HOW YOUR PEOPLE REALLY FEEL ABOUT OUTREACH

“Many of my people are too busy to devote themselves to outreach,” said my pastor friend Mark. “It’s cramping our plans to reach the neighborhood.”

Mark is like a greyhound on a taut leash, straining against the collar, nails scratching the pavement. Though his church on the southwest side of Chicago is strong and growing, he is frustrated. He wants to reach thousands; his church touches only a fraction of them. He has plans and programs to bring many to faith in Christ, if he can just mobilize his own people to the maximum.

Mark isn’t the only one with collar burn. Ask most pastors about their church outreach, and you’ll likely hear, “I wish we were doing more.”

One of the clearest results of the latest LEADERSHIP survey on evangelism documents this frustration: 84 percent of church leaders said they are discontent with their congregation’s commitment to evangelism.

“You can’t really get mad at your people, though,” said one pastor. “Most of them are preoccupied with good or necessary things, like their kids’ schooling or other worthy church programs.”

But the angst and guilt remain. Pastors want to reach their communities with the gospel, but they can’t do it alone. The church body must join in. How do we enable those on the other end of the leash to break into a run with us?

One of the first steps is to understand the attitudes toward outreach that inhabit the congregation and also to compare these views with pastors’ perspectives.

To investigate this issue, the research department of Christianity Today, Inc. surveyed 500 churches, sending separate questionnaires to church leaders and churchgoers, and 214 pastors and 480 churchgoers responded. We learned that pastors and churchgoers differ radically in some pivotal areas. We discovered some things that will delight pastors, other things that will focus their challenge. But at minimum, Ovid’s phrase will not be true of us, “How little you know about the age (insert ‘church’) you live in. … “

Opinions about Evangelism

When we asked whether churchgoers agree or disagree with some key statements, there was near unanimity on two of them:

I believe faith in Christ is the only way to salvation (89 percent saying they “agree” or “strongly agree”).

Every Christian is responsible for evangelism (87 percent).

While not unanimous, more than half the respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the following:

I believe the most important task for Christians is to lead non-Christians to faith in Christ (68 percent).

I have been more active in telling others about Christ in the past year than ever before (52 percent).

Less than half agreed with these statements:

It’s possible to be a committed Christian and not be active in telling others about Christ (31 percent).

Some people alive today will get to heaven even if they’ve never heard the name of Jesus Christ (30 percent). Another 51 percent disagreed with that statement. The remaining 19 percent were unsure.

If that response is surprising, consider that the churchgoers who filled out this survey were generally more active in church than the average attender – 78 percent attend church two or more times a week, suggesting that they would not be the theological novices of the church.

Other doctrinal flashpoints:

If a person is sincere in the practice of a non-Christian religion (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, etc.), God will accept him or her into heaven (10 percent agreed). Three out of four, however, disagreed with that statement.

God has already chosen the people who will go to heaven, and what I do or don’t do will not change that (only 4 percent agreed).

Respondents’ personal feelings about outreach did not suggest defeatism. Only 15 percent agreed that World evangelization is such a huge task, I ask myself, “What difference can I make?”

In most of these opinion questions, pastors’ responses paralleled the churchgoers. But in a few cases, there were significant differences of 10 or more percentage points. Since we all have a natural tendency to assume, sometimes mistakenly, that others see things like we do, it might be helpful for leaders to know where they differ significantly from their people.

Only 10 percent of pastors but 20 percent of churchgoers agreed that My most recent attempt at sharing my faith with a non-Christian was a discouraging experience. While it’s encouraging that only a minority found their attempts discouraging, the discouragement factor is considerably higher among laity than clergy. Pastors may be underestimating the level of discouragement toward evangelism felt by their people.

Fully 89 percent of pastors and 65 percent of churchgoers agreed with the statement I feel I have a good understanding of my spiritual gifts. Again, while most claim a good understanding, churchgoers are significantly less certain than their pastors.

Interestingly, the statement My church provides too little information about ways I could be involved in evangelism drew divergent responses-43 percent of pastors agreed, but only 22 percent of churchgoers agreed. Are pastors underselling themselves on the job they’ve done in equipping the people? Or are churchgoers simply less interested than they should be? Perhaps both.

Such responses suggest that difficulties in evangelism are seen less as nails in the coffin and more as hurdles on the track.

Perceived Obstacles

We also asked churchgoers about obstacles to evangelism.

The top hurdle for churchgoers was A feeling that I’m not able to do evangelism as well as the professionals (49 percent indicated this was an obstacle for them; only 19 percent of pastors felt this was an obstacle).

The next eight factors were cited as significant by more than a third of the respondents:

Being too timid (churchgoers 43 percent; pastors 33 percent).

The image that many so-called evangelists are “religious hucksters” (churchgoers 42 percent; pastors 41 percent).

Finding it difficult to answer tough questions people raise (churchgoers 41 percent; pastors 16 percent).

Fearing how people will respond (churchgoers 40 percent; pastors 28 percent).

The idea of tolerance in our culture means it’s impolite to question someone else’s lifestyle or beliefs (churchgoers 38 percent; pastors 25 percent).

Inability to communicate how the gospel would benefit the individual who’s already a “good person” (churchgoers 37 percent; pastors 24 percent).

Inability to bring up spiritual things (churchgoers 28 percent; pastors 17 percent).

Obviously, pastors feel more confident and competent than lay people about personal evangelism, which might mean pastors can underestimate churchgoers’ fear and overestimate churchgoers’ perceived ability to know what to say.

On the other hand, there are some factors that are not significant obstacles to evangelism.

Exactly 69 percent of both pastors and churchgoers disagreed with the statement The gospel has not solved all my problems, so I don’t know how to tell others it will meet their needs. Apparently the majority of respondents sense the reality of the gospel in their lives and thus can speak with sincerity and conviction about Christ.

Some 68 percent of churchgoers disagreed that an obstacle was Attending a church in which a non-Christian guest would feel unwelcome or gain a negative impression. The majority of churchgoers are not ashamed of their church or concerned that it will do more harm than good to the unchurched.

Ironically, a minority of pastors, 48 percent, disagreed with that statement. It seems many leaders think their churches are less appealing to the unchurched than their people do.

Other obstacles that pastors ranked higher than churchgoers:

Being too busy (churchgoers 33 percent; pastors 40 percent).

Having no support group of other Christians for whom evangelism is a high priority (churchgoers 27 percent; pastors 37 percent).

Having few, if any, non-Christian friends (churchgoers 23 percent; pastors 43 percent).

How My Church Can Help Me

In order to reach out effectively, respondents know they need their church. When asked how evangelism should be emphasized in their church, only 1 percent said, “Less,” 42 percent said, “About the same as now,” and 40 percent said, “More.”

“Those numbers don’t surprise me,” says D. James Kennedy, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida and founder of Evangelism Explosion. “In many of our churches, evangelism is not emphasized as much as it should be.”

Mark Middleburg, evangelism director at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, says, “Evidently churchgoers sense that, though their church is concerned for lost people, they need more well-thought-through strategies to reach them. People look around in church and see the same people they’ve been sitting with for the last six years. That contributes to the average churchgoer’s awareness that something isn’t quite right. They might not have a clear idea of what needs to happen, but they know something needs to change.”

Churchgoers were also asked what type of evangelistic assistance they needed from their church. More than half (52 percent) felt a moderate to strong need for help in learning how to befriend non-Christians. Even more (68 percent) needed help overcoming my fear of sharing my faith.

The survey, however, reveals a significant training gap: only 27 percent of churchgoers said they had ever been involved in classes or training in evangelism (64 percent of pastors had such training). Is it possible to get more than 27 percent of a congregation to attend training events? The interest indicated by respondents would suggest yes-72 percent desired training in how to share the good news about Christ with others and 77 percent felt a moderate or strong need for assistance in applying what I already know about evangelism.

Of course, what people say they want and what they’ll actually show up for may be two different things. But the church that can provide a means within people’s comfort zone for actually doing evangelism will meet the stated felt need of roughly three-fourths of its people.

The Combines Harvesting in the Field

God uses a variety of influences to plant the seed and reap the harvest. When we asked churchgoers, How important were each of the following in bringing you to faith in Christ? they checked the following as very or somewhat important.

The most prevalent factor was Bible reading (77 percent), edging out Being brought up in a Christian home (73 percent) and The influence of someone in my family (71 percent). (Encouraging Bible reading can be an evangelistic activity!)

The next tier shows the influence of the broader Christian world:

Personal conversations with someone that included spiritual topics (churchgoers 61 percent).

Attending a Bible study (churchgoers 56 percent; pastors 45 percent).

Reading Christian literature other than the Bible (churchgoers 45 percent; pastors 34 percent).

Attending a youth meeting or event (youth group, retreat, camp) (churchgoers 41 percent).

The personal invitation of a Christian to attend their church or a church-sponsored event (churchgoers 39 percent).

Where, oh where, is door-to-door evangelism?

In the final tier were Attending a crusade featuring an evangelist (29 percent), Christian radio or TV program (churchgoers 23 percent; pastors 7 percent), Attending a Christian music concert (churchgoers 22 percent; pastors 9 percent).

Christian media and music, then, played a significantly more frequent role in churchgoers’ conversions than pastors’ conversions. Both ranked ahead of Presentation of an organized method of evangelism like “The Four Spiritual Laws” or “Evangelism Explosion” (16 percent), and, finally, Someone came to the door of my home (6 percent).

When considering these harvesting factors, it is important to take into account that 46 percent of respondents came to faith in Christ more than 30 years ago, 18 percent between 21 and 30 years ago, 19 percent 11-20 years ago, and 12 percent within the last decade. (Five percent didn’t know how to answer the question How many years have you been a Christian?)

Furthermore, 65 percent of respondents were raised in Christian homes. Of those, 37 percent checked, I grew up in a Christian home, and I made a specific decision at a particular point in my life, and 28 percent said, I grew up in a Christian home, and it’s difficult to pinpoint a moment of specific decision.

In either case, being raised in a Christian home was the most important influence in people becoming Christian.

Twenty-two percent were raised in a non-Christian home, were confronted with the gospel, and made either an immediate (10 percent) or eventual (12 percent) decision for Christ.

Whether or not there was a clear decision for Christ turned out to be a salient difference between pastors and churchgoers. Sixty-four percent of pastors pinpointed a specific decision for Christ versus 47 percent of churchgoers.

Summary Observations

After wading through lots of data, these overarching conclusions emerge.

1. Churchgoers have evangelism on their conscience-87 percent agreeing that every Christian is responsible for evangelism. They also have tried to practice their belief. When asked “Have you ever attempted any type of evangelistic outreach to anyone?” a near unanimous 90 percent said yes.

D. James Kennedy observes, “Most Christians who read the Bible and listen to sermons cannot help but see that we are called upon to be witnesses to Christ, to share the gospel with other people.”

2. Most churchgoers feel inadequate about sharing their faith. “Most Christians,” continues Kennedy, “have not had any training in evangelism. Without adequate preparation their attempts may have met with unfavorable results. Some probably have been discouraged, and many of them have probably stopped trying to reach out.”

The statistics seem to bear this out. Pastors may be more confident about sharing their faith, but it’s also true that far more pastors have had the encouraging experience of seeing someone respond to Christ directly as a result of their evangelism (79 percent) than have churchgoers (42 percent). Also, 91 percent of pastors have seen someone come to Christ indirectly from their evangelism, versus 70 percent of churchgoers.

So there is an ongoing need to train churchgoers how to share their faith. They indicate they would be a ready force if the environment and approach fits their personality and gifting.

3. A passion for evangelism and a conviction that people are lost without Christ seem to go hand in hand.

Pastors who emphasize the lostness of people without Christ will galvanize their people toward more active outreach, according to Mark Middleburg. “Our beliefs have a huge affect on evangelism. If you are not convinced that people are lost apart from knowing Christ, then the tendency is to look at them on a human level and say, ‘They’re not that bad; they’re sincere. God will honor that. It’s nice if we can reach them with the gospel of Christ, but if we don’t, God will let them in anyway.’

“That assumption quickly neutralizes your passion for putting time, energy, and resources into reaching them, whether it’s your next-door neighbor or someone over in India.”

Universalism is the comforting kiss of death to evangelism.

4. The effectiveness of in-house evangelism must not be overlooked. This survey bears out the truth the church has been preaching for years: a church that builds strong families is an evangelistic force among its children. Normal church life, with pastors and Sunday school teachers and other church leaders teaching and living the words of Christ, brings people to Christ in astounding numbers.

Inreach is evangelism. In all of our efforts to devise new, more effective ways to reach out to an increasingly secular culture, we should never forget or minimize the huge impact of the old standbys: Bible reading, godly example, and godly homes.

Church consultant Bill Hull, author of Jesus Christ, Disciplemaker, notes, “I think churches are missing a lot of good opportunities by not taking advantage of present structures-like Sunday school, like support groups-for the purpose of evangelism. VBS for instance, if it’s done right, can still be a very effective tool for reaching children.

“The pastor leads it. By practicing it personally, by telling stories in church of how he and others have witnessed, the pastor powerfully impacts the church environment, fleshing out what’s valued in the congregation. Then people start seeing church programs as a means for evangelism. They see their Sunday school social, their adult volleyball tournament as social but also as evangelistic.”

Church is an environment where some of the most important evangelism we do takes place.