Churchless: Understanding Today's Unchurched and How to Connect with Them
Churchless: Understanding Today's Unchurched and How to Connect with Them book cover

Churchless: Understanding Today's Unchurched and How to Connect with Them

Hardcover – October 1, 2014

by
Price
$23.48
Format
Hardcover
Pages
224
Publisher
Tyndale Momentum
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1414387093
Dimensions
5.7 x 0.9 x 8.6 inches
Weight
12 ounces

Description

From the Inside Flap From the inside flap: The surprising reasons why church avoidance is on the riseand a hopeful analysis of what to do about it. What causes people to stay away from church? What makes them feel welcomed and willing to engage? Our world is ever-changing, and so are the answers. Churchless people today have different reasons for their choices than previous generations. And until we understand those reasons . . . how can we hope to reach them?Bestselling authors David Kinnaman and George Barna team up as general editors of Churchless to equip you with the answers from new Barna Group research. They shine a spotlight on todays culture to reveal what the churchless think and feel about religion, why they might believe in God but avoid the local church, and what kind of faith experience theyre seeking.In Churchless, youll not only learn the newest data, but discover how to turn knowledge into wisdom and action as you lovingly reach out to churchless friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family. From the Back Cover “I’m not interested in church.”“I used to attend, but it’s been years.”“I believe in God, but can encounter him anywhere. Why go to church?” Churchless people are all around us: among our closest loved ones, at our workplaces, in our neighborhoods. And increasingly, they are becoming the norm. The number of churchless adults in the United States has grown by nearly one-third in the past decade.Yet the startling truth is that many unchurched people claim they are looking for a genuine, powerful encounter with God―but they just don’t find it in church . What are they (or we) missing? How can we better reach out to them? What can we say or do that would inspire them to join a community of faith? Churchless presents the startling trends revealed by two decades of Barna Group interviews with thousands of churchless men and women, and offers discerning analysis of the results from bestselling authors George Barna ( Revolution ) and David Kinnaman ( You Lost Me ). This practical, insight-driven book will help you look past the surface of church attendance to deeper spiritual realities and understand those who choose not to be part of a church―the first step toward building trust-based relationships that lead to Christ-centered community. From the inside flap: The surprising reasons why church avoidance is on the rise―and a hopeful analysis of what to do about it. What causes people to stay away from church? What makes them feel welcomed and willing to engage? Our world is ever-changing, and so are the answers. Churchless people today have different reasons for their choices than previous generations. And until we understand those reasons . . . how can we hope to reach them?Bestselling authors David Kinnaman and George Barna team up as general editors of Churchless to equip you with the answers from new Barna Group research. They shine a spotlight on today’s culture to reveal what the churchless think and feel about religion, why they might believe in God but avoid the local church, and what kind of faith experience they’re seeking.In Churchless, you’ll not only learn the newest data, but discover how to turn knowledge into wisdom and action as you lovingly reach out to churchless friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family.

Features & Highlights

  • Churchless people are all around us: among our closest loved ones, at our workplaces, in our neighborhoods. And more and more, they are becoming the norm: The number of churchless adults in the US has grown by nearly one-third in the past decade. Yet the startling truth is that many of these people claim they are
  • looking
  • for a genuine, powerful encounter with God―but they just don’t find it
  • in church
  • . What are they (or we) missing? How can we better reach out to them? What can we say or do that would inspire them to want to join a community of faith? Containing groundbreaking new research from the Barna Group, and edited by bestselling authors George Barna (
  • Revolution
  • ) and David Kinnaman (
  • You Lost Me
  • ),
  • Churchless
  • reveals the results of a five-year study based on interviews with thousands of churchless men and women. Looking past the surface of church attendance to deeper spiritual realities,
  • Churchless
  • will help us understand those who choose not to be part of a church, build trust-based relationships with them, and be empowered to successfully invite them to engage.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(122)
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25%
(51)
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15%
(31)
★★
7%
(14)
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Most Helpful Reviews

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Understanding why people don't attend a local church

Descriptive, but not prescriptive. Enlightening, but not equipping. Informative, but not inspiring. Explanation, but not application.

These are the words that describe my impression and evaluation of the latest offering from the Barna Group, Churchless: Understanding Today’s Unchurched and How to Connect with Them. I have decidedly mixed feelings about the book. It felt like it was heavy on understanding the unchurched but light on how to connect with them. In that sense, it didn’t meet my expectations because it didn’t live up to its subtitle.

The book is the result of several surveys done over a period of four years (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014) among 20,000 churched and unchurched adults. The authors provide demographic information and self-descriptions of churchless people. They include what the unchurched think and feel about religion, their religious behaviors, what they believe about faith, the paradox of trusting Christ but not the local church, the reasons why people choose to leave the church, their approach to family life, the goals & values of churchless adults, their lifestyle choices, why atheists and agnostics should be viewed differently, and what type of faith experience and/or spiritual journey unchurched adults are seeking. Lest the authors appear to be anti-church, they include one final chapter on why the church matters in a post-Christian culture.

The strength of the book is the descriptive material regarding the mindset and lifestyle of unchurched adults. One has a much better understanding of this group of people. However, the weakness of what the book is what to do with the information. The book is decidedly light in the aspect of, “So what?” The reader is left to his/her own devices to figure out what to do with the information. The authors include a few questions for discussion at the end of each chapter. But church leaders will need to form their own discussion groups to determine what to do next.

While the book provides some help and understanding, it doesn’t take the next step and go far enough. Perhaps my frustration and disappointment comes from having recently read, The Rise of the Nones: Understanding and Reaching the Religiously Unaffiliated, by James Emery White. I found White’s book to be much more balanced and helpful.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Tyndale Blog Network http://tyndaleblognetwork.com/ book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
8 people found this helpful
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We can’t see them as a ‘project’ – nobody wants to feel like the attention is out of some misguided sense of ...

Gone are the days when almost everyone you know goes to church, and does so regularly. Gone are the days when the people who don’t go to church are probably going to Synagogue, or Temple or Mosque or some other faith based gathering. Gone are the days when you could tell who was Christian by observing church attendance. The rules of the game have changed, and the church needs to figure out fairly quickly how to deal with the new rules of engagement.
Churchless: Understanding Today’s Unchurched and How to Connect with Them, (Barna Group, George Barna and David Kinnaman, General Editors, Tyndale Momentum, 2014) is based on a series of recent surveys conducted by the Barna Group. The results are chilling.
While most churches think that they are the friendliest place in town and that they are the obvious choice for anyone, those that don’t regularly attend usually don’t see it the same way. And speaking of regular attendance, the new “regular’ isn’t 3 or 4 times a month plus special occasions. It’s closer to once a month.
The ‘millennials’ - people born in the 80’s and 90’s - might not have grown up going to church. They meet people with a lot of baggage concerning religion, and in this postmodern, post-Christian age, that’s to be expected.
A lot of people just don’t go to church; but there are a couple of other groups that we especially need to be concerned with. There are a lot of people who used to go to church, but got disenchanted and left. And there is another group of people who strongly profess their Christian faith, but don’t see the need to affiliate with organized religion. We can’t set out to evangelize them, they’re already saved. We can’t see them as a ‘project’ – nobody wants to feel like the attention is out of some misguided sense of pity.
So how do we reach them? Unfortunately, there isn’t a single one size fits all formula, so it has to start with relationships. As good as many church people are at relationships with other church people, when it comes to the dechurched, unchurched, and minimally churched, something breaks down.
Churchless offers insight, gained from talking to members of those groups, of where their interests lie, how they perceive church and religion, and where some of those ideas come from. There are also tips for making the connections between their faith work and a church family.
The writer of Hebrews warned the early Christians to not give up meeting together, the need for a faith community is equally strong today.
This book is not the kind of book you look for when you want to curl up in front of the fireplace, but pastors and church leadership teams owe it to themselves to look at the state of their church in the context of this book and use the lessons learned as they try to reach and rechurch their neighborhood.
I received a copy of this book from Tyndale Momentum in exchange for my review. I was not required to write a positive review.
5/5
6 people found this helpful
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Read this book to help save a generation of people abandoning the church

I read a book by Church statistic guru George Barna. He has written a masterpiece called Churchless. As a pastor I feel that this book and topic must be required reading. We must be a student of the culture and figure out what is making people leave the church by the thousands.
This trend alarms me and is why I picked up this book.
Like any Barna book, there will be many stats and can overwhelm you, bore you, or tempt you to skip over the book. Don't do that! The stats will help you see the reality we as pastors face when we lead our church and see people leave
My favorite chapter by far has to be the final chapter: why churches matter. The material in it helps me to know what to say to a generation that sees the church as irrelevant. The tools help me stay relevant without compromising the truth of the bible.
I highly recommend this book if you want to see how the culture sees the church and how to fix the problems we face in the 21st century. Pick it up at Amazon.com today!!!
I recieved this book for free from Tyndale bloggers network in exchange for an honest review . Thanks to them for the copy
2 people found this helpful
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Five Stars

Excellent ananlysis!
1 people found this helpful
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Understanding the Churchless

This was a very interesting nonfiction book about people who do not go to Church and why. I liked all the data the editors presented. The book features the results from years and years of interviews with thousands of men and women. I liked how they broke the book up with inserts of some of the questions they asked and the percentages of answers. It really opened my eyes. The authors figured out that Americans fall into one of four categories as it relates to their relationship to church :

1. The Actively Churched are those who attend church on a regular basis, meaning one a month or more.

2. The Minimally Churched are those who attend church services several times a year and whose attendance patterns are unpredictable.

3. The de-Churched are those who have been “churched” in the past but are now taking a break from the church. The authors discovered that this group is the fastest growing segment. (I am in this one currently.)
4. The Purely Unchurched are those who never attend a Christian worship service.

They ask them questions on different subjects like religion, behavior of church members, atheists, goals and morals. The subtitle is understanding today's unchurched and how to connect with them. The book did not go into great detail on the last part, connecting with unchurched. Some of the suggestions made were do not blind call and invite to church and tone down the advertising. Unchurched are more likely to attend if invited by a friend or see the church active in the community. I agree with them. I know that I personally would not go because of a phone call or advertisement. The church is made of people and to me the way the people act influences the most. Recommended to those curious about this topic and church leaders.

Review copy provided by Netgalley and Tyndale in exchange for a honest review.
1 people found this helpful
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Four Stars

Interesting book. The last Chapter convicted me on my compassion for the lost.
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Four Stars

Good read..with lots of helpful data and some practical ideas.
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Five Stars

Well-researched, engaging, and clearly written, This book is thought-provoking and a worthy read.
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It was great and eye opening

It was great and eye opening. It tells you about the unchurched population and what they think. It redesigns the evangelism experience for people under the age of 50.
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Must read book

Bought many to give away. Must read for church leaders.

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