.
The Barna Group survey noted that one out of every five unchurched adults (21%) is a born again Christians. However, only 4% of unchurched adults possess a biblical worldview.
George Barna, who directed the study, also pointed out that a minority of unchurched adults has a biblical view of God. In addition, less than one out of five say that involvement in a community of faith is necessary to become a mature and complete person. Interestingly, nearly one-quarter of the unchurched (23%) say that a persons faith in God is meant to be developed mainly through involvement in a local church.
Demographic Profile
As has been the pattern throughout the two decades that Barna has been tracking religious belief and behavior in the U.S., men represent the majority of unchurched adults (55%). However, during the past decade there has been a significant increase in the percentage of women who avoid church activity.
The unchurched rate is highest in the Northeast (40%) and West (43%). It is also more common among single adults (43%) than married adults (28%). People groups with abnormally high levels of church avoidance include Asians (56%) and those who consider themselves to be mostly liberal on social and political issues (51%).
Connecting With the Unchurched
Having studied the growing numbers of unchurched adults in America for more than two decades, George Barna indicated that we are approaching one of the two times of year when massive numbers of the unchurched alter their pattern and attend a church service. Every year, many previously unchurched people return to a church for one or more Easter season services. More often than not, this is the result of one of two motivations: the compelling invitation of a close friend who accompanies them to the service, or a personal crisis that compels them to seek God more fervently. Impersonal marketing efforts generally have limited impact in persuading the unchurched to break their normal Sunday morning habits.
Barna also cited earlier research he had described in his book, Grow Your Church From the Outside In, which showed the unchurched have a different set of objectives when they return to a church than many church leaders might expect. These people tend to be less turned on by the music or preaching than by a sense of Gods presence even though they dont quite know how to explain or understand it and by the feeling that they are visiting a group of people who are a genuine community of loving and accepting individuals. We found that the sermon has less to do with their return to a church than their emotional experience with God and the people gathered.
Research Description and Definitions
The data in this report are based on interviews with 1003 adults from across the nation. These telephone surveys were conducted by The Barna Group, during January 2006, based upon a random sample of people 18 years of age and older living within the 48 continental states. The maximum margin of sampling error associated with the aggregate sample of adults is ±3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. In the research, the distribution of survey respondents corresponded to the geographic dispersion of the U.S. population. Multiple callbacks were used to increase the probability of including a reliable distribution of qualified individuals.
Born again Christians are defined as people who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as born again.
The Barna Group, Ltd. (which includes its research division, The Barna Research Group) is a privately held, for-profit corporation that conducts primary research, produces media resources pertaining to spiritual development, and facilitates the healthy spiritual growth of leaders, children, families and Christian ministries.
My usual response to this is, where are the hypocrites supposed to be?
I attend service every week. I'm also a Catholic in a small rural, southern town so I have a choice of Methodist, Southern Baptist and Episcopal Churches; the nearest Catholic church is 30 miles away. I attend the Episcopal Mass.
I'm Catholic. When we had an orthodox priest the church was packed. 625 in the pews and people standing. Now that he has moved on and we have a less orthodox priest, there are a lot of empty seats. It's disappointing.
And though I attended mass with my family on Christmas and Easter, I felt a bit superior, thinking I knew more than they did about God.
Then, many factors caused me to reconsider. One of them was the thought that if I knew so much about God, I should be sharing it with my neighbors and community.
So last year I signed up for RCIA classes and have been amazed at how little I knew about God, and about how much there was for me to learn from them! So,now I'm nearing Holy Week, and my entry into the church, and I feel more spirtiually invigorated than I have in years. I continue to attend my 12 step meetings, and they have been greatly enhanced because of my new RCIA experience.
We were not very active Catholics and joined a PCA church when we moved about 2 years ago. I love it, we hear the gospel everytime we go, and I look forward to service rather than dreading them. As for being spiritual and not attending a church, I'm sure it's possible, however for a Christian, it's not just about the individual, but about fellowship, and it's difficult to have that by yourself. I can see a HUGE difference in my spiritual life now that I am attending regularly and interacting with other Christian brothers and sisters.
susie
Chrisit, the great physician, came for those who were sick (are sick) not for those who are healed!
Check out the scripture. He wanted to reach the hypocrites of his day. Remember the cleansing of the Temple?
So true. Time to start praying for guidance in your parish and a return to the truth! I will pray!
Your story brings tears to my eyes! Welcome home!
May God bless you and your family during the Easter Vigil Mass and throughout the new year as a neophyte!
You can always come home to the
One
Holy
Catholic
and
Apostolic
Church!
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"Church is not a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners."
Or something to that effect.
We can all have our excuses for not congregating with others of our faith (before I was saved I said virtually the exact same things as others here have said). Instead of excuses why we don't do it, we most likely should involve ourselves and effect change, or even more radically, move to start our own group.
If people don't want to go to church, they should just say so, instead of feeling they have to denegrate all churches in order to justify themselves.
I have honestly found a church that feels like home when I walk in though, so I suspect everyone can.
susie
I attended Catholic services in Jan for my inlaws funerals. I had not been to one in about 3 years.
It was a beautiful service, however, even my lifelong Catholic husband who now attends a PCA church mentioned that the gospel was never mentioned. I don't have a problem with Catholics, and most of my family is, but it just doesn't seem to fit for me.
Bless you tho!
susie
Very nice post.
Same story here. :-( I attend mass every Sunday and all the holy days, but I always leave in tears. I found a website where there's a group who want to learn Latin. I joined. I want to be ready just in case our Bishops come to their senses and bring our Catholic churches back where they should be: i.e., Christ-centered and reverent!
The Gospel is proclaimed throughout the entire Mass. Specifically, the Gospel reading for the day is the culmination of the "Liturgy of the Word."
The whole fellowship thing is why I don't want to go to church.
Not everyone can handle groups. For some, it's more disturbing snd like taking a bath in a room full of strangers.
My literal Ah HA! momement was when minister started talking about the community, fellowship that you have to have and I thought "So THAT's the problem."
I'm not surprised that a large number of that 'unchurched' group is young unmarried adults. Folks will sometimes drift away from attending church when they're in college, or if they've moved away from their families. When they start having kids, they start thinking again in terms of church and a solid moral foundation for them.
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