Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church

1948 The Alameda
San Jose, CA 95126

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The Unchurched

     Knowing where a typical unbeliever is coming from is the first step to connecting with them. Researcher Thom Rainer interviewed thousands of unchurched Americans and published the results in: The Unchurched Next Door. Many of the findings may surprise you:

• Most of the unchurched prefer to attend church on Sunday morning if they attend.
• Most people who do not attend church are not antichurch or antireligion.
• Most Americans have never been invited to church — never.
• 82 percent of the unchurched are at least “somewhat likely” to attend church if they are invited.
• Two percent of church members invite an unchurched person to church during their lifetime.
• Most of the unchurched feel guilty about not attending church.
• Very few of the unchurched have had someone share with them how to become a Christian and Christians have not been particularly influential in their lives.
• The attitudes of the unchurched are not correlated to where they live, their ethnic or racial background or their gender.
• Many of the unchurched are far more concerned about the spiritual well-being of their children than of themselves

     What does this mean for us? People are waiting for us to ask them to join us and few of us every do! Why don’t we? Most people say they do not want to be turned down. Well, the statistics show that that is not the likely outcome of an invitation to attend church.

     How do we invite others? Not by telling them what is bad about themselves or church. By stressing the good things that we have going on at Holy Redeemer — relational groups, interaction with the outside world through various ministries, the ability to define your own faith journey and how you will live it out, and much more. What do you like about Holy Redeemer. Share that and your passion will be infectious!

     Thom Rainer would have us believe that they are ready and they are willing and they are just waiting for us to ask them to join us. Why not start this week and make it a habit to invite someone every week in the future?

PJ

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