The single fastest-growing religious group of our time are those who check the box next to the word none on national surveys. They are known as the Nones and make up 20% of the population. James Emery White joins Dr. Bill Maier to share about how we can reach the the mission field right outside our doors.
Beliefs and Practices
In terms of their religious beliefs and practices, the unaffiliated are a diverse group, and far from uniformly secular. One-third of the unaffiliated say religion is at least somewhat important in their lives. Two-thirds believe in God, though less than half say they are absolutely certain of God’s existence.
The Nones are not uniformly hostile toward religious institutions. Most believe these three tenets about churches and other religious organizations:
Too concerned with money and power
Too focused on rules
Too involved in politics.
However, a majority of the religiously unaffiliated clearly think that religion can be a force for good in society, with 3/4 saying religious organizations bring people together and help strengthen community bonds and a similar number saying religious organizations play an important role in helping the poor and needy.
The vast majority of Nones are not actively seeking to find a church or other religious group to join and most churches are doing virtually nothing to reach them.
Churches’ current evangelism methods which often result only in transfer growth–Christians moving from one church to another–rather than in reaching the Nones.
James Emery White is the pastor of a that is currently experiencing 70% of its growth from unchurched Nones. White knows how to reach this growing demographic, and here he shares his ministry strategies with concerned pastors and church leaders. He answers the following questions in this interview:
· Exactly who are the unaffiliated?
· What caused this seismic shift in our culture?
· How can our churches reach these people?
