On Mission explores how Christians and churches can strike the balance between getting people into the church and keeping them there while sharing the essential elements of the gospel.

ometimes the world surprises us.

It turns out that doctrine is what matters most to the people some of us call "seekers," those unbelieving friends, family members, neighbors, co-workers and acquaintances we want to reach for Christ. Researchers call them the "unchurched," and we are learning what draws them into our midst, what makes them come back, what theyre seeking when they return and what makes them stay to accept Christ and eventually join the church.

Sure, many of them are drawn by our lively presentations, our relaxed Sunday morning dress codes and our sunny dispositions. But research shows that many unchurched people who eventually come to faith in Christ and join our membership rolls were primarily attracted by our theological beliefs, our conviction that the Bible is true, our intense teaching about salvation and our high standards of discipline in areas such as tithing, service and missions.

In other words, they have high expectations. They seek a standard that is high enough to challenge them. They are attracted to a fellowship of believers with the strongest of convictions. They can only serve a God Who is big.

Research shows doctrine matters

The number one reason given for the choice of a particular church among people classified as "formerly unchurched" is the doctrinal beliefs of that church, according to Thom S. Rainer, Ph.D., who writes on this conclusion in his next book (Almost) Everything Youve Heard about the Unchurched Is Wrong, due from Zondervan in 2001. Rainer is dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville. He defines "formerly unchurched" as people who have not been in church, except sporadically, for at least 10 years (most of them for a lifetime) but who have recently become active in a church. Also, they recently have become Christians, so they are not merely church attenders. The importance of surveying this group, he says, is to learn what magnets drew them, convinced them, made them stay.

In his upcoming book Rainer tells about "Donna," a recently divorced mother of two, who decided to fill the void of her former lifestyle by giving church a try. Noticing the strong, satisfying relationship her mom had with her Bible-study friends, Donna chose to attend her mothers church, eventually becoming a Christian and an active church member.

Factors in Donnas story which are common to others who seek, join and stay: 1) A crisis in her life and a relationship with someone who was active in a churchparticularly a family member or relativeprompted Donna to "try" a church. Donna and many others said that the relationship was more of a factor than the crisis.

2) The church [denomination] was hardly a factor in her decision to attend. The fact that her mother attended was the key issue.

3) Ultimately, Donna was attracted by strong leadership and biblical preaching, by high expectations for belief in Christ and by high standards for membership.

"People want to be a part of something that makes a difference," Rainer told On Mission. "When doctrine is diluted, watered down, sugarcoated, the seeker senses this and doesnt come back. Or, if the seeker does return, maybe even making a commitment to Christ and joining the church, he soon is history when he realizes the meat isnt there. If seekers see that little is expected of church members, that translates to little is expected of me. The result is they feel diminished, and they perceive God as diminished. Its unsatisfying and doesnt last."

Lyle Schaller, a prolific researcher and writer for half a century, writes in The Very Large Church (Abington Press, 1999) that high expectations both attract and retain members.

The retention rate is low, according to Schaller, for churches that make commitment to Christ or membership only a matter of raising a hand, walking an aisle or signing a card.

Denominationalism rarely matters

A trend, especially among newer churches, is to de-emphasize the name of the denomination by using a generic church name that emphasizes community. While this often proves effective to draw in visitors, including many seekers, they dont return if the message is soft on the gospel, according to research.

"The genius of Saddleback Community Church [Lake Forest, California] and Rick Warrens ministry is not that the church name doesnt reveal its Southern Baptist affiliation but that the gospel message is uncompromisingly strong and direct, never hidden," says Rainer. "Rick makes clear that the church is purpose-driven and sets high expectations for membershipinvolvement in ministry, Bible study and personal evangelism." He adds: "The closer people get to the cross and the more they become involved in the church, the less denominationalism matters to them, even if they were attracted by a generic church name in the first place."

Experts agree that a sugarcoated image, though tasty-looking, is like false advertising. Commenting on Christian retail industry trends, Baylor University marketing professor Marjorie Cooper said: "I think that, to some extent, were trying to peddle a popularized God in sound-bite mentality so that Hes palatable for the masses. But God has never presented Himself that waythis is our idea." (World, July 1, 2000)

The open back door

"I hear leaders talk about back door problems. While the front door refers to new members or gains in attendance, the back door means losses. I have spoken with leaders of numerous denominations and independent churches, and the problem seems to be alarmingly common. People are leaving our churches by the thousands each day, and others are quietly becoming less and less active," writes Rainer in High Expectations, The Remarkable Secret for Keeping People in Your Church (Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999).

His studies show that approaches which sugarcoat the gospel mislead people into a false sense of what the Christian lifestyle requires. The implication that commitment and involvement are not necessary may be attractive in the beginning, but the softened message ultimately produces an exodus out the back door.

Churches effective at evangelism teach that acceptance into the church is accompanied by clearly established expectations.

"You read nothing about inactive or watered-down church membership in the Bible," Rainer added. "Everyone is sold out."

Carolyn Curtis is editor of On Mission

Dr. Rick Ferguson, senior pastor, Riverside Baptist Church, Denver, Colorado; author of The Servant Principle and founder of the "Hope For Today" TV, radio and Internet broadcast ministry; former first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Its wrong to sugarcoat Gods truth to make it more appealing. In todays environment, we have to contextualize our ministry without compromising the gospel.

We can do this without offending our listeners, making them feel like a project, like a notch in our evangelistic belt. The goal is not to immediately give them a gospel presentation but to form a relationship with them and begin to build a bridge. That will lead to a comfortable but direct discussion of how Christ has worked in your life, how you have changed as a result of committing your life to the Lord. We can make more inroads by inviting non-believers to Starbucks and showing them who we are by our day-to-day lifestyle than by in-your-face evangelism which can sometimes hurt the presentation of the gospel more than help it.

I see similarities between our culture today and the culture the apostle Paul was speaking to in Athens on Mars Hill in Acts 17. Todays culture is philosophically curious, especially people like the Gen Xers and the Echo Boomers. They dont even know a society in which there were moral absolutes. Theyve never experienced that, and they dont have the same mental grid through which to process the concept of sin. Most postmoderns dont really see themselves as sinners, because they are functioning from a convoluted worldview.

Many will come to Christ inch by inch, not mile by mile. In other words, they have to process the gospel, and so while there will always be a place for confrontational evangelism, the best opportunity is for incremental movement in their under- standing of the gospel through ongoing dialogue with Christians. Postmoderns are processors; they want interaction, which is why dialogue, at their own pace, is so effective.

So we have to form relationships and earn their trust and confidence. And we have to be willing to answer their questions and be good apologists. Postmoderns are not won by emotion. They are attracted to reason and rational thinking. The good news is that the gospel makes sense. What doesnt make sense is the worldview that leaves out God, like the big bang theory. The mind of God, though hard to comprehend, certainly makes much more sense than the chaos that modern theories put forth. Our job is to articulate our worldview.

So, first, we have to learn to communicate. At Riverside we teach dialogue skills on how to get conver- sations going, how to maintain them, how to express your points in a personal and not argumentative way.

For example, you dont have to understand and articulate the intricacies of DNA to explain the concept that everything we know from science supports a cause-and-effect universe. So if you talk to a postmodern who believes in the big bang theory, then he or she is talking about an explosion that supposedly ignited from nothingthere was no cause for it, which makes no scientific sense. And this leads to God, the "uncaused first cause," whichthough hard to comprehendat least makes rational sense because God explains a mind and a meaning behind our existence.

These are hard truths, not soft, told in a contemporary way.

Fred Luter Jr., senior pastor, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans, Louisiana; former second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Our presentation of the gospel has to be balanced, particularly because we live in a very different society today from the one in which I grew up when most of us didnt have a choice about attending worship services on Sunday or other church activities.

Today its not unusual to have teenagers and even adults who have never attended church. We need new methods to reach out to them, and yet we have to make sure our central message remains Jesus Christ, His death, burial and resurrection. Were not sugarcoating the message if we use a more appealing methodology and as long as we make sure our presentation is pointing the people we bring in to the Lord.

A fisherman will tell you there are many ways to catch fish. You can use different kinds of bait. Some fish bite on this kind of bait, some on that. Some bite on live bait, some like all bait. The bottom line is to get the fish out of the water and into the boat.

Its the same thing with evangelism. Our main goal is to attract the people. Of course, weve got to be honest with the people we attract. The best way is to have honest friendships with them outside the church building. That way we have high credibility, so when we invite them to worship they trust us.

Also, we should tell them what to expect. We can say: "Listen, were going to have praise and worship, maybe even drama. But the central message is still going to be Christ as Lord and Savior." Our services can be appealing and relevant, but there should be a noticeable difference between the church and the culture. We dont have to look like the world to win the world. We can be salt in a saltless society and light in a dark world and not lower our standards to the point that visitors cannot tell if they are in a worship service or some sort of concert in a civic arena or another secular venue. Its a fine line, but churches and music ministers and worship leaders have to distinguish where to draw that line.

Beth Moore, Bible study author and teacher; lives in Houston, Texas. Her latest book is Praying Gods Word, Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds (Broadman & Holman, 2000).

No, I dont think were sugarcoating the gospel. I dont think a casual atmosphere with contemporary worship is a softer way to present the gospel.

Im pleased with what Im seeing. For example, this year more than 30,000 college kids gathered in a huge field in Memphis in the name of Christ. I called it Godstockyou know, a play on Woodstockonly it was reverent in a youthful way. The music was loud and energetic and powerful. And Ive never heard in all my life a more radical call to the gospel. The call was to come and die to self and live for Christ. It was expressed in a contemporary way, and yet the message was pure.

I love both traditional worship and contemporary, as long as Im hearing the gospel, as long as the rhythm doesnt override the message. If our hearts are pure, then we dont mind being held in check in our worship, being accountable for keeping the gospel above the other culturally appealing aspects of our presentation.

What Im seeing is not something to worry about, its something to celebrateits an uprising of the truth of Gods Word expressed in a contemporary way, a very radical message to come and live the crucified life. Its an awesome work of the Holy Spirit. Im seeing people awaken to the Word of God in ways I never dreamed Id live to see.

Dr. Ed Young, pastor, Second Baptist Church, Houston, Texas; the author of nine books, the latest, Everywhere I Go; seen weekly on "The Winning Walk" TV broadcast; former president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Bible clearly teaches were to be all things to all people to win some. I think we have to do that without compromise. If we name all the characteristics of Jesus, we say words like gentle, kind, loving, and then we use descriptive phrases, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. But theres another characteristic we often forget: He was a friend to sinners.

This is direction for those of us who want to be effective evangelisticallywe must meet people where they are with their needs. I think anything we can do to identify with them, to listen to them and to love them will help us to establish a relationship that can lead to our telling them about Christ.

But to attract people, its manipulative to act like their friend in order to get them to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord. Thats illegitimate. Instead, we have to be a genuine friend, with all that entails; we have to genuinely seek to identify with these people and meet those who know Him not, right where they are. This means always being truthful with them, never manipulating them, always making clear that Jesus is Who motivates us and leads us.

As far as seeker-friendly services are concerned, I think all worship services should fit the best definition of seeker friendly, whether or not they include contemporary music and presentation.

Pastor Miller Zhuang leads Richmond Chinese Baptist Church in Richmond, British Columbia. Zhuang is first vice president of the Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists and an influential leader in the church in Canada.

We cannot copy where the modern world is going, but we can go in front of them using tools that they have. If we dont, we miss this generation. As we use these modern methods, we can be sure that the message itself has never changed, no matter what tool we use to tell it.

I think probably Im not against new things. Im the one myself learning new things. That could be said of all Chinese people and others who speak languages besides English. We try new things. Just because they are new does not mean we should suspect them. New can be effective. We of other cultures are testimonies of that.

Chinese are very reserved. If you invite them to church, you get a percentage. But if you go to them you have a chance to reach all. So thats what we need: a gospel with many colors, many machines, many tools. Whatever works. But the message stays the same.

Jaye Martin, family evangelism associate (for women), NAMB; compiler of HeartCall, The Call to Prayer book and study materials (NAMB, 1998).

Statistics say that 90 percent of people can do "inviter evangelism"thats the most theyll ever do. But that can be effective and legitimate if the inviter keeps faith with the invited by matching the event to their friends interests.

"Inviter evangelism" can be incremental. It may be easier to get a friend to attend something at a ball field or a hotel than at the church, so this may be a good way to get started: "Come to our softball game." Next, invite them to something specific that interests them. My neighbor might attend a seminar on stress, or wearing too many hats or learning to be a good parent. This could bring them into the church during a non-worship hour, or it may take them to a neutral location like a conference center. Either way, the key at this step is introducing them to other people, so they begin to form relationships and interact with church members.

Eventually, you tell them what you believe, how Christ has changed your life. Now you are getting more personal. As you talk, God may open doors of trust and understanding so that they share their own needs. This is when you can tell them directly that Christ can meet their needs.

I think the key to authenticitywhich is the opposite of going soft and sugarcoating the gospelis the personal approach. Christianity is not about a religion, its about a relationship with the living Lord of your life, Whom you want to share with others. But its legitimate to adjust your presentation to their comfort level as long as you make certain they learn your beliefs and the Source of your commitment.

When my pastor had a sermon series on marriage, it attracted large numbers of unchurched people. We advertised the series with fliers in the neighborhood and yard signs. People came because they wanted to make their marriage better; this subject was personal to them. What happened was that they came in the door to hear about marriage. They did and this led to our telling them about salvation.

Rick Warren, founding pastor, Saddleback Valley Community Church, Lake Forest, California; his classic, The Purpose Driven Church, has been translated into 15 languages. Without a traditional altar call, Saddleback has baptized more than 1,000 new Christians a year for the last six years by assisting its members to be on mission through seeker services.

When I was growing up, I frequently invited my friends to church. But there always seemed to be one problem: I never knew from week to week if the pastor would be preaching an evangelistic message or an edification message geared to believers. Whenever I brought a lost friend it seemed the message would be on tithing or some other growth issue. But on the weeks I didnt bring someone, the message would be about salvation! I never knew which week would be "safe" to bring an unbeliever with meso I eventually gave up.

Today, this problem is repeated over and over in churches. Next Sunday morning glance around the worship service and estimate how many visitors are there. If your church is average, there probably wont be more than a handful of lost people in attendance. Even when the sermon is evangelistic, we are most often speaking to the already convinced.

When I started Saddleback Church 20 years ago we decided to specialize our services, having one targeted for the purpose of growing Christians and planning another one specifically for reaching our non-believing friends. We call our evangelistic service a "seeker-sensitive service." A seeker service is an evangelistic service specifically designed for two purposes: 1) so that people without any religious background will understand everything that takes place, and 2) so that members are proud to bring their non-believing friends to it.

Our members are constantly on mission to bring their friends and neighbors to these weekend seeker services. As a result, we have baptized more then 7,000 new believers in the past six years.

You might wonder if weve attracted all these visitors by watering down the gospel, but we havent. Being seeker sensitive doesnt mean compromising the messageit just means you communicate it in words that non-believers understand. Jesus drew enormous crowds (called "multitudes") without ever compromising His message. He was just clear, practical and loving.

Seeker-sensitive also doesnt mean shallow preaching. Whenever I hear someone say that the felt needs of unbelievers are shallow and superficial, it just tells me they havent spent much time lately talking to unbelievers. If you really listen to lost people youll discover that their felt needs are quite deep. They have the need for meaning, the need for purpose, the need for forgiveness, the need for love. They want to know how to make right decisions, how to protect their family, how to handle suffering and how to have hope in our world. These are deep issues.

Another common criticism against evangelistic seeker services is that they cater to consumers. But the truth is that every style of worship service caters to someone: a traditional service caters to those who grew up in that tradition, a formal service caters to formal people and emotional services cater to emotional people.

If you want to know which consumers your church is catering to, just try changing your worship service next week and youll discover very quickly who they are. So then it really comes down to whom youre targeting. We should not be surprised that most members never bring lost friends with them to church when everything we do in our services is geared to the long-time Christian who understands all the phrases and knows all the tunes. Even in churches with evangelistic sermons, you often find that every other part of the service is geared for members. When we send mixed messages we get mixed results.

I believe the most overlooked requirement for starting an evangelistic seeker-sensitive service is spiritually mature members who are unselfish.

Youll never be able to start an evangelistic seeker service until your members are willing to limit their own preferences and worship style in order to reach lost people for Christ.

So, if you have an evangelistic seeker service, where do the needs of members get met? At Saddleback we offer a strong midweek service, small groups and an extensive class program geared for the deepening and training of our church members. My advice to traditional churches is not to throw out your existing service but instead just add a seeker service that members can bring their friends to. This will assist your members in being on mission.