Posted by Mike O on: 10.16.2008 /
Last weekend, I attended the Born Again Church Tour 2008 sponsored by Off The Map and advertised on this website. The last session I attended was led by David Kinnaman - president of The Barna Group, which is a Christian polling company that gathers data and statistics on spiritual trends in America. During this session, we were presented with statistical data showing us Christians how young non-Christians view Christianity (an insider’s view of the outsider’s view of us). All of the numbers seemed reasonable to me, but then again, I’m a Christian listening to data being presented by another Christian.
So I thought it might be interesting to see if outsiders would agree, so here’s my question - What is the outsider’s view of our view of the outsider’s view of us? Here are some of the key trends and data presented. See if you agree.
1) There is more similarity between young Christians and young non-Christians than there is between young Christians and older Christians.
2) Christians assume non-Christians would become Christians if we would just say or do the right thing. In actuality, however, young non-Christians simply don’t care about Christianity - they’re indifferent. A quote was given from the marketing industry “Your first job as a marketer is to overcome the nearly impregnable fortress of indifference” and that’s largely true when it comes to Christianity, too. Here’s an example - let’s say you’re a Manchester United fan. And you are trying to convince me to become a Manchester United fan. Your biggest obstacle won’t be that I disagree with the Manchester United, or even that I don’t like them. Your biggest obstacle will be that I don’t care about them. Invite me to a game and I’ll go. But it will be virtually impossible for you to “convince me” to become a fan. I need to become a fan on my own.
3) Here’s how the young non-Christians community breaks down
- 32% are atheist or agnostic
- 26% are “synchrotists” (a merging of spiritual beliefs or ideas)
- 24% are committed to some other faith
- 18% are undecided
4) Where do young non-Christians get their perceptions of us?
- 59% from churches
- 50% from Friends
- 48% from other religions
- 44% from books
- 40% from parents
- 31% from TV/movies
- 16% from music
5) Most non-Christians blame interactions with Christians for their negative view of Christianity
6) Christians should not assume that young non-Christians fail to believe because they have no context to work from, because that is statistically untrue in America – 58% of young people have at least some contact/experience with church, with 24% having been in church within the last six months. Only 18% of young non-Christians have no church experience.
7) Non-Christians have an average of five Christian friends.
8) 65% have talked with a Christian friend regarding their faith
9) 53% have been approached to become a Christian.
- 38% said that conversation felt awkward or uncomfortable
- 14% who said it was friendly.
10) Priority of spirituality
- 7% of non-Christians consider it most important, compared with 30% for Christians
- 23% said it was a major priority, compared with 43% of Christians
- 23% said it was a minor priority (sorry, I didn’t get the number for Christians)
- 26% of non-Christians want to connect with God, compared with 72% for Christians. The news flash to Christians here is that whether or not young non-Christians *should* have an appetite for “connecting with God,” they don’t seem to. Young non-Christians are more driven by whether things make sense or feel right than a desire to connect with God.
11) Advice for Christians
- Stop talking and listen
- Don’t label people
- Don’t be so sure of everything. Live in the tension of not knowing certain things. Young non-Christians are skeptical of certainty - having all the answers is a turn-off.
- Be genuine - church should be a place where you can be real, so don’t pretend everything is fine if it isn’t.
- Be their friend because you want to be their friend, not because you want to convert them. Otherwise you’re just marketing.
Thoughts? Does this information ring true? How about you Christians reading this - does any of this surprise you?
Comment by: Jason
1Firstly I’m confused a little about why a personal belief should attract any sort of polling. What is the purpose of the polling? The reason I ask is that I assume that you believe that you know the Truth with regards to faith. This truth isn’t going to change as a political policy might so why poll to see if the truth is well received? The conclusion I draw from the fact that polling occurs is that sharing the gospel is exactly the same as advertising. The polling is to monitor the effectiveness of the advertising methods being used.
To me that isn’t sharing the truth of the gospel at all but selling the gospel instead. You can only sell to people who want to buy or have a need for your product. If the unchurched are to be treated as consumers then the product must change to suit our needs. That doesn’t speak to me of any sort of ultimate truth at all.
Moving on….
1) Young people of Christian or non-Christian belief experience the cultural zeitgeist in the same way while different generations experience it very differently. Our perspectives are just different. Age brings with it a whole new set of concerns and opinions that youth simply cannot care about while the young can grasp things with the passion of the newly considered that age tempers with experience. So I’d agree completely with the assessment that you made.
2) I’d also agree that people are indifferent to religion. If it isn’t of interest and doesn’t effect their lives then it is of no interest. When someone needs religion it will be available and when it gets in the way it will be rejected. People who are indifferent to religion (most of the UK) are not atheists or even complete a census as non-religious. These apatheists might well believe in some vague sort of deity that looks out for them but the ideas are unformed or ignored as irrelevant.
People who try to force one view on this uncaring status quo often meet rejection. People don’t generally enjoy confrontation and don’t want someone else’s strong beliefs to be forced on them or at them.
3) That’s interesting. I like how agnostic is separate from undecided. It shows that agnosticism is viewed as a belief system and not just fence sitting.
4) Greta Christina wrote recently about a straw poll for why people lose their faith. It is surprisingly close to the statistics for those who gain their faith.
I get most of my perceptions of Christians from the media (newspapers, blogs, web sites) and not from any of the listed sources. Also from prominent Christians like Rowan Williams, Tony Blair *groan* and Tony Benn. Prominent for me anyway.
5) That sounds fair. Maybe they’ve all been to the same fundamentalist websites where they get shouted down for even suggesting that there are other views.
6) Sounds fair. Break those assumptions.
7) As an Englishman I have fewer than five Christian friends in real life. Not that I like people less than Americans do, just that Christians are a bit of a dying breed in England.
8) Who else would they speak to about an opinion but someone who holds that opinion?
9) I would be interested in knowing if the awkwardness pushed people away from Christianity and the friendliness brought them closer. I’d assume so which would tend to indicate that approaching people to convert them pushes more than twice as many people away from faith as it attracts.
10)
That seems fairly obvious. Is the assumption different among Christians?
11)
Yes!
This all sounds pretty accurate but I return to my initial point that it feels like advertising and not sharing. I suppose it is good to identify that so you can work to avoid that perception.
Comment by: Mike O
2Sure, you could compare it to marketing. that’s a bit too negative, but given that Christians DO want to get their message across (whether or not we should want that!), do you really want us to keep going about it without caring where you’re coming from? Isn’t that the problem today??
Yes, that’s the point. We’ve been trying to convince people who don’t want to hear it, and it annoys the bejeebers out of you. Polls like this help us understand that. Believe it or not, I actually agree with you on that. We shouldn’t go about our faith as if we’re hawking the latest ‘must have’ gadget. If you really ‘must have’ it, and I have it, you’ll know to come to me when you want one.
Yup.
That was directed more to Christians who assume that non-Christians don’t want to talk about faith. Many non-Christians actually don’t mind it.
I think anytime you fabricate a relationship for the purposes of sharing your faith, unless that person is REALLY interested, you will do more harm than good. back to my Manchester united example (I did that for you, Jason, by the way - the original example was baseball :) ), invite me to a game and I’ll be sure to go if I think I’ll like it. I may even BECOME a fan. But if you try to GET ME TO BECOME a fan, then you’re marketing me, not befriending me. Many (most?) Christians don’t understand that. But I think the tide is turning.
Comment by: Duh-sciple
3A few thoughts…
1. I am a Christian in the process of becoming a Jesus follower.
2. As I observe the beliefs and behaviors of other Christians I sometimes find myself closer spiritually to certain atheists who practice Jesus following- some seem to have that Character about them whether they try or not.
3. My hope is to embody Christ in all my relationships- through acts of service, justice, listening, being there, speaking my piece when I see something wrong, humbling myself when others zero in on my self-centeredness.
4. Increasing the number of self-identified Christians may not be the same as increasing God’s kingdom in the world- greater peace, greater justice, miracles of reconciliation, miracles of healing, overcoming demons, everyone being fed, everyone both experiencing and sharing forgiveness. As one specific example, Jesus asks us to pray for our enemies. I have not yet been to a church service where Osama bin Laden has been prayed for by name. Our prayers are wonderful. We ask for healing for many by name, most aren’t members. That is beautiful. It’s just we fall short of actually overcoming evil with good.
5. My experience… Christians are screwed up. They don’t have all the answers… non-Christians are screwed up, too, yet they can often become bearers of surprising grace.
6. I’m reading the new book by Kent Keith, author of the Paradoxical Commandments… the world is violent, full of injustice and corruption– have faith anyway.
Thanks for allowing me to share these thoughts!
Stay in One Peace, Duhsciple
Comment by: Jason
4True. I was reading the polling as an effort to find out what could work better and not to identify where you go wrong. I know that they amount to the same thing in the end but the former has an agenda to get bums on seats while the latter has a degree of corrective action.
I’m happy to share beliefs and opinions with a Christian. What I’m not happy about is being talked at.
As for the Man U reference I’m afraid it was wasted on me. :( I’m not a fan of footie at all.
Comment by: Seren
5The list seems pretty fair. One thing I will say is that I’ve observed Christians being ignorant of the negative experiences non-Christians have of Church/the Bible/Christian practice. When I left the church/faith I was surprised to discover how many people then shared their own negative experiences with me. These were people I would (as an “insider” ie Christian) have assumed were “unchurched.”
xx s.
Comment by: Mike O
6Oh, that that were the case with all of us!
Whethr they try or not … I wonder if there’s a deeper principal there, like trying vs just being! If non-Cs can do it without trying, than maybe Cs can do it without trying. Sounds kinda dumb when I say it like that, but …
I wonder if that isn’t where religion sneaks in and mucks everyting up. What exactly are we trying to do? Be like Jesus or be like we think we’ve learned to try to be like. If they can be like Jesus without trying, why can’t we?
That may be true, but my experience is that non-Cs are just as graceless as we are. For example, the most gay-hateful people I work with are the non-Christians - they’re horrible.
Did you see the blog Jason did on Monday on relationships? That kind of speaks to this - sort of. As a society, as we get older we learn to be wary of each other.
Comment by: Mike O
7Look at the link you provided for Greta Christina. She gives atheists insight into what works best, and when Christians are susceptible to atheistic suggestions to leave the faith - how to “market atheism,” if you will.
If you read one of Barna’s surveys, you’ll get a better feel for what these surveys are really like. This one happens to be on their front page today. It’s not “How to evangelize effectively” fodder, rather “Where is America spiritually.”
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Comment by: Ir (Helen)
9Jason wrote:
Jason, I hear you about changing the product, but I don’t think Christians are discussing changing the product. What they want to do is inform people about the product in a way that doesn’t put them off it.
I think marketing strategy is relevant to conveying truth. Just because something is true it doesn’t mean people will automatically accept and believe it. And just because people make an effort to persuade others of something, that doesn’t mean it’s not true. Maybe the reason they are trying so hard is because they’re so sure it is true, and it’s very important.
I’m jumping in in the middle of this - I hope I haven’t taken it in too wayward a direction.
Comment by: Mike O
10Good to hear from you, stranger! I miss you!
Comment by: Ir (Helen)
11Thanks Mike - I’ve been reading but because of being ill and other responsibilities, haven’t had time to comment much.
Comment by: Jason
12Helen said:
That’s fair if you assume that the message is both true and unchanging. A marketing campaign typically involves changing the ‘product’ in some way to make it more appealing. If it is true then the change means moving away from that truth.
Of course, I don’t see it as true to begin with and I have a degree of separation in my mind between what a person has faith in and what a religion provides. The marketing effort is about making the religion more appealing, extending it’s reach so that it gets to a greater audience. In Blown to Bits Evans and Wurster explain that a greater ‘reach’ for a product necessitates a reduction in ‘richness’. The personal relationship that many Christians seem to enjoy in their faith may be reduced by consumerising faith.
Rather than reaching more people the very act of marketing Christianity as a product may well weaken it’s appeal. As one product among many, whether that be differing Christian views or other faiths, the consumer has the added option of rejecting all sales attempts and deciding not to buy at all. Without a need for the product and a ubiquitous and competing presence the consumer may simply ignore the advertising. All to the good for secular ways of living among the godless but not so good for the faithful.
In order to be truly effective the product has to increase in richness as it increases in reach. That requires a broad consistency in the core message which is really lacking in Christianity. I don’t mean that to be offensive, one of the great strengths of Christianity and of Islam is that people are free to take from it the things that support their views. It has broad appeal across different strata of society and across social bounds. A person may be Christian and charitable or Christian and bigoted as long as they take only what they want from the ‘message’. That leads to an internal inconsistency that makes a ubiquitous sales campaign difficult. Someone will always point to the negative parts of the product in disagreement to a specifically targeted campaign.
Also with no central base to organise from the campaign will appear to be fractured and even more inconsistent. A Methodist message may appeal to liberal, social groups, a Baptist message may appeal to traditional values and family groups, an Anglican message may appeal to those interested in private faith shared among a small group, etc. Each time the message changes for the target audience.
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