Is there any hope?
With all the negatives and challenges is there any hope to reach new
people? If many people have negative impressions of ‘church’ and even
‘Christians’ what are the odds we can have a positive impact?
Actually, the odds are pretty good! This series of case studies reports on
some real-life experiences. Check out the case study here! Bottom line, with a reasonable
amount of effort and little to no dollars, you can meet new people. Some of those
new people will interact with your church and some of them will eventually attend
on Sunday!
In fact, one of the challenges faced by churches, especially small churches is
that they can quickly outgrow their reasonable seating capacity. A church has its
Christmas-Easter-funeral seating capacity when every seat is full and people are
pushed against each other.
Then there is the reasonable seating capacity. This is when a person,
member or guest, walks in and cannot find a comfortable place to sit. Especially in
churches with only a central aisle, that could be with 50% of the ‘crush’ capacity.
Example, at a funeral the church might sit 100 people. On an average
Sunday morning, 50 people in attendance might make it feel full. That is
especially true when early arrivals sit on the aisle. No one likes to climb over
someone to reach a seat, so the interior seats feel inaccessible. {{link to non-
Sunday worship}}
Terms to know…
Before looking at specific numbers we need to define some terms.
People who do not believe in a higher power of any kind are atheist or
agnostic. Many, and probably most people who say they do not follow any
religion (the ‘nones’) still believe in a higher power and when asked, are likely to
describe a ‘god’. Over time most research has put the number of non-believers at
about 10-15%. Recently some research has shown that number growing but I will
continue to use 15% of Americans are non-believers.
The other end of the spectrum is much more difficult to establish! How
many people have a ‘fulfilling spiritual home’? Notice I did not say they simply
are members of a church, or even attend a church. Rather I ask how many people
are finding their spiritual lives fulfilled. If that is not happening, I believe they can
qualify as ‘seekers’.
Notice I said, ‘spiritual home’. Typically, that is a church or other worship
center, but it could be a neighborhood prayer group or a 12 Step program.
So how many people have a fulfilling spiritual home? Lots of debate about
that number! The big question is how to measure it. The only number we have to
use is self-reported, church attendance and that usually is between 30-40% of
Americans attend with some regularity.