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Surprising Insights from the Unchurched and Proven Ways to Reach Them
We've read all the hot books on evangelism, we've attended scores of seminarsand still we're not reaching the unchurched. Eighty to ninety percent of churchless Americans will never darken our culturally relevant, seeker-sensitive doors. What are we missing?
Maybe we've been asking the wrong people. Instead of consulting the unchurched masses, it's time we heard what the small but important minority who have recently begun attending a church have to say. What made the difference for them? What critical factors helped spark their faith in Jesus and drew them into the community of believers?
Thom S. Rainer, dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth, shares the results and conclusions of his school's groundbreaking survey of the formerly unchurched. At last, here are proven insights into what evangelistically effective churches are doing right. Flying in the face of much contemporary wisdom, the answers will surprise you.
This is truly one of the most valuable resources you can own as a church leader. Filled with charts, graphs, and other visual aids, plus an abundance of true-life accounts, this book explodes common myths about the unchurched. You'll discover
Why pastors and doctrinal preaching are critical
The enormous influence of family and relationships
Which things matter more than we'd thought, and which matter less
What causes visitors to return
The traits of unchurched-reaching leaders
How to preach effectively to the unchurched
How to become a church for the unchurched
And much, much more
This eye-opening compendium of information includes reproducible appendices that can help you fine-tune or even restructure your church. From one of the nations foremost authorities on evangelism and church growth, here are insights and tools that will change the way you think of and deal withand winunchurched men and women who long to connect with God.
Photocopyable material includes
Unchurched-Reaching Readiness Inventory
Church Health Survey
MP3 Book
First published January 1, 2001
34 people are currently reading
188 people want to read
About the author
Thom S. Rainer
132 books138 followersThom S. Rainer is the founder and CEO of Church Answers and Executive Director of Revitalize Network. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama where he received his degree in business administration. He received both the master of divinity and the Ph.D. degrees from Southern Seminary.
Dr. Rainer has served as pastor of four churches. He is the former president of Rainer
Group consulting. He served for twelve years as dean at Southern Seminary and for thirteen years as the president and CEO of LifeWay Çhristian Resources.
Dr. Rainer has authored or co-authored 33 books. Among his greatest joys are his family: his wife Nellie Jo; three sons, Sam, Art, and Jess; and eleven grandchildren.
Dr. Rainer has served as pastor of four churches. He is the former president of Rainer
Group consulting. He served for twelve years as dean at Southern Seminary and for thirteen years as the president and CEO of LifeWay Çhristian Resources.
Dr. Rainer has authored or co-authored 33 books. Among his greatest joys are his family: his wife Nellie Jo; three sons, Sam, Art, and Jess; and eleven grandchildren.
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June 10, 2019
This year's installment of books from the perspective of the enemy. This one is actually substantially better than a lot of these religious books I read, in that the author is actually applying measurements and simple statistics to attempt to answer some questions - you know, actually reality and stuff. Of course it's being applied to more effectively propagate nonsense, but nevertheless, kudos for actually trying.
One of the things that struck me was how utterly unsurprising the insights were, in contrast to the title of the book. For example, those people who are already primed for belief, that were already looking for whatever they think religion has to offer, were by far the most susceptible targets for proselytization. Men are frequently dragged into the church by their religious wives, and other family connections work as chum hooks as well. Take this quote for example: "One of the many surprises of our study was that one of the best connections to reach the unchurched was Christian wives reaching their unchurched husbands." The fuck you say! How could that possibly be surprising? People also have that stupid fucking idea that children need to be brought up with a religious upbringing, or else they won't be able to have morals, one of the facets of belief in belief. This is of course a pretty reprehensible position, due to it's implication that the non-religious are inherently immoral, an accusation I have had leveled at me numerous times. So yeah, I take this fucking personally. It is utterly bizarre to me that many people will claim the moral high ground while simultaneously claiming that their morals are dictated to them by some imaginary higher power, rather than being arrived at by actually thinking about them deeply, and arriving at a moral position because it is moral to do so. But I digress.
For a substantial portion of this book, the author remains coy about any specific doctrines, however the nasty truth is revealed with the discussions around the need to be theologically conservative and being Biblically based. So what does that mean? It can be difficult to know exactly what people mean when they make either of those claims, because people who claim to base their beliefs on the Bible actually always pick and choose what they actually want, and throw out anything that is inconvenient, especially if it is from the Old Testament, or of they consider it culturally irrelevant. So do they follow the rules about dietary restrictions, not mixing fibers in cloth, stoning for disobeying one’s parents (although I am pretty sure a lot of Christian conservatives would secretly like to do this), and gathering sticks on the Sabbath? No, of course they don't, and the same fucking excuse is given every time: "oh, that's the Old Testament", and yet they simultaneously claim that this book is the inerrant word of God, eternal in nature. As an ex-insider now outsider, who still has ties to many conservative Christians, I can only infer from what they do and say, to figure out what theologically conservative means.
There are a few clear features.
1) An intense and passionate hatred of sex, except when confined within the narrow strictures of their patriarchal social structure. Anything that doesn't fit within their black and white view of reality is considered deviant, or even outright evil. Thus a hatred for gays, lesbians, transgender, and a stubborn inability to understand that sexuality is a spectrum, not a dichotomy. I don't believe the fucking bullshit line "Hate the sin but love the sinner." That is nothing but a smokescreen to allow them to push for social norms that oppress those who don't fit into their narrow world view, while patting themselves on the back for being Christlike. This of course extends to their anti-choice stance which at its core is about punishing people, or more specifically women, for having sex.
2) The doctrine of hell. This one is clearly stated a few times in this book, for example: "tens of thousands die to face a Christless eternity" and "affirm the exclusivity of salvation through Christ". Over the course of my life I have seen large numbers of Christians modify their view of hell away from the concept of eternal torment, to something more palatable as described in that quote. There has been an understanding that eternal torture is not socially acceptable, and the public-facing description must be something softer, but get these Christians in a more private setting, where they are surrounded by like minds, and the true beliefs will come out, and the glee with which they imagine all those damned sinners suffering in hell for eternity becomes evident. In any case, the concept of infinite punishment for finite crimes is one of the most pernicious and nasty beliefs ever concocted by humans, and it has been used to justify a horrifying array of real world punishments. But this belief is a core and fundamental component of moving people from being unchurched to being enthusiastic participants in an evangelical church. Is that surprising? Not at all.
3) Belief in the inerrancy of the Bible: "They believed the Bible was true in all areas, not only in religious areas, but in science and history as well." This is demonstrably untrue, and I'm not going to go into detail because there are already numerous books covering that topic, but it is a position that is key for evangelizing people, and the data in this book backs up the need to hold that out-dated, intellectually bankrupt position.
Another factor that is discussed about filling those church pews, is unsurprisingly the principle of 'get them while they're young'. Here's one quote: "Our research team's studies indicate that 81 percent of those who accept Christ do so before the age of twenty. Whether this number is an indicator of the receptivity to the gospel at a young age or the ineffectiveness of the church to reach adults..." My guess would be a bit of both, since reality tends to be complicated, but the fact that early indoctrination is important has been known for fucking centuries. Seriously, not surprising.
I'll close with a bit of good news from this book with a direct quote: "the percentage of unchurched in our nation continues to increase." It is my hope that this trend continues, despite attempts by this author and others to drag our society back into the dark ages. It can be difficult to maintain this hope in the current political climate, with conservatives aggressively pursuing oppressive laws to violate the human right of those they consider to be other, but I keep trying.
One of the things that struck me was how utterly unsurprising the insights were, in contrast to the title of the book. For example, those people who are already primed for belief, that were already looking for whatever they think religion has to offer, were by far the most susceptible targets for proselytization. Men are frequently dragged into the church by their religious wives, and other family connections work as chum hooks as well. Take this quote for example: "One of the many surprises of our study was that one of the best connections to reach the unchurched was Christian wives reaching their unchurched husbands." The fuck you say! How could that possibly be surprising? People also have that stupid fucking idea that children need to be brought up with a religious upbringing, or else they won't be able to have morals, one of the facets of belief in belief. This is of course a pretty reprehensible position, due to it's implication that the non-religious are inherently immoral, an accusation I have had leveled at me numerous times. So yeah, I take this fucking personally. It is utterly bizarre to me that many people will claim the moral high ground while simultaneously claiming that their morals are dictated to them by some imaginary higher power, rather than being arrived at by actually thinking about them deeply, and arriving at a moral position because it is moral to do so. But I digress.
For a substantial portion of this book, the author remains coy about any specific doctrines, however the nasty truth is revealed with the discussions around the need to be theologically conservative and being Biblically based. So what does that mean? It can be difficult to know exactly what people mean when they make either of those claims, because people who claim to base their beliefs on the Bible actually always pick and choose what they actually want, and throw out anything that is inconvenient, especially if it is from the Old Testament, or of they consider it culturally irrelevant. So do they follow the rules about dietary restrictions, not mixing fibers in cloth, stoning for disobeying one’s parents (although I am pretty sure a lot of Christian conservatives would secretly like to do this), and gathering sticks on the Sabbath? No, of course they don't, and the same fucking excuse is given every time: "oh, that's the Old Testament", and yet they simultaneously claim that this book is the inerrant word of God, eternal in nature. As an ex-insider now outsider, who still has ties to many conservative Christians, I can only infer from what they do and say, to figure out what theologically conservative means.
There are a few clear features.
1) An intense and passionate hatred of sex, except when confined within the narrow strictures of their patriarchal social structure. Anything that doesn't fit within their black and white view of reality is considered deviant, or even outright evil. Thus a hatred for gays, lesbians, transgender, and a stubborn inability to understand that sexuality is a spectrum, not a dichotomy. I don't believe the fucking bullshit line "Hate the sin but love the sinner." That is nothing but a smokescreen to allow them to push for social norms that oppress those who don't fit into their narrow world view, while patting themselves on the back for being Christlike. This of course extends to their anti-choice stance which at its core is about punishing people, or more specifically women, for having sex.
2) The doctrine of hell. This one is clearly stated a few times in this book, for example: "tens of thousands die to face a Christless eternity" and "affirm the exclusivity of salvation through Christ". Over the course of my life I have seen large numbers of Christians modify their view of hell away from the concept of eternal torment, to something more palatable as described in that quote. There has been an understanding that eternal torture is not socially acceptable, and the public-facing description must be something softer, but get these Christians in a more private setting, where they are surrounded by like minds, and the true beliefs will come out, and the glee with which they imagine all those damned sinners suffering in hell for eternity becomes evident. In any case, the concept of infinite punishment for finite crimes is one of the most pernicious and nasty beliefs ever concocted by humans, and it has been used to justify a horrifying array of real world punishments. But this belief is a core and fundamental component of moving people from being unchurched to being enthusiastic participants in an evangelical church. Is that surprising? Not at all.
3) Belief in the inerrancy of the Bible: "They believed the Bible was true in all areas, not only in religious areas, but in science and history as well." This is demonstrably untrue, and I'm not going to go into detail because there are already numerous books covering that topic, but it is a position that is key for evangelizing people, and the data in this book backs up the need to hold that out-dated, intellectually bankrupt position.
Another factor that is discussed about filling those church pews, is unsurprisingly the principle of 'get them while they're young'. Here's one quote: "Our research team's studies indicate that 81 percent of those who accept Christ do so before the age of twenty. Whether this number is an indicator of the receptivity to the gospel at a young age or the ineffectiveness of the church to reach adults..." My guess would be a bit of both, since reality tends to be complicated, but the fact that early indoctrination is important has been known for fucking centuries. Seriously, not surprising.
I'll close with a bit of good news from this book with a direct quote: "the percentage of unchurched in our nation continues to increase." It is my hope that this trend continues, despite attempts by this author and others to drag our society back into the dark ages. It can be difficult to maintain this hope in the current political climate, with conservatives aggressively pursuing oppressive laws to violate the human right of those they consider to be other, but I keep trying.
January 11, 2021
A fellow elder recommended this book to me, and it did not at all disappoint. Concerned that such a large majority of unchurched people will never enter the doors of a church, Rainer asked the question, "What if we asked new Christians and new church members what led them to the Savior and to the church that they chose?" So he and his team interviewed 353 formerly unchurched people scattered throughout every area of the US. They also interviewed over 350 longer-term Christians, and over 100 pastors of "effective evangelistic churches". This book sets forth the results, which are surprising.
I'll cut right to the chase, as Rainer himself does. In answer to the question "what factors led you to choose this church", the overwhelming factors were the pastor and his preaching (90%) and the strong doctrinal beliefs of the church (88%). No other factors were even close. The next closest was the friendliness of the members (49%). And the bottom two factors? Those were the worship style/music (11%) and the location of the church (7%).
Didn't see that coming, did you? I certainly didn't. The book was published in 2001, so the survey data is 20 years old. Were Rainer to do this survey again now, perhaps some of the results would be different. But I doubt that prevailing culture has changed human nature that much over the last twenty years. And I find it fascinating that the people in this survey were so attracted by the solid preaching of strongly held doctrinal beliefs, which is not what we tend to hear from either church growth specialists or from unbelievers.
Rainer points out how pastors and preaching are critically important; how first impressions are huge (especially with respect to the children's ministry); and how doctrine really matters. Rainer makes reference to research that the Barna Research Group has done on churches, and notes that both his research and Barna's research reveal that doctrine is the single most important factor in reaching people. In fact, Rainer writes: "The formerly unchurched were clear. They not only were interested in learning about doctrine, they were attracted to conservative, evangelical churches that were uncompromising in their beliefs."
Rainer devotes the second part of the book to talking about the pastors and leaders of churches that are effectively reaching the unchurched. His team surveyed pastors of effective churches and of churches that were less effective. The pastors of the effective churches viewed preaching as their most exciting activity far more than did the pastors of the other churches, and they spent much more time on sermon preparation as well (22% of their week vs. 4% of their week).
There is so much material in this book; it warrants going back to it again and again. The book contains 64 charts illustrating the responses to the survey questions, and also contains a complete list of the survey questions for both the formerly unchurched and the pastors. Pastors and leaders of churches that really want to reach the unchurched (which should be every church) would do well to read and discuss this book.
I'll cut right to the chase, as Rainer himself does. In answer to the question "what factors led you to choose this church", the overwhelming factors were the pastor and his preaching (90%) and the strong doctrinal beliefs of the church (88%). No other factors were even close. The next closest was the friendliness of the members (49%). And the bottom two factors? Those were the worship style/music (11%) and the location of the church (7%).
Didn't see that coming, did you? I certainly didn't. The book was published in 2001, so the survey data is 20 years old. Were Rainer to do this survey again now, perhaps some of the results would be different. But I doubt that prevailing culture has changed human nature that much over the last twenty years. And I find it fascinating that the people in this survey were so attracted by the solid preaching of strongly held doctrinal beliefs, which is not what we tend to hear from either church growth specialists or from unbelievers.
Rainer points out how pastors and preaching are critically important; how first impressions are huge (especially with respect to the children's ministry); and how doctrine really matters. Rainer makes reference to research that the Barna Research Group has done on churches, and notes that both his research and Barna's research reveal that doctrine is the single most important factor in reaching people. In fact, Rainer writes: "The formerly unchurched were clear. They not only were interested in learning about doctrine, they were attracted to conservative, evangelical churches that were uncompromising in their beliefs."
Rainer devotes the second part of the book to talking about the pastors and leaders of churches that are effectively reaching the unchurched. His team surveyed pastors of effective churches and of churches that were less effective. The pastors of the effective churches viewed preaching as their most exciting activity far more than did the pastors of the other churches, and they spent much more time on sermon preparation as well (22% of their week vs. 4% of their week).
There is so much material in this book; it warrants going back to it again and again. The book contains 64 charts illustrating the responses to the survey questions, and also contains a complete list of the survey questions for both the formerly unchurched and the pastors. Pastors and leaders of churches that really want to reach the unchurched (which should be every church) would do well to read and discuss this book.
April 5, 2021
I doubt many mainline ministers such as myself pick up this book, but honestly there are some good observations in it to help connect new people to church. Also, some sloppy research and lots of bad theology which i disagree with. I’m glad I listened to it despite dismissing about 30% of the content.
July 11, 2012
EXCELLENT excellent excellent. I don't have enough stars for this book either. Every pastor should read this book. If we want to reach our culture with the Gospel, we must be students of the culture, and we must understand and know who we are talking to. This book focuses on those who have recently come to faith, drawing insights from those in the culture who have been successfully reached with the Gospel. Par for the course for Rainer, the book is full of excellent research and statistics, but it is also built upon scriptural insights. Church leaders, don't miss this one.
October 26, 2015
An insightful book about how to reach unchurched people. A very good reminder about how unchurched people think about ministry and the church. We must be willing to change and think as the unchurched if are to prayerfully reach the lost today. Our communities are vast mission fields. This does not mean that we have to get away from evangelical theology - on the contrary - but it does mean that we must be sensitive to the perceptions of those who have no background in the church. I always appreciate works by Thom Rainer.
September 7, 2016
Enjoyed reading this book. Really makes you consider your own actions in terms of how you're working to reach the unchurched, and assess your church's potential for the same.
July 1, 2017
The title is a perfect description. There might be a few too many personal stories, but the stats are interesting. The book is a little old, but it was worth listening to a second time for me.
March 17, 2020
There are two ways to approach church growth. First, we may approach church growth from Scripture seeking to develop a biblical view of how the church is to flourish in health. Second, we may examine culture and cultural trends in order to develop ways in how to effectively grow the church. Rainer’s Surprising Insight from the Unchurched seeks to follow the latter path.
Rainer defines the unchurched as a person who has not been in church for the past ten years but has recently returned to become active in church (19). The study seeks to determine why they have returned and asses why they choose to stay.
I personally find very little value from such books for two primary reasons. First, they are too limited. We are only hearing from a little over 350 people. They even admit that “the unchurched are not a monolithic group” (38). They argue that the church must understand the context in which the unchurched people live. I agree. Therefore, I believe it would be of greater value to pursue such questioning in your own immediate context. And second, why do we believe new or spiritually immature Christians would have a clear and biblical understanding of what the church is and what is should be doing? It’s rather tenacious to build methods of reaching the unchurched on the thoughts of a random grouping of 353 new or spiritually immature believers. Scripture offers us a better recourse.
There are too many inherent flaws in statistically based books. All data can be manipulated and interpreted to fit one’s desires and designs. Should we truly seek to build church programs upon the thoughts of 353 random people who may or may not have similarities to those in our own unique ministry contexts? And like all of Rainer’s and Stetzer’s books there is far too much fluff. They really need to trim these books down to pamphlets.
Nothing really surprising here…
Rainer defines the unchurched as a person who has not been in church for the past ten years but has recently returned to become active in church (19). The study seeks to determine why they have returned and asses why they choose to stay.
I personally find very little value from such books for two primary reasons. First, they are too limited. We are only hearing from a little over 350 people. They even admit that “the unchurched are not a monolithic group” (38). They argue that the church must understand the context in which the unchurched people live. I agree. Therefore, I believe it would be of greater value to pursue such questioning in your own immediate context. And second, why do we believe new or spiritually immature Christians would have a clear and biblical understanding of what the church is and what is should be doing? It’s rather tenacious to build methods of reaching the unchurched on the thoughts of a random grouping of 353 new or spiritually immature believers. Scripture offers us a better recourse.
There are too many inherent flaws in statistically based books. All data can be manipulated and interpreted to fit one’s desires and designs. Should we truly seek to build church programs upon the thoughts of 353 random people who may or may not have similarities to those in our own unique ministry contexts? And like all of Rainer’s and Stetzer’s books there is far too much fluff. They really need to trim these books down to pamphlets.
Nothing really surprising here…
February 25, 2024
Surprising insights from the unchurched proved to be a fascinating and enjoyable read for me. Thom Rainer interviews 353 “formerly unchurched” individuals who are now actively involved in a local congregation. This is different from other surveys, including the Pew Research Centers, as historically church growth experts have interviewed people who don’t go to church to learn what would entice them to go to church. The problem with that strategy is most of the people answering those questions probably never will go. Rainer also interviews ministers from what he calls effective, evangelistic churches and compares that data with comparison churches (ineffective churches).
The data presented in the book is worth reading for any church leader seeking helpful strategies in reaching the lost for Jesus Christ. Our purpose as followers of Jesus needs to be focused on personal evangelism. Are we leading people to Christ? Rainer found effective churches have a 20:1 member to new convert ratio per year whereas comparison churches had a ratio of 85:1. If 85 people only lead 1 person to Christ a year, we are going to continue struggling with being an ineffective church. Thats unacceptable.
Why the main audience appears to be church leaders, anyone can gain helpful knowledge from this book.
The data presented in the book is worth reading for any church leader seeking helpful strategies in reaching the lost for Jesus Christ. Our purpose as followers of Jesus needs to be focused on personal evangelism. Are we leading people to Christ? Rainer found effective churches have a 20:1 member to new convert ratio per year whereas comparison churches had a ratio of 85:1. If 85 people only lead 1 person to Christ a year, we are going to continue struggling with being an ineffective church. Thats unacceptable.
Why the main audience appears to be church leaders, anyone can gain helpful knowledge from this book.
March 27, 2023
A great book about the unchurched!
Rainer gathers a group of previously unchurched and asks them the questions we usually asked the unchurched. Their answer give the insights the book's name allude to and they lead to actionable strategies to make any church effective at reaching the unchurched.
The books two parts that I summarise as 1) the insights, 2) the role of the leader give abundant clarity to us who need it.
Rainer gathers a group of previously unchurched and asks them the questions we usually asked the unchurched. Their answer give the insights the book's name allude to and they lead to actionable strategies to make any church effective at reaching the unchurched.
The books two parts that I summarise as 1) the insights, 2) the role of the leader give abundant clarity to us who need it.
October 20, 2024
Invite the Unchurched to Church
This is a wonderful work on reaching the lost. Rainer conducts a survey of the unchurched to find out why they do not attend church. Then he gives great insights on ways to become a church for the unchurched. He puts forth a startling conclusion: Most people don’t attend church because nobody ever asks them. Read this book and invite someone to church.
This is a wonderful work on reaching the lost. Rainer conducts a survey of the unchurched to find out why they do not attend church. Then he gives great insights on ways to become a church for the unchurched. He puts forth a startling conclusion: Most people don’t attend church because nobody ever asks them. Read this book and invite someone to church.
July 30, 2019
On my top 5 list
Real answers to real questions by real people,,we are starting a new Wednesday night class On evangelism, good informative material here,,somewhat repetitive but necessarily so..
Real answers to real questions by real people,,we are starting a new Wednesday night class On evangelism, good informative material here,,somewhat repetitive but necessarily so..
January 14, 2019
Exceptional
December 20, 2019
A must read for those in ministry. The research in this book will mess up a lot of preconceived ideas regarding what gets the unchurched person through the doors of your church.
August 26, 2020
If you’re in any leadership position for church, read the book
April 5, 2021
Great book on reaching people!
January 2, 2011
I have consistently been pleased with the books that Geneva College uses in the Community Ministry Degree Completion Program. Surprising Insights from the Unchurched and Proven Ways to Reach Them by Thom Rainer is no exception. Now, I will add the disclaimer that if you aren't interested in what gets people in the door of a church (and back again consistently), this book will bore you to tears. That said, if you are in ministry of just about any sort, but especially church leadership, this book is a must-read.
I've read Rainer's work before and found it helpful, but the interesting aspect of this book is that rather than conducting research among those who don't attend church, they tracked down folks who had been previously unchurched and are now regular attenders at one of the churches the study defined as being successful at reaching the unchurched (as opposed to growth coming solely from people transferring from other churches.) Instead of asking people who didn't go to church what might make them start going, they asked people who didn't used to go what made them start going (and what made them stick around.)
There is an entire section on how the pastor affects the effectiveness of the church's outreach, including really interesting insight on how effective pastors spend their time on a weekly basis, vs how those who are simply maintaining current membership spend their time. If that last sentence sounds even remotely interesting to you, you'll be fascinated by what they found.
In conclusion, no. You may not borrow my copy of this book. Usually when I lend out a book, it's with the understanding that I may never see it again. I don't want to lose track of this one. I have a feeling it'll be a highly useful one in the future.
I've read Rainer's work before and found it helpful, but the interesting aspect of this book is that rather than conducting research among those who don't attend church, they tracked down folks who had been previously unchurched and are now regular attenders at one of the churches the study defined as being successful at reaching the unchurched (as opposed to growth coming solely from people transferring from other churches.) Instead of asking people who didn't go to church what might make them start going, they asked people who didn't used to go what made them start going (and what made them stick around.)
There is an entire section on how the pastor affects the effectiveness of the church's outreach, including really interesting insight on how effective pastors spend their time on a weekly basis, vs how those who are simply maintaining current membership spend their time. If that last sentence sounds even remotely interesting to you, you'll be fascinated by what they found.
In conclusion, no. You may not borrow my copy of this book. Usually when I lend out a book, it's with the understanding that I may never see it again. I don't want to lose track of this one. I have a feeling it'll be a highly useful one in the future.
December 16, 2013
I love these kinds of books. I love stats and I think we can learn a lot from others. The last chapter which summarized the notable findings of the survey was the best chapter of the book, and I will likely come back to it in the future.
My only critique is that sometimes the book seems to recommend things that can't possibly be reasonable for all churches across the spectrum to implement. For example, at one point, it suggests spending "a few thousand dollars" on adequate signage. If we spent a few thousand dollars on signs, we'd have an unnecessary sign on every inch of the building! But I suppose the reader should simply discern what is applicable in his context and what is not.
I've read many of these types of books, and I think this has become one of my favorite because of the emphasis on what works in reaching unchurched people. It's a keeper!
My only critique is that sometimes the book seems to recommend things that can't possibly be reasonable for all churches across the spectrum to implement. For example, at one point, it suggests spending "a few thousand dollars" on adequate signage. If we spent a few thousand dollars on signs, we'd have an unnecessary sign on every inch of the building! But I suppose the reader should simply discern what is applicable in his context and what is not.
I've read many of these types of books, and I think this has become one of my favorite because of the emphasis on what works in reaching unchurched people. It's a keeper!
August 2, 2007
Some good reminders here, and a great concept interviewing people that went from unchurched to churched. I'm always reticent about books based on surveys, especially when asking questions like "What led you to choose this church?" Reason being, oftentimes what we perceive as our reasons are not necessarily the real reasons; so much goes on below the surface. Also, when you ask someone that has been in the church for 6 months what is most important, they've already had enough time to know that "doctrine" is important, so they'll say that, regardless of whether or not that was a mitigating factor six months prior.
I digress. Worth skimming, and the 2nd half of the book on leadership is worth skimming twice.
I digress. Worth skimming, and the 2nd half of the book on leadership is worth skimming twice.
March 5, 2017
A comprehensive study on reaching the unchurched. I found this book engaging, practical and definitely insightful. It demonstrates from sound statistics that a growing, evangelistic church (one that reaches non-christians), is one that treats church ministries as goal-driven organism and doesn't get caught up in maintenance or side-issues. I think the principles brought to light are helpful not just for reaching unchurched "christian" populations in North America, but in reaching non-Christians generally.
March 28, 2015
I got this book a few years ago at a Super Saturday event in Bowling Green, KY. I thought it was a very interesting look into the lives of the unchurched. It wasn't just a broad overview, either. I was impressed at the personal stories in the book. Any church member, pastor, deacon, and people who are interested to learn more about faith are welcome to read this book. I bet you'll find it informative.
June 12, 2016
This book was given to me by our church council president and I was told to read it ... which of course made me not want to. However, I'm glad I did. While not everything in it applies to our church, due to our small size, there are some excellent ideas shared throughout the book. Most importantly, the book has challenged me on a personal level to try some new things in the way that I relate to others.
December 5, 2016
I read this book in contingency with Rainer's book "The Unchurched Next Door." This book provides a thorough and excellent evaluation of the formerly unchurched and what brought them in. Rainer's analysis is helpful for any pastor, church staff member, or layperson seeking to be more effective evangelistically.
November 4, 2009
Another powerful and insightful book Rainer. A must read for any church who has a heart for reaching the lost. Great insights into what is happening on the ground, vs. what people think is going on.
October 30, 2008
This book is for Christian leaders. It comes out of the Billy Graham association by Thom S Rainer.
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August 21, 20120577
November 30, 2009
Too long, but very well written.
July 28, 2011
An excellent book for anyone who wants some solid things they can do to move their church onto the path of numerical and spiritual growth.
February 7, 2012
The title is no misnomer. Very helpful and very surprising. A must read.
January 13, 2015
This is really a wonderful book for those involved in church ministry.
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