St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

Reaching those who don't come.

Here are four groups of people who don’t come to church regularly at present:

• The Fringe - those who come occasionally and are linked with church in some way (perhaps by reading church magazines?) - about 10% of the adult population;

• The Open De-churched - those who have left church at some point but who feel they might return if suitably invited - 20%;

• The Closed Dechurched - those who have left church and were so hurt that they have no intention of ever returning - 20%;

• The Non-churched - those who have never been to church except maybe for a christening, wedding or funeral - 40%.

(All these figures are averages: in some areas there might be 80% of local people who are non-churched.)

These are like four different tribes for a missionary to face, and they need different approaches. Most of the traditional methods (e.g. “missions”) don’t work, and the church does most of its recruiting among the nearest 30%.


55%



	35%



		14%
			4%

1900	1940	1970	2000

Anglicans have long thought “it doesn’t matter if we lose young people - they’ll marry, have kids, want values for them, and return to the flock.” This doesn’t work: in the 1900’s we had 55% of children in Sunday Schools, but we never had 55% of adults from this age-group in church.

Even if it had worked then it wouldn’t work now: by 1920 less than half the nation’s children came to Sunday Schools, and by 2000 the figure has shrunk to 4%.

We need to think of other ways to reach the people in our country today. Inviting them back to church doesn’t work: they were never there to start with, and churches are alien territory. To think otherwise is a delusion.

George Lings, Church Army.

We are planning an Alpha course this autumn - to help people think about Christianity without the church getting in the way. Join us, bring friends - watch for details!