Unchurched people are open to talk about faith but will not go to church, study finds

Many unchurched Americans are willing to discuss faith and religion with Christian friends but are not as open to attending a worship service with them, according to a new study.

The study, conducted by LifeWay Research in partnership with the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism, showed that among 2,000 unchurched Americans, only 35 percent are willing to attend a worship service.

Additionally, 25 percent said they are willing to join a recovery group, and 24 percent will attend a seminar about a "spiritual" topic.

However, more respondents showed greater desire to take part in church-initiated activities. For example, 62 percent said they would go to a church meeting discussing neighborhood safety, and 51 percent said they would participate in community service sponsored by a church.

Unchurched Americans are also willing to join sports activities (46 percent) and go to concerts (45 percent) that are sponsored by a church.

Although they showed little enthusiasm in attending a worship service, they are not as hostile to discussions about religion and the meaning of life. The survey revealed that 47 percent of the respondents said they are willing to talk about such topics freely with anyone who wants to share his or her faith.

Additionally, 79 percent said they do not mind friends, who value their faith, talk about their convictions. LifeWay Research executive director Scott McConnell said this particular findings should dispel Christians' reluctance to share their faith for fear that their friends will be offended.

"Unchurched folks are not being overwhelmed by Christians talking about their faith. If faith is important to you, then your friends will be interested in hearing about it," McConnell said.

However, he added that the old method of asking people the question "If you died tonight, would you go to heaven?" may no longer work today.

"If the only benefit of being a Christian is that you get to go to heaven, most unchurched people don't care," McConnell said. "It can't be the only way of talking about faith."

So what is the best way for Christians to invite their friends to the worship service? They should do it with a personal touch, the study showed. About half of the respondents said they are more likely to say yes if a friend or family member personally invited them to church.