Churchless: Understanding Today's Unchurched and How to Connect with Them
Churchless people are all around us: among our closest loved ones, at our workplaces, in our neighborhoods. And more and more, they are becoming the norm: The number of churchless adults in the US has grown by nearly one-third in the past decade. Yet the startling truth is that many of these people claim they are looking for a genuine, powerful encounter with God—but they just don’t find it in church. What are they (or we) missing? How can we better reach out to them? What can we say or do that would inspire them to want to join a community of faith? Containing groundbreaking new research from the Barna Group, and edited by bestselling authors George Barna (Revolution) and David Kinnaman (You Lost Me), Churchless reveals the results of a five-year study based on interviews with thousands of churchless men and women. Looking past the surface of church attendance to deeper spiritual realities, Churchless will help us understand those who choose not to be part of a church, build trust-based relationships with them, and be empowered to successfully invite them to engage.
Top Highlights
“Nearly half of churchless people attribute their lack of church attendance to an absence of value.” (source)
“A good place to start is by creating an honest and safe place for people to wrestle with doubts and questions, so they can discover for themselves —while still remaining connected to the Christian community —that historic Christianity offers compelling answers to life’s most important issues.” (source)
“If we perceive the gap between ‘us’ and ‘them’ as wide and essentially uncrossable, we are less likely to get close enough to offer ourselves in real relationships.” (source)
“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.” (source)
“Unchurched adults tend not to invest much energy in deepening their relationship with God.” (source)
Product Details
- Title : Churchless: Understanding Today's Unchurched and How to Connect with Them
- Authors:
- Barna, George
- Kinnaman, David
- Publisher: Tyndale Momentum
- Publication Date: 2014
- ISBN: 9781414395982