Donald Posterski & Irwin Barker (Winfield, BC: Wood Lake Books, 1996)
THIS BOOK is a commentary on data arising from an extensive survey I conducted among Canadian Protestants in the early 1990’s. While conversion to the Truth is different from movement between Protestant denominations, there are some marked trends which the study brings out which have meaning for us in our witness as a community.
Many switch churches
One of the main concerns of the survey was why people switch churches. Of church members, 39% have switched churches, many of them more than once, and 54% have gone through long periods of not attending church. In both cases, an upward trend was evident in the data. In other words, the church-going public are less tied to their churches, and are often looking for another church. And there we are, seeking to convert them to us! It may seem to us that attempts to convert from other churches are too much hard work, but the reality is, many people in those congregations have switched churches before, and are actually on the lookout for something better! If we perceive “Christians” to be glued to their pews and unwilling to rethink their position — we’re wrong.
Our community expanded a century ago through converting members of other churches; this has tailed off, as we have become inward-looking and perhaps less doctrine-centered than we should be. But there is definite interest in conversion out there! Further, there are more people than we might imagine in the general public who are lapsed church goers, and who are likely at some time to return to an interest in attending a church. The survey found that there were trigger events that motivated this — having a child, going through a divorce, getting married, loss of a family member, serious illness. As we live in a world where all these things are part of daily life, we need to be getting in there with an appropriate word to people as they go through these triggers.
Reasons people change
The survey also probed why people left churches. Here I found the results quite sad. Protestant religion in North America has been commercialized into just another consumer good, where people shop round for what they want, put it down when they don’t like it and seek something better. The reasons for leaving were often very self-centered and pathetic: too far to drive, hard pews, didn’t like the pastor’s wife, boring youth activities, etc.
Here we must see how membership in the Truth is different. We are in the body of Christ by baptism. Baptism isn’t into the Christadelphians, it’s into Christ. We cannot just resign from our membership of the Body because we want softer pews, as it were. All of us in some sense are converts: let’s not see the Truth as just another stop along the road, something we are in as long as it benefits and suits us. And let’s not preach it like that either, as if we are a church that will meet your needs better.
The Truth is something totally different, and our attitude to membership in it mustn’t be molded by how the surrounding world views church membership. But we must remember that on a human level, converts to Christadelphianism come out of a world that gets up and goes when something bothers them. We must increasingly, in these last days, seek to avoid giving such offence.
Teaching, outreach important
Why do North Americans join specific churches? The reasons one leaves a church, according to the survey, don’t necessarily correspond to the reasons one joins another. People may leave because of hard pews, but they don’t necessarily run to the church with the softest pews. Only 17% said they joined a church because it was near to them. People are prepared to travel to get to the right church. A massive 74% said they joined a church because of the quality of the teaching.
This surprised me. They leave churches for petty reasons, but what attracts them in the first place is the message. Again, there seems incentive here to carry on with a doctrine-based, up-front teaching of Biblical Christadelphianism. Outreach was also important as 54% said that the involvement of the new church in outreach was a factor in attracting them. People like to see a group that is reaching out into the world. Inward-looking churches attract nobody. And yet one wonders what impression Joe Public would get walking into some of our services? Only 3% said they joined a church because it was big. So, small ecclesias needn’t think they are unattractive! To 44%, the existence of home groups within the church was an attraction factor. Which raises the question of whether we are too oriented around formal meetings in halls.
Reasons for church attendance
When it came to why people were converted to church-going in the first place, the results are also significant for us:
| Factor | pre 1980’s | 1990’s |
| Christian upbringing | 50% | 21% |
| Personal witness | 25 | 58 |
| Evangelical rally | 15 | 10 |
| Church service | 10 | 11 |
People are becoming more and more open to conversion by personal witness. In a world where there are so many influences in childhood, children are less and less likely to follow the faith of their fathers. This shouldn’t be so in our community; but what it means is that no longer should we roll our eyes when we meet a Roman Catholic or born and bred Baptist, thinking “They’ll never change, it’s pointless.” And no longer should we rely upon adverts, fliers, pieces of paper to convert. We are the witnesses; our lifestyle and being is a placarding forth of the Lord Jesus (Gal. 3:1 Gk.). We would all prefer to stuff banknotes in a collection bag, give out bills, write to responders to adverts, give and attend lectures and seminars than do what we all know is the really effective way to convert: talk to people personally.
According to the survey results, we can do so with the knowledge that more people than we think are potentially interested. But we need to make our message relevant, reaching out to the groups that are likely to be triggered into conversion by their realization of humanity’s desperation, not relying on in the-hall meetings, but reaching out to the hearts of men and women in personal eye-to-eye discussion. There is no reason why, given the surrounding religious landscape, the Christadelphians should not be marching off the map in terms of growth and success, as we were a century ago. We have what so many need “in this hard land.”
“Know Questions on The Bible” By Aquila and Priscilla