About 100 million Americans unchurched

Wow. I found this today at the blog For the Love by Kristen Campbell.

The Barna Group released a study today noting that if the unchurched population of the United States were a nation of its own, that group would be the eleventh most populated nation on earth (trailing only China, India, the churched portion of the United States, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, Japan and Mexico).

The new survey released by The Barna Group, which has been tracking America’s religious behavior and beliefs since 1984, reveals that one out of every three adults (33%) is classified as unchurched - meaning they have not attended a religious service of any type during the past six months. While that figure is considerably higher than the one out of five who qualified as unchurched in the early Nineties, it is statistically unchanged since 36% were recorded as having avoided religious services in the company’s 1994 study.

In its report, Barna notes that its results coincide with the publication of "Jim and Casper Go to Church," which describes the experiences of a former pastor and an avowed atheist who visit a dozen U.S. churches (including Bill Hybels' Willow Creek, Rick Warren's Saddleback, Joel Osteen's Lakeside and T.D. Jakes' The Potter's House). Among the findings: "the relative indifference of most churched Christians to unchurched people; the overt emphasis upon a personal rather than communal faith journey; the tendency of congregations to perform rituals and exercise talents rather than invite and experience the presence of God; the absence of a compelling call to action given to those who attend; and the failure to listen to dissident voices and spiritual guidance to dig deeper in one's faith." You can read some more info about this book here.

Wow, 100 million unchurched in America.

To put that figure in context, if the unchurched population of the United States were a nation of its own, that group would be the eleventh most populated nation on earth (trailing only China, India, the churched portion of the United States, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, Japan and Mexico).

I think I'll be reading the book.