7: Born Again and Unchurched
BORN AGAIN AND UNCHURCHED
The Paradox of Trusting Christ but Not the Local Church
The first time George showed a colleague the draft of an article he’d written that included a paragraph about the substantial number of unchurched born-again adults, the colleague returned the document with that paragraph circled in red. “I’m sure glad you had me read this,” he said, smiling. “Boy, would you be embarrassed if this ever got printed.” When George told him the information was accurate, he stared in shock. “Oh,” he finally said, and walked away.
Many people have a similar reaction when they learn that one out of six unchurched adults is born again. We have encountered pastors who hear this statistic and argue it’s just not possible both to rely on Jesus for eternal grace and to intentionally avoid involvement in a local church. Yet many of these ardent believers have chosen to disassociate from a church they believe is too different from the family of faith they see in the Bible. (In chapter 8 we’ll look more closely at reasons why these born-again believers and other de-churched individuals have left the church.) Their salvation is firmly intact and is unrelated to their church attendance, despite the fact that many churches and church leaders act as if those two issues are inextricably joined.
Not a New Pattern
For twenty-plus years, Barna Group has tracked the church engagement of churchless adults who meet the born-again criteria we use in our studies. The growth of their numbers has gathered momentum in recent years. Two decades ago, just 8 percent of born-again Christians did not attend church. Since then, the figure has doubled to 16 percent.
Born-again adults —again, a classification based not on self-identification but on their having made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is important in their life, and believing that they will go to heaven because they have confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their Savior —constitute a group of about 18 million people. If all of them returned to the local church in the next five years, the influx would represent the largest immigration into Christian churches during any five-year period in US history. Looked at differently, if those believers returned and were spread evenly across the nation’s 320,000 or so conventional Protestant churches, every congregation would grow by an average of more than fifty adults. Since the median size of congregations is slightly more than one hundred adults, most churches would grow by almost half their current size.
While the return of the entire group is improbable, the return of a sizeable number of them is not. Compared to other churchless adults, the born-again subgroup is considerably more open to reconnecting with a church family. Consider this comparison between the two portions of the unchurched universe.
Compared to the non-born-again unchurched, those who are both churchless and born again are more likely to:
This profile does not mean de-churched born agains are looking for a church home, but it does suggest that of all the segments within the unchurched population, this subgroup is most likely to consider returning to regular church engagement.
Reflections on Churchless Born Agains
According to our data, born-again unchurched people are most likely to return to church through a discussion in their home with a trusted church leader; by attending a high-quality concert or seminar sponsored by the church; or in response to a pastor’s sermon(s) on CD or podcast heard prior to visiting a church. They are most likely to consider a church that has a reputation for helping the poor in the community and for providing hands-on, realistic counsel and assistance to young people.
Most unchurched born agains lean toward connecting with a small or midsized congregation —but they usually return to a large church. The most common reason for this paradoxical behavior is that large churches are more likely to engage in outreach efforts like those described above. In addition, most born-again churchless people are seeking a broad range of outreach and in-reach ministry options.
Be warned: Churchless born agains are not interested in being pressured into immediate engagement. They left the fold before, and they will do it again if they feel they are being manipulated to participate in programs or activities merely to help an organization reach its quantitative goals. If they return, it will be for spiritual and relational reasons; they do not want to be numbers on the bottom line or cogs in the machine.
Forward Thinking
• Before reading this chapter, were you aware of the large number of born-again unchurched people in America? Do you know any churchless born-again Christians? If so, what are their reasons for staying disengaged from the church?
• Imagine you are an unchurched born-again Christian. What would you find appealing about your faith community? What might deter you from visiting or getting involved?
• What does your church need to do differently to connect with churchless born agains? What are the obstacles? How will you overcome them?