of 70 %, while less than half of mainline leaders( 9 % said they were very effective, and 37 % say they were somewhat effective) expressed less confidence in reaching out to unchurched people. Pastors overall say they are“ excellent” at evangelizing and sharing the gospel at a rate of just 10 %. 11 % percent of pastors are frustrated by“ how to do effective outreach.”
Service projects are used to connect the church to others outside of the church body and serve them. 5 is the average number of projects conducted in a year, while 3 % of pastors say their church did more than 50 service projects in the past year, and 5 % said that did not do any. Both budget and church size factored in to service projects being conducted. One in nine of churches that had less than 100 adult attendees, and 17 % of churches whose annual budget was less than $ 100,000 did not have any service projects in the past year. Congregations who had a budget of more than $ 1 million averaged 8 to 10 service events, with no reports of no service projects at all.
Bible engagement
Barna’ s annual State of the Bible survey, in partnership with American Bible Society, asked U. S. adults to about their beliefs and habits surrounding the Bible in 2017. The survey had five categories to describe involvement with the Bible: Bible Engaged: Those who read, use or listen to the Bible four times a week or more, view the Bible as the actual or the inspired word of God with no errors, or as the inspired word of God with some errors.
Bible Friendly: View the Bible as the actual or inspired word of God with no errors, read, use or listen to the Bible fewer than four times per week.
Bible Neutral: View the Bible as the inspired word of God, with some factual or historical errors, or believe that it is not inspired by God but
New from J. Clif Christopher, CFRE
How pastors are handling outreach
In partnership with Pepperdine University, Barna conducted research on pastors’ opinions of how their current outreach and discipleship efforts were faring. Outreach is important to churches because it is part of what is considered“ cultural leadership.”
50 % of pastors believe their church is“ somewhat effective” at reaching out to unchurched people, while 32 % say they are“ not very effective” at reaching out, and 4 %“ not at all effective.” 13 % consider their church to be“ very effective” at reaching out to unchurched people. As far as discipleship, pastors are more confident. 14 % say they are very effective in their efforts regarding discipleship and spiritual formation, with 73 % saying they are somewhat effective.
21 % of pastors in growing churches say their congregation is very effective in outreach, and 22 % of pastors in growing churches say they are good at discipleship. Just 4 % of pastors at church experiencing declines say they are effective in these areas.
Leaders of large churches are more confident in their ability to be successful with outreach of unchurched people, at 20 %. 14 % of small churches believe they are very effective at this, and 9 % of midsize churches feel very effective. Non-mainline leaders say they are either very or somewhat effective at reaching unchurched people at a rate
God vs.
Money
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The essential primer on church finance, stewardship, and planned giving.
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