70% of America is Protestant, or unchurched but from Protestant background.
25% of America belongs to a Protestant church (let alone attends one.)
Therefore, 45% of Americans are unchurched Protestants.
27% of Americans are Catholics, or are unchurched but from Catholic backgrounds.
23% of Americans belong to a Catholic church.
The number of Americans belonging to a Catholic church has been growing steadily.
Therefore, about 4% of Americans are unchurched people from Catholic backgrounds. Another 13% are Catholics who do not attend Church regularly.
Given the fact that unchurched Protestants so vastly outnumber unchurched Catholics, isn't it strange that such a preponderous portion of Protestant "converts" are from Catholic backgrounds? Why can't Protestant outreach ministry reach their own?
A few suggestions:
Catholics actually do believe that the bible is the source of their faith, and continue to believe it after they quit church. Catholics fall away largely because they dislike the moral requirements; they've lost faith in the Church, not in the bible; they just don't know how to live up to the bible. Protestant apologetics typically presume a belief in the inerrancy of the bible. This is an effective basis for converting such "disobedient" Catholics, allowing them to find the Christianity and community they miss and the faith they still believe in, but either without the moral structures they dislike, or with better instruction in living up to them. It is, however, useless for converting non-Christians, since appealing to the bible as a source for arguments is only effective if people believe in the bible. It's a hard habit to break; the New Testament's apologetics were largely written to Hellenized Jews who had already accepted the validity of the scriptures, so it's the method of evangelism familiar to sola-scriptura types. This is why the stereotype of "bible-thumping" exists.
Advice to Protestants: to convert non-Catholics, focus on meeting and enlarging the godly desires instilled into all men.
Advice to Catholics: to retain Catholics, or expand their faithfulness, forget all the social justice crap. Focus on how to overcome foibles, sinfulness, and doubt.
this is generally true for those who have no interest in an authority for living outside of themselves, but it isn't true for those non-Christians who have lived their lives by their own wisdom, or by their own lusts, and finally ran out of gas and discovered the folly of it all. I know a number of people who became Christians (into Baptist and Charismatic churches) out of non-Christian/non-churched backgrounds simply because their lives had hit the wall and that recognizing that there was an authority higher than themselves found in the God of the scriptures was way more appealing than living their directionless lives.
I'd wager that the lion's share, if not all, of that growth in total, are among people speaking Spanish. Something over 10 million illegals are 99% Roman Catholic.
You may be partially right about growth among evangelical protestants being ex Roman Catholics. Every evangelical Presbyterian church I've attended has a large share of converted Catholics. I use the word "converted" carefully, as most I've talked with have a born again experience--something they never had in the Roman church. Typically Roman Catholics I know struggle with guilt...as their religious background gives them firm moral standards, which they know they don't measure up to. This "lack of self-worth" (guilt) pushes them to know Christ as a personal Savior--something they never understood from Rome.
In the Protestant "conversions" to Roman Catholicism, I cannot say I've heard of people becoming "born again" hence, it seems "conversion" is the wrong word. If you are a believing Christian already, and then change your church, and even many of your beliefs, finding a "home" so to speak, "conversion" is not the most accurate term to use.
Not so.
God's Word is invested with power.
By His Word He spoke everything into being. "In the beginning God created....The Word was God...All things were made by Him."
God says, "My Word shall not return unto me void, but will accomplish..."
Jesus says, "My sheep hear my voice..."
I'm not trying to convince anyone, as if some rational argument will turn them to Jesus. It simply doesn't work that way. I'm simply confronting them with God's Word. He will do any work in that person.
How can they hear without a preacher? How beautiful on the mountain are the feet of those who bring Good News!