How Did Christians Get Here?
Have you ever stopped to wonder why most people are Christians? In many churches, especially those in evangelical denominations, there continues to be a great deal of discussion about things like evangelism, conversion, and church growth. The assumption of those conversations is that many people have and will continue to move from no faith or another faith to the Christian faith. In reality, most people are born into the faith.
Bradley Wright, a sociologist at the University of Connecticut, explores this topic and several others in his recently published book: Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites…and Other Lies You’ve Been Told: A Sociologist Shatters Myths From the Secular and Christian Media. Citing previously conducted research, Wright indicates that 82% of current Protestants were born into family units affiliated with that tradition. He also shows that evangelicals are less successful at converting people from no religion or another religion than many people assume. Current evangelical Christians come from a variety of backgrounds: 50% of Evangelicals were raised Evangelical, 30% were raised in mainline or historically black traditions, and 10% were raised RCC. In other words, 10% or less of current Evangelical Christians converted from a tradition that was not Christian.
So What?
Does your congregation have an evangelism (outreach, church growth, or similar) team or committee? If so, what kind of goals or outcomes are they tasked with achieving?
- Is your evangelism team clear whether they are to focus their efforts on converting people to Christianity or welcoming those already associated with the faith into the life of your congregation? If they lack this clarity, how can they effectively focus the congregation’s resources?
- If converting people from non-Christian traditions is the main goal, then what tools, programs and strategies are used to reach out to these people? What data is collected to show how effective or ineffective the congregation is in achieving that outcome? What percentage of new members in the last year and over the last five years came from a non-Christian tradition?
- If welcoming people from other Christian traditions and those with Christian backgrounds who have not been active in a community of faith or have been marginally active is the main goal, then what tools, programs and strategies are used to reach out to these people? What data is collected to show how effective or ineffective the congregation is in achieving that outcome? What percentage of new members in the last year and over the last five years came from another Christian tradition?