Nov 26, 2019
By Carl Greene
Executive Director
In my first season of high school sports, my team went 2 and 12. That would be 2 wins and 12 losses. It was a character-building year to say the least. The second season brought a winning record, but we still lost some close games that we really could have won. We lost in the waning moments of those games because we had allowed the previous year to shape our expectations: we would fall short in the end.
Bad news has a way of shaping our expectations and the amount of effort we invest in more than just high school sports. The same is true when it comes to inviting people to visit our church family. Think about the bad news that we are handed all the time about how Christianity is failing to keep up in this day and age. A recent headline from Pew Research recently caught my eye: “In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace, An update on America’s changing religious landscape.”1
I hear a clear message between the lines here: “buckle up, we are on the decline;” “give up now, because nobody cares about your faith.” Make no mistake, the rise of “nones” in the United States is worth our attention: from 2009 to 2019 the religiously unaffiliated have risen from 17% to 26% of the population.2 However, we can get so wrapped up with ringing the alarm bell that we distort the headlines3 and end up hurting our churches.
Here is the fruit of this alarmism and defeatism:
◼ Nearly half of all Christians (48%) maintain that most non-Christians
are not interested in having a conversation about Jesus.4
◼ 71% of unchurched individuals report that they have never had a
conversation with someone about how to take steps to become
a Christian.5
◼ The shocker is that nearly 4 out of 5 unchurched (79%) report that
they are fine with talking about faith with a friend—as long as that
friend truly values their faith.6
There is a huge disconnect here on the part of the team convinced that they are losing. We gave up before the game was over. What if there is a better approach to being winsome in our faith than the belief that the sky is falling? What if rather than looking for gloom and doom we instead sought out how our communities are actually brimming with people in search of Good News? What if we listened a little more closely to Jesus’ words in John 4:35?
“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’?
Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white
for harvest.”
Here are some statistics of interest that might provide a picture of fields ready for harvest in the face of defeatism headlines:
◼ The Protestant churches most focused on evangelism have not
been shrinking.7
◼ 49% of currently unchurched Americans who identify as Protestants
intend to return to regular church attendance. 8
◼ 75% of unchurched individuals state that a friend or family member
inviting them to visit a church would be effective.9
Now at this point in the conversation is where the writer often throws the zinger to make each one of us feel ultra-guilty about our lack of evangelism performance. As a result, the reader either (1) discredits the author or
(2) makes a personal vow to drastically change their evangelism style and
then promptly not do it.
That would be the alarmist approach to evangelism. I am going to advocate using the One-Degree Rule as advocated by Kevin Harney. Evangelism is not a lost cause in the face of a degrading culture—it is an opportunity to connect with people searching for Jesus.
Every follower of Jesus has an outreach temperature, whether it’s hot,
cold, or somewhere in the middle. This temperature impacts the way we
live and interact with those who are far from God. It is our responsibility
to increase this temperature so that our hearts burn hotter for those who
are spiritually disconnected.10
The beauty of the One-Degree Rule is that we are not looking to instantly become a “10” on the evangelism temperature scale. We are looking for practical ways to increase by a degree. I hope that a practical step that each one of us takes is to stop being alarmed by statistics and see the fields white with harvest. It is with that vision that we warm up to offering people a second invitation
to visit our church family.
Want to learn more about the One-Degree Rule?
Read Harney’s book Organic Outreach for Churches: Infusing Evangelistic
Passion in Your Local Congregation,
or check out https://www.organicoutreach.org/
1 Pew Research. 2019. “In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace,
An update on America’s changing religious landscape.” October 17.
https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/ Accessed October 24, 2019.
2 Ibid.
3 Smith, Christian. 2007. “Evangelicals Behaving Badly with Statistics.” Books & Culture.
January/February 2007. https://www.booksandculture.com/articles/2007/janfeb/5.11.html Accessed October 24, 2019.
4 Barna. 2018. Spiritual Conversations in a Digital Age. Barna report. www.barna.com/spiritualconversations/. In Richardson, Rick. 2019. You Found Me. Downers Grove: IVP. 33.
5 2019. “Unchurched Report.” Billy Graham Center Institute and Lifeway Research. April 24. www.billygrahamcenter.com/youfoundme/research. In Richardson 2019, 60, 61.
6 Ibid. In Richardson 2019, 59.
7 Richardson 2019, 36.
8 Richardson 2019, 89. Based on additional analysis of the Unchurched Study by the Billy Graham Center Institute.
9 Ibid.
10 Harney, Kevin. 2018. Organic Outreach for Churches: Infusing Evangelistic Passion in Your Local Congregation. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 120.
