Reaching the unchurched (Part 1)

Rick Warren from Saddleback Church in California published great article (actually what will be a series of articles) on how to reach the unchurched at Pastors.com. The author of the article, Thom Rainer (who was recently nominated to be the president of Lifeway Christian Resources) actually went and TALKED to unchurhed people to find out how they could be reached (what a novel idea!).

In part one of this three-part series, here is what Rainer reveals:

1. Major on majors. Churches that reach the unchurched tend to major on majors: worshipping the living God and reaching people who face a Christ-less eternity.
   
2. Be biblical, conservative, and convictional. A church can attempt many good contextual efforts to reach the unchurched, but if it does not have the foundations of a high view of Scripture, the efforts are either futile or transient. I have yet to discover a church that consistently reaches the unchurched over a several-year period that is not conservative in its theology.
   
3. Give evangelism priority and passion. Too many church leaders seek to copy the methodologies of growing churches without emulating their hearts. Never expect to be a church for the unchurched unless you have a passion for evangelism.
   

The full text of this article can be found here.

Photograph taken by Robert Harding. Photo of Mosaic of Christ, Santa Sofia, Istanbul Turkey. From Getty Images, image #dv1915670.