8 Things the Unchurched Think About Your Church
What do the unchurched say about church buildings? Thom and Sam Rainer researched the answer.
The e-mail in our inbox began with a
simple question: “What do the unchurched say about church buildings?”
Asking the question was a group of church builders, including Cogun,
Aspen Group, and The Cornerstone Knowledge Network, who wanted to convey
to pastors what features, if any, of a church building help or hinder
unchurched people in coming to church.
A study of this nature had never been completed, but our team knew
based on a previous study that 42% of those currently attending a
Protestant church were unchurched prior to their decision to attend that
church. With such a large portion of congregations consisting of people
who are new to church, could the actual church building have anything
to do with attracting or pushing them away?
Recognizing this tangible aspect of how the unchurched view the
Church is crucial to reaching them for Christ. So our researchers began
the task of interviewing more than 350 people of different age groups
from 45 states. The interviewees were all formerly unchurched and had
recently joined a local body of believers. These are the important
points we discovered about church facilities.
1. The church facility plays an important role in attracting the unchurched.
Each church body’s unique situation calls for a different type of
style, venue, and size, but in short, attractive, organized, and
well-maintained church facilities help attract the unchurched.
2. The church building is not the primary motivating factor for the unchurched.
While the appearance of the church building is clearly important, it
is not the primary reason the unchurched choose to attend. They go to
church due to feeling a void in their lives or because someone invited
them. Therefore, the main factors are still the work of the Holy Spirit
in their hearts and the obedience of churchgoers to the Great Commission
in inviting their unchurched friends and neighbors.
3. The worship area is the unchurched’s favorite part of the church.
The formerly unchurched group we interviewed declared the worship
area to be the most important part of the church building. Our
respondents ranked beauty, comfort, and worship setting as the three key
components of a worship area. Therefore, an attractive, comfortable,
and worshipful sanctuary is extremely important when drawing and keeping
the unchurched.
4. The unchurched blame poor finances for unattractive buildings.
Churches that did not have adequate or attractive buildings were
perceived by the unchurched as underfunded. But the credit for
attractive facilities was given to the leadership of the church. Church
leaders need to know that pouring more money into their buildings is not
a solution in itself. However, if little financial care is allotted to
the church facilities, the formerly unchurched see lack of money as a
major hurdle to their attendance.
5. A “third place” area draws people to a church building.
A “third place” area is a social gathering point, such as a coffee
shop, outside the usual community environments of work and home. As the
importance of these gathering areas grows in our society, churches that
provide places for the community to socialize throughout the week are
much better positioned to reach the unchurched people in their
neighborhoods.
6. Church gyms are not appealing to the unchurched.
Many pastors hear their members saying that building a gym will help
attract the unchurched in their community. Our research, however, found
the exact opposite to be true—one of the church areas considered least
important to the unchurched was a gym. In general, gyms or fitness
centers serve their current membership and have little effect on
attracting the unchurched.
7. The church building is rarely a cause of conflict.
Our research dispelled the axiom that church facilities or building
programs are major instigators of church conflict. We found little to no
conflict directly attributed to the church building. Additionally, the
formerly unchurched people we interviewed perceived little conflict
surrounding the church facilities.
8. The church building aids evangelistic efforts.
A building is certainly not a necessity piece in obeying the
evangelism imperative, but appealing church facilities can increase a
newly churched person’s comfort level in inviting others to church. This
invitation plays a huge role in the process of seeing people come to
Christ. Our research demonstrates that the most evangelistically
successful churches have facilities that people perceive as attractive.
Pastors and lay leaders can learn valuable lessons about their church
building by viewing it through the eyes of the unchurched. Invite
someone from the community who has never visited your church and ask
them to write a step-by-step narrative of their experience in your
church building and worship service. You may be surprised at what they
say about your signage, seating, navigation, and other aesthetics.
What’s more, they may give you some fresh ideas on how to better draw
visitors to your church.
Thom S. Rainer is the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian
Resources. He was founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions,
Evangelism, and Church Growth at The Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary. His many books include Surprising Insights from the Unchurched, The Unexpected Journey, and Breakout Churches.
Sam S. Rainer III serves as a pastor at Sarasota Baptist Church. Sam is the co-author of the recently released book, Essential Church?: Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts. He also serves as president of Rainer Research,
a firm dedicated to providing answers for better church health. He is a
frequent conference speaker on church health issues. Sam enjoys hanging
out with friends and family in the Florida sunshine.
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