11: This Is How They Roll
THIS IS HOW THEY ROLL
The Lifestyle Choices and Activities of the Unchurched
In this chapter, we will examine the activities and lifestyle choices of unchurched people —but to avoid burying the most significant insight, here’s the big headline: There’s often not much of a difference between the churched and the churchless when it comes to lifestyle choices. Keep this in mind as we look at how churchless people spend their time.
Our research reveals that the most common activities undertaken by unchurched people —other than eating, sleeping, and working —relate to media use. Like churched adults, the churchless are infatuated with media content, spending more than ten hours each day consuming information from various forms of media. The younger an individual is, the more likely she is to consume input from two or more media sources simultaneously —commonly referred to as “multitasking.” Because this is such a key area, we’ll look at media habits in more detail later in this chapter.
What other activities occupy the time of the churchless? A majority of unchurched people have conversations with other people about things that are meaningful to them. For instance, they are about as likely as churched people to discuss moral issues or situations with others; half (51 percent) had done so during the week prior to their survey interview. And even though they are not church attenders, one-quarter (24 percent) also talked with someone about matters of faith and religious beliefs. That’s only a bit less than the proportion of churched adults who did so —though it may be that the conversations differed considerably between the two groups.
Less common but nevertheless widespread activities during a typical week include using profanity in public (39 percent), buying lottery tickets or placing bets (23 percent), and drinking enough alcohol to be considered legally intoxicated (22 percent). The figures for public profanity and drunkenness are notably higher than is found among the churched (23 percent and 7 percent, respectively), but the nearly one-fourth who participated in gambling is close to the same in both camps.
Even fewer members of the churchless population admit to gossiping (13 percent), boycotting products or brands (12 percent), having sexual intercourse or a physical relationship with someone to whom they are not married (11 percent), getting revenge against someone who had hurt or offended them (10 percent), lying (8 percent), or stealing (one percent) in the past week.
Common Activities During the Week
Activity
Unchurched
Churched
Recycled used products/materials
65%
68%
Changed your lifestyle to have a more positive impact on the environment
53
58
Conversation about a specific moral issue or situation
51
57
Used profanity in public
39
23
Intentionally exposed to media that showed explicit or uncensored sexual content
29
16
Conversation about faith with someone who believed differently than you
24
34
Bought a lottery ticket or placed a bet
23
19
Drank enough alcohol to be considered legally drunk or intoxicated
22
7
Gossiped/said mean or untrue things to other people about someone who was not present
13
12
Intentionally boycotted/did not buy a specific product or brand as a protest
12
12
Had an intimate sexual encounter or physical relationship with someone to whom you are not married
11
9
Took actions to take revenge/get back at someone who had hurt or offended you
10
8
Told something to someone that you knew was not the truth
8
13
Stole something that did not belong to you
1
2
Apart from church-related activities and a handful of other behaviors, the unchurched lifestyle is not substantially different from that of churched people. Churchless people tend to live a somewhat “edgier” life —they are more likely to use profanity, get drunk, or view immodest images via the media. But their social interactions —their conversations about faith and morals, and the likelihood of their engaging in behaviors such as gossip, lying, or sexual activity outside of marriage —are all but indistinguishable from churchgoers.
A Closer Look at Media Consumption
Churchless and churched people consume a similar amount of media content in a given day. But do they consume content from the same media? A 2014 study we conducted evaluated how often people use a particular medium to gather new information. In that study, we found that the two groups have a similar media profile as reflected in the following table.
Media Used in a Typical Day
Medium used
Unchurched
Churched
Internet websites
56%
57%
Network television
50
58
Cable television
48
53
Social media
42
36
Mobile/smart phone
41
47
Radio
38
41
Newspapers
24
28
Physical books
14
21
Electronic books
6
6
Magazines
6
10
Source: Barna Group OmniPoll January-February 2014; 297 churched (weekly), 556 unchurched
The two groups are equally likely to subscribe to cable or satellite television service and premium movie channels. In the past year, they watched virtually the same number of movies in a theater; viewed an identical number of televised movies from the comfort of their home; and watched the same number of movies via DVDs, Blu-ray discs, videos, or streaming. Even the number of movies watched in each category of MPAA ratings was nearly identical.
The unchurched emerged as more likely to view media they know contains explicit or uncensored sexual content. Three out of every ten churchless people (29 percent) said that in the past week they had intentionally viewed explicit or uncensored sexual content, compared to about one in six of the churched (16 percent).
Further, we learned that churched adults are somewhat more likely to filter media content to reduce the amount of objectionable material they see. About half of the churched, compared to one-third of the unchurched, said that in the previous week they had turned off a television program because it contained values, morals, or points of view they did not appreciate. Similarly, we discovered that churched people were nearly twice as likely as the unchurched (26 percent versus 14 percent, respectively) to choose not to watch a particular movie solely because the rating for the film indicated that it contained objectionable material.
Overall, then, the choice of media, the frequency of use, and how much time is devoted to media consumption varies little between the two groups. There are, however, slight differences in the content each group is willing to accept.
Self-Improvement and Sacrifice
When it comes to lifestyle choices, what most distinguishes the unchurched from the churched relates to self-improvement and personal sacrifice. These groups approach personal enhancement differently, and the unchurched are notably less willing to sacrifice their resources for the good of others.
Self-Improvement Efforts
Activity done for self-improvement
Unchurched
Churched
Obey the Ten Commandments
31%
20%
Admit I cannot do it alone, need God’s help
23
26
Get advice or help from others I trust/respect
15
16
Implement New Year’s resolutions
11
7
Force/train self to think/act differently
8
9
Follow the rules/guidelines/advice in the Bible
5
15
Consult media sources (book, website, etc.) for help, insight, or steps toward change
2
4
Most Americans claim they make an effort to improve themselves. How? That’s where it gets interesting. While the two segments reflect surprisingly similar strategies for personal growth, the most common strategy employed by the unchurched is trying harder to obey the Ten Commandments. This approach was named by one-third of the churchless (31 percent) . . . and by just one-fifth of the churched (20 percent)! The churched (15 percent) were more likely than the unchurched (5 percent) to improve themselves by trying to follow the rules in the Bible, but one-quarter of each group said they seek self-improvement by asking God to help them grow.
Six out of ten unchurched people gave some type of spiritual response when we asked them about the foundation for their self-improvement efforts. A similar proportion of churched adults offered a spiritually based answer, but their responses were distributed a bit differently.
One definition of self-improvement includes a willingness to address the needs of others and be generous with personal resources. When it comes to service and sacrifice, there is a marked difference in the choices of the churched and unchurched. One out of five unchurched people does not donate any time during a typical month to help people or organizations. Among those who do, the average amount of time donated is five hours per month. That’s half as much time as most churched people, and the base of churched volunteers is considerably larger (only 3 percent fail to volunteer in a typical month).
Similarly, donating money is a struggle for the unchurched. Over the course of a year, churched people give away a median of $500 compared to $100 given by churchless people. The mean aggregate donation also shows a big disparity: $1,548 per year among the churched compared to $468 among the unchurched.
Reflections on Unchurched Lifestyles
When the unchurched observe the way most churched people live, they don’t see much of a difference from themselves. The distinctions revealed by the data in most areas are not large enough to cause much notice. (It may be worth noting that the areas where the churched and churchless differ the most —including consumption of sexually explicit media, volunteerism, and giving —are frequently choices made privately rather than public behaviors that might affect others’ perceptions.) The similarities between the churched and the churchless offer to us a rebuke and an opportunity.
The rebuke is obvious and may be the first thing that comes to your mind: If churchgoers are no different in so many categories from the unchurched, our lives don’t offer much incentive to become one of us. Jesus told his disciples, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own” (John 15:19), and Paul challenged the church in Rome, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Christ’s followers are called to be and live differently from the surrounding culture. With the help of the Holy Spirit, local faith communities must engage in some honest self-reflection to identify the ways we are conforming rather than being transformed.
Yet the similarities between the churched and the churchless also offer us an opportunity. When we think about how to connect with unchurched people, we may fare best when we offer them the same types of opportunities and experiences that appeal to us. In this sense, reaching the unchurched becomes an application of the Golden Rule: Do to the churchless what you would want them to do to you, if your roles were reversed.
Don’t miss the fact that when the unchurched ponder how to become better human beings, a majority admit their best strategies revolve around God: obeying his rules, relying on his power and guidance, leaning into his grace, imitating the behaviors of Bible heroes, and so on. This is where churches can help. Churches are in a unique position to show people the way to Christ and all that he offers: new life, a new identity, a new set of values, restored relationships, new types of goals. As we’ll see in more detail in chapter 14, there’s no question that being a part of a church typically enriches people both spiritually and relationally. When the unchurched come looking for a better way of life, churches can show the way.
Forward Thinking
• In what ways does your faith community stand out from the surrounding culture? In what ways do you blend in?
• How can your church follow the Golden Rule when it comes to connecting with unchurched people?
• How is your church equipping people to consume media wisely? How can you be a resource for both churched and unchurched people who want to think critically about their media consumption?