People are More Normal than You THINK! part 2
There are a few good things about denominations......
900 words – 3 minutes
One good thing about denominations, they can often pay for research that a single church can’t.
(About half the churches I serve are not a member of any denomination. Most of the other half may be, but act like they are not.) see my p.s. at the end.
Recently the Episcopal Church in the USA conducted research relevant to other leaders.
Why this is important: As in the previous column in this area - when congregants believe that their neighbors and co-workers are so different from them, they will fear engaging them about the things of God, put this in the “people are more normal than you think” category. These survey results illustrate that again.
The survey interviews late last year and included over 3000 adults over 18 and representative of society, including language, race, region, gender, and more.
Here are a few highlights and my editorial comments:
Finding: Around 2/3 of the people have been a part of a religious congregation either now or in the past. Among those that call themselves “Evangelical,” – 84% have.
About 1/3rd said they had no religious experience.
Commentary: They may not have liked their experience, but they have some background in some religious community. While certain traditions and experiences can seem awkward, many Americans have some membership now or formerly in a community of worship.
Some of the terms are not defined, but people are more church broken in than you think. Those churches that think they are addressing those with “absolutely no religious background” address the smaller market.
Finding: Most Americans (68%) say they are not involved in a religious community, church, mosque, synagogue, or temple.
Commentary: Yep. While 2/3 have been a part of one at some point, they aren’t now mostly. So they generally have a background but are not engaged. There are nominal Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, etc. But mostly nominal Christians.
It’s like the shoe salesman in the land where no one has shoes. The potential is there. Most likely, your neighbor is not engaged in any religious house of worship.
Finding: Those that claim to be “Evangelical” did show a higher rate of being a current member or participant in a house of worship (63%), the highest percentage of any religious grouping. If you look at those of “other religions,” not Christians, that participation rate drops to 20%.
Commentary: In every religious tradition, there is room for growth.
Finding: “The majority of Americans (84%) believe Jesus was an important spiritual figure, even those Americans who identify as not religious or have no religion (50%).”
Commentary: Most Americans have a sense of who Jesus is. They may not understand him as you do, but they know that He is an important figure.
For those following the “He Gets Us” campaign, it builds itself around the person of Jesus.
Lifting up Jesus is always the right strategy.
Finding: “Nine in ten Christians say Jesus is an important figure in their life (88%). Black (93%) and LatinX (91%) Christians are more likely to say Jesus is an important figure in their lives than White Christians (86%), although he is still an important figure for the vast majority of white Christians.”
Commentary: Remember the data point here asked Christians.
Finding: Who has shaped your view of Jesus. Top answers for all in the survey: Parents – 48%, Religious Figures – 35% (like a pastor or priest), Religious Community – 33%, Friends – 29%.
Commentary: The parental and religious figure is no surprise. But I note that among evangelicals, 43% said friends, a much higher percentage. The key to outreach could be the natural friendship pathways to explain the teachings and love of Christ. That was about the same (45%) as religious figures.
So preaching works, but so does friendship. And strengthening the role of parents with children is also needed.
More after the ad
Usually, I run an ad for my monthly Legacy Series Webinar here. But this month, my workload due to client commitments is heavy leaving no time to do the webinar.
Instead, I have a video link to a 12-minute conversation with Toby Slough, former Lead Pastor of Cross Timbers Church. I had the honor of working with that congregation over the last few years with their plan. Toby has now become the “Legacy Pastor” of the church he started. It is an option that many choose.
Learn more in the video about how it went for them, what he learned about himself, and what he will do next.
Also, I have a 20-point Succession Overview checklist for FREE if you want a copy. This checklist will get you started.
The full checklist is over 110 items, but why scare you at this point?
To get a copy, just email me at Dave.Travis@generis.com.
Story continues
Finding: Evangelicals reported they mostly attend once or twice a month or more (65%), vs. 35% a few times a year or less. At the same time, Catholic and Mainline identifiers tend to reverse those percentages. Remember – these figures were in late 2021.
When asked about “pre-pandemic” attendance, the figures were only about five points higher. There was a dramatic increase among Evangelicals that now report higher online attendance than pre-pandemic.
Commentary: We can see this over many years of other studies, frequency of attendance is down. But if you are evangelical, it is not as bad as other traditions. Not sure that is much to brag about. I am not an expert on their data, but reading it does show that online attendance has a consistent audience.
I encourage you to link to the press release here and the survey topline in-depth questions and answers here.
The press release shades the results towards political and social view stances. The sponsors paid for it, and it is their right to use it in any way they want. But dig into the actual results for some interesting reading and do some analysis.
P.S.: OK, full disclosure – for 8 years, I was a Southern Baptist Associational Missionary outside Atlanta. It was a significant role that I loved, but when Leadership Network allowed me to work across 100 different denominations and the country, I went for it. I am still in the same SBC church I joined in 1984. But my allegiance is to Christ, not a denomination.