Posted on 06/13/2004 1:28:28 PM PDT by freedom44
Ventura, CA) Since 1991, the adult population in the United States has grown by 15%. During that same period the number of adults who do not attend church has nearly doubled, rising from 39 million to 75 million – a 92% increase!
These startling statistics come from the most recent tracking study of religious behavior conducted by The Barna Group, a company that follows trends related to faith, culture and leadership in America. The latest study shows that the percentage of adults that is unchurched – defined as not having attended a Christian church service, other than for a holiday service, such as Christmas or Easter, or for special events such as a wedding or funeral, at any time in the past six months – has risen from 21% in 1991 to 34% today.
Demographic Distinctions
An examination of a dozen demographic attributes showed that unchurched adults differ from the churched population in at least four dimensions.
As might be expected, men dominate the ranks of the unchurched. Although they comprise slightly less than half of the national population, men constitute 55% of the unchurched. They represent only 38% of the born again public, indicating an even wider disparity between those who are most devoted to their faith and those who are least interested in such matters.
The unchurched are also younger than the norm. The median age of U.S. adults is 43, but it is just 38 among the unchurched. Born again adults are substantially older than either group (median: 46).
Corresponding to their younger age, the survey also found that unchurched people are more likely than other to be single and to never have been married. Whereas one-quarter of American adults (26%) are single-never-married, nearly two-fifths of the unchurched fit that definition (37%).
The unchurched are also attracted to the coastal regions of the nation. Although just four out of ten adults (42%) live in the Northeast or West, more than half of the unchurched (51%) live there. In fact, the two largest states in the nation – California and New York – contain 18% of the nation’s residents, but one-quarter of its unchurched adults (23%).
Religious Differences
A study of 18 different religious factors – nine behaviors and nine beliefs – found that the unchurched are different from the national average on every one. The gap is even bigger on 16 of the 18 factors between the unchurched and the born again public.
In a typical week, unchurched people are less likely than all adults to read the Bible (19% compared to 44%) and to pray (63% versus 83%), and they are less likely to have embraced Jesus Christ as their savior. One of the more surprising outcomes, however, is that while about half of the churched population has accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, one out of every six unchurched adults (17%) has done so, as well.
Interestingly, if the minority of unchurched adults who are born again were connected to a church, the resulting increase would be nearly 13 million new people – more than have joined the nation’s churches in the past decade combined.
Among the theological differences uncovered were that unchurched adults are less likely than others to believe the Bible is accurate, that Jesus was sinless, that Satan is real, that salvation is through the grace of God, and that God is the creator and present-day ruler of the universe.
Patterns Identified
Upon examining the data, the director of the study, author and researcher George Barna, concluded that unchurched adults are notable for three unique behavioral patterns.
“The unchurched are more likely than others to be somewhat isolated from the mainstream activities of the society in which they live,” he explained. “They see themselves as outsiders and often take refuge in that status. Evidence of this arms-length approach to life, beyond their refusal to participate in church life, includes lower levels of voter registration, less money donated to non-profit organizations, fewer non-profits supported, lower levels of media usage, and less engagement in community service activities.”
The second distinguishing characteristic was what Barna called their non-committal nature. “You can see this emotional and intellectual distancing of themselves through their more moderate ideology, their more ambiguous theological perspectives, a lower likelihood of embracing terms used to describe oneself (such as “generous,” “friendly” and “deeply spiritual”), a substantially lower level of self-professed commitment to their faith of choice, and their rejection of the idea of responsibility for nurturing other people’s faith.” Barna also noted that the high proportion of atheists and agnostics among the unchurched fits this pattern of distaste for finite or irrevocable choices.
The final attribute is the independence of the unchurched. In addition to having the highest likelihood of registering to vote but refusing to align with a political party, the data show the unchurched to be less likely to marry, less likely to have children (even when married) and being less loyal to organizations and products.
Challenges for the Faithful
Barna noted that to unchurched people embracing church life is “both counter-cultural and counter-intuitive.” Reaching out to unchurched people is difficult for born again Christians because the two groups have such different viewpoints and lifestyles. “Born again adults are more excited about a church’s strengths and more forgiving of its weaknesses, more disposed to spiritual growth, and less skeptical of theological and biblical claims. They neither see nor understand the obstacles that impede the unchurched. Addressing the reticence of the unchurched takes more than prayer and hard work: it requires a lot of deep reflection to see the world and the local church from a completely different angle.
“Unchurched people are not just lazy or uniformed,” the researcher continued. “They are wholly disinterested in church life – often passionately so. Stirring worship music won’t attract them because worship isn’t even on their radar screen. More comfortable pews cannot compete with the easy chair or the bed that already serve the unchurched person well. Church events cannot effectively compete with what the world has to offer. The only thing the Church can provide that no one else has is a life-changing, practical encounter – and on-going relationship – with the living God and with people transformed by similar encounters. Until such a connection is made, focusing on features, programs and benefits other than such a life-shaping encounter is more likely to lose ground than to gain it.”
Barna noted that the millions of young unchurched have no understanding of or interest in a church, even if it is “contemporary” in style. “Millions of young adults are more interested in truth, authenticity, experiences, relationships and spirituality than they are in laws, traditions, events, disciplines, institutions and religion. The confluence of preconceived notions, past experiences and evolving lifestyles and values means that existing churches simply cannot reach millions of today’s unchurched people. The rapidly swelling numbers of unchurched people may be forcing existing churches to reinvent their core spiritual practices while holding tightly to their core spiritual beliefs. It will take radically new settings and experiences to effectively introduce unchurched individuals to biblical principles and practices.”
Research Methodology
The data for the annual tracking survey on church attendance by The Barna Group is based upon telephone interviews with a nationwide random sample of 1014 adults conducted in late January and early February of 2004. The maximum margin of sampling error associated with the aggregate sample is ±3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All non-institutionalized adults in the 48 continental states were eligible to be interviewed and the distribution of respondents coincided with the geographic dispersion of the U.S. adult population. The data were subjected to slight statistical weighting procedures to calibrate the survey base to national ethnic and gender proportions. Households selected for inclusion in the survey sample received multiple callbacks to increase the probability of obtaining a representative distribution of adults.
Count me as one of the unchurched. Raised Baptist, but left the church when I left home. I'm happy for people who have found something worthwhile in the religious experience. It just never worked for me.
Ditto. 25 years as a Lutheran, 15 more as a Roman Catholic.
As my favorite priest quipped, "It's be a great Church if it weren't for the parishoners." (Said during a discussion about church councils.)
Golf?
Being "unchurched" in no way means having "left the faith". In my view, Church is basically a crutch for those whose faith constantly needs "boosting". God/Christ is everywhere.
I've always had the opinion that how you live your life, how you treat others, etc. was more important than the number of times you attend church each week. But that's just me.
FMCDH(BITS)
Bump to that FRiend.
FMCDH(BITS)
Did you know John Kerry served in Vietnam?
I am unchurched. The last two churches that I attended were closed by the denomination. The first closing was justified, while the second closing in my opinion was not. The last church I attended was a small but spiritually vital church. It was entirely self-sustaining financially. It was closed and eventually re-opened by the denomination with a black pastor and a black congregation. The closing and reopening was planned all along but the stories that the board gave us did not jive with reality. This was done by the Laodicean church, I mean the Assemblies of God. I attend some churches now and then, stilling looking for qualities that my previous church had, but it seems like there are more spiritual massage parlors than there are true churches.
I haven't been churched in a while, but I haven't been whorehoused in far longer. (But I just had to deli myself a couple hours ago.)
I agree.
So you're saying that the Apostles, who regularly met for woship/prayer/study with other believers (the early church) needed a crutch to boost their weak faith?
Happy trails to you..
I agree. Many of the churches I've been to get wrapped in moral crusades that are totally unscriptual (such as "no playing cards" or "no dancing").
Then there are always the folks that are trying to get you to volunteer your time so *they* can look good in front of the congregation.
Others I've been to are little more than lonely hearts clubs and filled with morally weak people (I mean, do I really need to spend two hours a week to "discover" that something like cheating on your spouse is wrong?)
Also, sitting around talking about "feelings" and "life experiences" doesn't really do it for me.
I did manage to find one good church back when I lived in Texas. (I really didn't do to the church, just the sunday school group). We actually did stuff after church like go to lunch together, social events, etc.... It was a lot of fun.
I'm unchurched as well, but hardly irreligious. Churches were fine in a time when illiteracy was the order of the day; it was a means whereby religious knowledge could be imparted to the masses. But dogma and mindless ceremony have never held any kind of allure for me.
LOL! That's a good way to put it.
I think there is a famine for the Word of God and a lack of love for the truth.The "Gen X" and "Millennial" crowd that are moving into the new experiences of the church find that in their claims of having a "passion" for Jesus there is very little biblical grounding and a large degree of sensuality (walking by feelings and experiences) in their relationship with the Lord.
My desire was and is to read the Word, over and over, through the OT and the NT. We are called by the Lord to consider the cost of discipleship, and if we chose to pay the price, then our desire for the Lord should continue to grow.
It seems to me there is a lack of discernment of the dangers that we all face as believers, the many false teaching which are being introduced into mainstream churches. Between the so-called “Praise Music”, which has all the depth of a child’s wading pool, to the 15-minute, feel-good sermons, I’ve almost given up hope of finding a Christian church that has real substance.
This generation (which has grown up watching TV) responds more to the visual and sensory message. Witness the “production numbers”, complete with a band and singers wearing headsets, strutting around the stage during church services. Change the words and you’ve got a rock concert. I've gotten up and walked out of several services...mainstream Christian churches that I was visiting in the hope of finding one that actually worshipped Jesus Christ, not their own creations of music and words.
It should be the truth of the Word of God that will impact and change their lives as they walk by faith and not by sight (their experiences). But now "truth" is whatever the individual or community believes it is. Postmoderns now insist that truth is no longer "over and above us" and cannot be conveyed across cultures and over time. They believe each community can have its own “truth.”
Therefore, contradiction is not only inevitable, but abounds; contradiction in spirituality is not only acceptable, but welcome. Augustine's dictum, "All truth is God's truth" has been altered to mean, "Everybody's truth is God's truth."
Just my opinion; means nothing to anyone but me.
"...it seems like there are more spiritual massage parlors than there are true churches."
Outstanding line...wish I'd thought of that!
I'm glad someone figured this out. Maybe it'll be the end of the "cool church" ads I keep seeing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.