Reaching unchurched involves meeting different needs

Unchurched people who visit a house of worship aren’t looking for Jesus, but “value,” says researcher George Barna.
   
Churches that are effective at reaching unchurched people recognize and respond to what visitors are seeking, Barna told about 200 church leaders during a recent workshop in Louisville, Ky.
   
Barna said unchurched visitors value their anonymity, how the church cares for guests, ministries that are culturally relevant and multiple ways to get involved.
   
Based on thousands of interviews, Barna said he found unchurched Americans have a higher demand for control than most people who attend church. “These are high-control people,” he said. “They’re concerned about their image.”
   
Unchurched people usually come to a church because they are struggling with an important, life-impacting issue, not because they want to worship, he added.
   
They bring that need for control with them and react negatively when they visit an institution that often exerts a high level of control in its members’ lives, Barna said.
   
“When they walk in that door, they are paralyzed by the discomfort they feel in that place,” he said, adding that most churches’ language, music and customs do little to ease their discomfort.
   
Research has shown that churches effective at reaching unchurched people allow visitors to be anonymous, Barna said. Visitors don’t want to have to wear a nametag or stand up and identify themselves. Both are common practices in many churches.
   
Still, they do want some personal treatment, Barna said. Visitors hope someone will give them an authentic greeting.
   
Visitors who share their name and address with the church would like a thank you from the senior pastor, but they don’t want a home visit or a gift, he added.
   
A greeting from the senior pastor is important, Barna said,
because of the “big-kahuna principle.” That stems from his premise that unchurched people may have a high demand for control and are accustomed to being the center of attention, he said.
   
Any “thank you” must come “from one kahuna to another,” or the unchurched visitor will feel as if he or she is being “shuffled off to the second string,” Barna said.
   
While some churches pride themselves on gestures such as delivering bread or cookies to visitors’ homes, Barna said, “My own analysis is that it’s irresponsible to do that.”
   
Barna said that most  unchurched  people view home visits as an invasion of privacy  and think of  gifts as manipulation.
   
“We have a tendency to do more than the  unchurched want to have done to them.”
   
Barna said churches sometimes protest to him that visitors respond well to gifts, but he consistently has found that no more than a third of visitors respond positively, leaving at least two-thirds of unchurched people who respond negatively. “Not only have they hindered their own effort, but they may also have muddied the waters for others.”
   
Barna recommended a strategy with unchurched visitors similar to that of any personal encounter: be genuine, relevant and real, and let the relationship take its course.
   
He listed characteristics of churches that effectively reach the unchurched. They include:
   
–The senior pastor is a genuine advocate of reaching the unreached. Leadership for this begins with the senior pastor, Barna said. “This person was an effective advocate because they were out there and doing it.”
   
–The ministry is culturally relevant. From the worship style to the language being used, churches that reach unchurched people find ways to connect with people who don’t know traditional church language and practices, Barna said.
   
Ironically, surveys have found that unchurched people’s view of the ideal church includes a music program that has traditional hymns with contemporary instruments and arrangements. The reason, he said, is that the majority of unchurched people have a church background and are comfortable with the hymns, even moreso than praise hymns or other unfamiliar music.
   
–Efforts are made to ensure that the church is serious but that everyone enjoys the experience. “This was one of those eye-opening revelations for me,” Barna said, recalling a church that had programs in place to reach the unchurched but wasn’t being successful.
   
In a conversation about why members weren’t bringing their friends, one older woman said bluntly, “Oh pastor, I could never bring my friends.”
   
“Why?” the pastor asked.
   
“I don’t even enjoy coming here,” she responded. “Why would I bring my friends here?”
   
–The church facilitates and places an emphasis on relationships. Barna said relationships don’t attract unchurched people to a church, but relationships are an important factor after they’ve walked through the door.
   
–Church members are prepared to explain their faith. Too often, churches assume they can get visitors to confine their questions about Christianity to a “Church 101” class or conversations with a staff member, Barna said. But most people’s deep, meaningful questions arise during dinner or other casual times with Christians they know or meet at church.
   
–The church provides multiple points of entry. From sports leagues to topical conferences and lectures, effective churches find a variety of ways to interact with the community. “Each is targeted to a niche of the community.” 
   
–The church builds name awareness. Such churches use their promotion budgets and advertising to help unchurched people have a positive impression of the congregation, Barna said. Such awareness is harder, he added, as research has shown that the average unchurched person today can’t name one church within a 15-minute drive from his or her house.
   
“If I invite them to a place that they’ve heard of and they have a generally positive impression, the chance is much higher that they will visit,” Barna said.
   
–The church minimizes the loss of visitors by having a spiritually healthy congregation. An unchurched person who visits a congregation wants to know that it makes a difference in the lives of those who regularly attend. If it doesn’t, he added, a visitor would conclude that church attendance is a poor use of time.
   
–They adapt effective outreach methods from other churches. They also consistently track their success to see how effectively their methods are working, Barna said.
   
–When people come to worship, they experience the presence of God.
   
“The unchurched tend to come when they are struggling with something and they need an answer,” he said.
   
“They’re not coming for an intellectual service,” Barna said, “they’re coming for an emotional service.” (ABP)