Unchurched Americans


The statistics and analysis come from national surveys conducted by Barna Research:

Definition

The following is how we define an unchurched adult for our research: an adult (18 or older) who has not attended a Christian church service within the past six months, not including a holiday service (such as Easter or Christmas) or a special event at a church (such as a wedding or funeral).

How Many?

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  There has been a 92% increase in the number of unchurched Americans in the last thirteen years. In 1991 there were 39 million unchurched Americans compared with 75 million currently. (2004)


• 
  It is surprising to find that roughly 10 million born again Christian adults are unchurched. (2000)

Who?

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  The highest proportion of unchurched is in the Northeast (44%), compared to 33% in the West, 32% in the Midwest and 26% in the South. (2000)


• 
  The unchurched adults has been on the rise in the past 3 years for the following population segments: Busters (rising from 31% to 40%) and men (up from 33% to 38%). (2000)


• 
  Men are one-third more likely than women to be unchurched (38% of men and 28% of women are unchurched). (2000)


• 
  Adults who are politically liberal are more than twice as likely than political conservatives to be unchurched (47% of liberals versus 23% of the conservatives). (2000)


• 
  Although they comprise slightly less than half of the national population, men constitute 55% of the unchurched. (2004)


• 
  The average unchurched person is 38, which is younger than the national norm of 43. (2004)


• 
  One-quarter of American adults (26%) are single-never-married, whereas nearly two-fifths of the unchurched fit that definition (37%). (2004)


• 
  Although just four out of ten adults (42%) live in the Northeast or West, more than half of the unchurched (51%) live there. (2004)


• 
  Nearly three out of ten married adults are unchurched (28%) compared to two out of five who have never been married (39%). (2000)

Spiritual Commitment

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  More than half (54%) of unchurched adults consider themselves to be Christian. (2004)


• 
  More than one-third (39%) claim they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today. (2004)


• 
  About 4 out of 10 unchurched assert that their religious faith is very important in their life. (2000)


• 
  11% of unchurched adults qualifies as a born again Christian, meaning that in addition to that personal commitment to Christ they believe they will have eternal salvation, based solely on their acceptance of God’s grace through Jesus’ death and resurrection. (2000)


• 
  In a typical week, 19% of unchurched people read the bible compared to 44% of all adults who do so. (2004)


• 
  In a typical week, 63% of unchurched people pray compared to 83% of all adults who do so. (2004)


• 
  Half of the churched population has accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, compared with one out of every six unchurched adults (17%) who has done so. (2004)

Beliefs

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  65% of the unchurched say that Satan is not a living being but is a symbol of evil. (2004)


• 
  57% of unchurched adults state that a good person can earn his or her way into Heaven compared to 64% who believed so in 2000. (2004)


• 
  Slightly more than half (51%) of the unchurched define God as the perfect, all-powerful, all-knowing Creator of the universe who continues to rule His creation today. (2004)


• 
  51% of the unchurched assert that when Jesus Christ lived on earth, He committed sins. (2004)


• 
  23% of the unchurched firmly believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all that it teaches. (2004)

Source: The Barna Group (www.barna.org)