A new study released in the January/February edition of Facts & Trends magazine shows just how involved Protestant churches are in evangelism and community outreach, as well as what obstacles hold them back from being more involved.
The study, conducted for Facts & Trends by Ellison Research of Phoenix, is a representative sample of 811 Protestant senior pastors nationwide. Facts & Trends is published bimonthly by LifeWay Christian Resources.
Senior ministers were asked about the activities their church held in the past year specifically for the purpose of evangelism, as well as what types of community outreach and programs the church offered.
Methods of evangelism vary
Ninety-seven percent of all churches report doing something specifically for the purposes of evangelism over the last year, but the methods churches are using for evangelism are quite varied. The most common is Vacation Bible School, or VBS, utilized for evangelism by 70 percent of the churches.
At least half of the churches surveyed used literature such as tracts or magazines (59 percent), events such as block parties or a Fall Festival (56 percent), musical events or concerts (51 percent), mailings or fliers (50 percent), and nursing home or retirement center visits (49 percent) specifically for the purposes of evangelism.
Other relatively popular evangelistic efforts include “invite a friend to church” days (42 percent), revivals or crusades (40 percent), evangelism training classes or groups (38 percent), door-to-door visitation within the community (37 percent), community such as cleanup days (31 percent), online efforts such as blogs or websites (27 percent), audio or visual products such as DVDs (26 percent), and booths at community events such as the county fair (20 percent).
Denominational efforts
What churches are doing to evangelize their communities differs quite a bit by denominational group. Southern Baptist churches are particularly big on using revivals or crusades, literature, evangelism training classes or groups, and door-to-door visitation, but are less likely than average to use any sort of online evangelism.
In general, evangelical churches use a greater variety of evangelistic tools than do mainline Protestant churches. Evangelical churches are considerably more likely to attempt evangelism through literature, revivals or crusades, evangelism training classes or groups, door-to-door visitation, and audio/visual products, while mainline churches have only a greater propensity for doing community service as a form of evangelism.
Community outreach efforts
The survey also explored the kinds of community outreach or programs offered by churches. Only three types of outreach are offered by a majority of churches in a typical year: food pantry, food collection, or other food-oriented donations (73 percent), VBS (68 percent), and holiday food programs such as Christmas or Thanksgiving baskets for poor families (65 percent).
Other types of community outreach offered by much smaller proportions of churches include prison ministry (25 percent), homeless outreach (24 percent), Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts (20 percent), blood drives (17 percent), after-school programs for kids (14 percent), sports programs (11 percent), and outreach to specific ethnic groups (11 percent).
Fewer than one out of 10 churches offer low-cost day care services, abortion or pregnancy counseling, domestic violence programs, English language classes, job skills or job training, or adult literacy classes.
Evangelicals offer less programs
Just like with evangelism efforts, there are denominational differences in offering community outreach programs. For instance, 46 percent of Methodist churches have some sort of homeless outreach, compared to just 10 percent of Southern Baptists.
While evangelical churches offer a greater variety of evangelism programs and efforts, mainline churches are offering a wider variety of community programs that aren’t necessarily involving evangelism. Mainline churches are more likely than evangelical churches to have food donations, holiday food programs, VBS, homeless outreach, blood drives, Scouting, and domestic violence programs. Evangelical churches are more likely to offer abortion or pregnancy counseling and sports programs, although still relatively few do either.
The study also delved into pastors’ reasons for their churches not being more involved in community outreach. Problems common to at least half of all churches include lacking sufficient volunteers (58 percent), staff (56 percent), lay leaders (52 percent) and funds (50 percent).
Community efforts not priority
In addition, 39 percent – a figure consistent across all major denominational groups – essentially are not highly interested in offering more programs for the community, saying:
– They would rather focus on spiritual needs than on physical needs
– Their community has no major needs
– Other organizations do these things better than they do
– Their congregation or community really isn’t interested in community outreach.
Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, found it ironic that so many churches put a low priority on doing more to reach out to their community.
“In an environment where communities and people have so many needs, and in which church growth is such a hot topic and a stated goal for so many pastors, it seems odd that so many churches really don’t wish to do more,” Sellers observed. “This lack of priority takes many forms – the congregation isn’t interested, the community doesn’t want our help, we want to focus on our own people – yet if churches are not consistently reaching outside their own walls, how are they to grow?”