Very Interesting Numbers
By klyphmac On August 2nd, 2008 in Church Growth, Church Life, Culture, Evangelism, Favorite Blogs, Ministry /
One of my favorite blogs (Church Relevance) posted these Interesting Stats:
Thom S. Ranier’s book Surprising Insights from the Unchurched. It discusses the following three surveys.
Top 13 Reasons that Unchurched People Choose a Church
(research conducted by Ranier)
- 90% – Pastor/Preaching
- 88% – Doctrines
- 49% – Friendliness of Members
- 42% – Other Issues
- 41% – Someone Church Witnessed to Me
- 38% – Family Member
- 37% – Sensed God’s Presence/Atmosphere of Church
- 25% – Relationship Other than Family Member
- 25% – Sunday School Class
- 25% – Children’s/Youth Ministry
- 12% – Other Groups/Ministries
- 11% – Worship Style/Music
- 7% – Location
Top 9 Reasons that Church-Attenders Choose a Church
(research conducted by the Barna Group in 1999)
- 58% – Doctrine/Theology
- 53% – People Caring for Each Other
- 52% – Preaching
- 45% – Friendliness
- 45% – Children’s Programs
- 43% – Helping the Poor
- 36% – Denomination
- 35% – Like the Pastor
- 26% – Sunday School
Top 6 Things that Keep the Formerly Unchurched Active in the Church
(research conducted by Ranier)
- 62% – Ministry Involvement
- 55% – Sunday School
- 54% – Obedience to God
- 49% – Fellowship of Members
- 38% – Pastor/Preaching
- 14% – Worship Services
What was most intersting about these numbers in your opinion? What is most surprising?
Edzo Says: August 2nd, 2008 at 5:54 AM
For list # 1, Klyphmac not withstanding, I’m surprised that “the holy man” ranks # 1. I thought numbers 3, 7 & 10 would be much higher followed by 11 & 12. Being a worship leader I’d like to think I have a greater impact!
List # 2 seems about right to my sensibilities but I think you’ll see an increase in # 5. Having programs for the children seems to be so very important to folks, both churched and not.
List # 3, I thought, hands down that # 3 would have been the runaway winner. God has been working on me regarding obedience and discipline, executing and living by fundamental (can I use that word without fear of retribution?) practices like Bible study, daily prayer and meditating on Scripture, etc. I believe that acting in obedience to God drives our desire to become and remain involved in the church. As James said in his epistle, “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead.” (James 2:20) To that point, if the Great Commission is to 1) go into all the world and preach the Gospel and 2) make new disciples then perhaps it’s a discipling issue that obedience isn’t topping the list. Young believers learn how to be obedient by learning from older believers who are living their walk with Christ and sharing their experience. Maybe we should learn to do more?
Then again, I’ve been awake for 26 straight hours…
Be blessed!
naomi Says: August 8th, 2008 at 8:33 AM
I find the statistics interesting. People are always looking for “whats in it for them” and if you look at the top few answers in each one of those categories you can see that even in the church people are looking to see what is in it for them. What can they get out of the church or what can they get into at the church. It also should show us that we need have more things people can get “into” available at the church. Programs / events / small groups etc that will draw people in and get them involved and make them feel like they belong.
Just my 2 cents…