Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them

by Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley, Jason Hayes

Who are the young unchurched, and how can they be reached with the good news of Jesus Christ? In a poll result highlighted by CNN Headline News and USA Today , nearly half of nonchurchgoers between the ages of twenty and twenty-nine agreed with the statement, "Christians get on my nerves." Now, researchers behind the larger study present Lost and Found , a blend of dynamic hard data and modern day parable that tells the real story of an unchurched generation that is actually quite spiritual and yet circumspect, open to Jesus but not the church. As such, Lost and Found is written to the church, using often-surprising results from the copious research here to strike another nerve and break some long established assumptions about how to effectively engage the lost. Leading missiologist Ed Stetzer and his associates first offer a detailed investigation of the four younger unchurched types. With a better understanding of their unique experiences, they next clarify the importance each type places on community, depth of content, social responsibility, and making cross-generational connections in relation to spiritual matters. Most valuably, Lost and Found finds the churches that have learned to reach unchurched young adults by paying close attention to those key markers vetted by the research. Their exciting stories will make it clear how your church can bring searching souls from this culture to authentic faith in Christ. Those who are lost can indeed be found. Come take a closer look.

Genres: Church, Evangelism, Nonfiction, Religion, Leadership, Christian, Christianity

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Ed Stetzer, PhD, holds the Billy Graham Distinguished Chair for Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College and is the dean of the School of Mission, Ministry, and Leadership at Wheaton College. He also serves as the executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton. Stetzer is a prolific author and a well-known conference speaker. He has planted, revitalized, and pastored churches; trained pastors and church planters on six continents; holds two master’s degrees and two doctorates; and has written or cowritten more than a dozen books and hundreds of articles.

Stetzer is a contributing editor for Christianity Today and a columnist for Outreach magazine. He is frequently interviewed for or cited in news outlets such as USA Today and CNN. He is also the executive editor of The Gospel Project, a bible study curriculum used by more than one million people each week.

Stetzer cohosts BreakPoint This Week, a radio broadcast that airs on more than four hundred media outlets. He serves as the interim teaching pastor at The Moody Church in Chicago. Stetzer lives in Wheaton, Illinois, with his wife, Donna, and their three daughters.



You can also connect with Ed on Facebook and Instagram.

Reviews

[Karl Dumas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is several years old, but the message that it brought when first released is still relevant today. Who are the unchurched? What attracts them, and what do they see as negative about the Church? And then what can churches do to reach a younger generation, a generation that wants to make a difference in the world and in the community.
Face it, many of our churches have an aging population, and are in decline. What's the solution? perhaps you can find some answers here.

[Y T · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m reading this book more than a decade after it was first released. Many of the concepts are still relevant today.

Don’t let the statistics in the first few chapters bore you, the gems are in the rest of the book.

I’ve learnt a few good lessons from this book, to share authentically with the young adults whom I meet, to make my life more transparent than what it is.

A great read for anyone looking to work with young adults in churches.

[Mikayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite an insightful book. There were many good tips and ideas on how to reach the younger and older unchurched. I've seen the same practices in some of the churches that I have attended over the years. Had to give it 4 stars because there were 2 full, long chapters of statistical results. Definitely recommended the book to all churches and people interested in evangelism though.

[Rachel Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good practical ideas once you get through the research heavy first few chapters that set everything up

[Allen O'Brien]

Fantastic look into the mindset of young adults and the disconnect between them and the church. Perhaps my two favorite take-aways are fairly obvious to students of our culture, but they are powerful none the less;

1. Young adults are open to spirituality. They might be closed to church, but "spiritual" experimentation is massive.
2. Perhaps the biggest turn-off to the younger generation is a perceived inauthenticity that comes from neatly packaged sermons which resolve completely at the end of 30 minutes and overly simplistic answers. Authenticity that connects with young adults is achieved through transparency, honesty, conflict, directly dealing with issues, and an ability to live in the tensions of the "unkown."
3. (have to throw this one out there, I know I said only 2) Young adults want a God they don't, and can't, fully understand.

A good read for anyone in the Christian church (or outside for that matter) interested in reaching increasingly sidelined generation.

[Joshua Lake · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can find my full review at Quieted Waters.

Lost and Found looks at the unchurched young people in America, and it considers how they can be reached. The book is broken into three sections, each dealing with a different aspect of the situation. The first third is a detailed look at studies conducted by LifeWay, studies that probed the thoughts, feelings, and spirituality of unchurched people between 18 and 29. Then the authors, Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley, and Jason Hayes, analyze four markers of successful outreach to young people, pointing out some characteristics of ministries to which the unchurched respond well. Finally, several churches with successful ministry programs were studied, and their advice is broken into nine common suggestions.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book with good insights. It has 3 sections, but the first is mostly mind-numbing raw research data. That section is great to have, but probably would be best as an appendix. Some people may get bogged down and not get through it. This would be a shame as parts 2 & 3 are where the meat of the book is, and both sections are full of short chapters that are very easy reads. There is good value in these sections and pastors should find it worth their time. Nothing earth-shattering, but good nonetheless. While this book is still fairly recent, it is worthwhile to take the church and pastor names and look up their ministries online to help fill out what you read in the book.

[Ryan Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am constantly impressed by the power of an older guy like Stetzer to use research to understand the younger generations. This book hits the nail on the head. The author covers most of the major issues that younger generations have with the church and is insightfully on point. My only negative would be that his practical tips regarding how churches are meeting the challenges could have been a lot more practical and specific, as it is they are essentially just vague first person summaries. It would have been helpful to see some examples.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful and relevant look into the lives of those 25-39 in our society. This book is very insightful and uses great illustrations and stories to bring home the key points and ideas in a way that make them much more tangible. A great read for any Christian wanting to read more about the "missing" generation in most churches.

[Philip Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not into reading statistics (which the first few chapters were dominated by) but this book is good. Offers excellent practical, missional, responsive, reflective actions that are to be undertaken by practitioners in order to bring the gospel to my generation. Chapters on depth and authenticity were dope.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felt that this book gave some great insights into doing ministry among millennials. To people of my generation, a lot of these ideas might not seem so revolutionary, but there's a difference between the idea and making it a reality. They provided a lot of statistics early in the book from survey results. I found these encouraging. Millennials value authenticity, relationships, service.

[Danny Yang · Rating 2 out of 5]

"But be encouraged. As we've shown in this book, young adults are seeking the very things that one can find in a walk with God. It's our responsibility to accurately reflect His character in our personal lives and our churches."

[Trevor Winsor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my normal type of book to read. This book was very analytical and had lots of statistics. BUT, this was an excellent book! Very insightful. This book will absolutely affect the way our church ministers to the younger community!

[Kendrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really hoping this book would provide good strategies for reaching out to the unchurched. It ended up being mostly statistics unfortunately.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insightful book full of statistics and data, but wished it had more qualitative research. Still wonderful to read, and a great insight into the church's relationship with the 20-30 somethings.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good info for Americans.