{"id":32944,"date":"2022-09-10T16:29:21","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/american-nones-open-to-wide-range-of-denominations\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:29:21","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:29:21","slug":"american-nones-open-to-wide-range-of-denominations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/american-nones-open-to-wide-range-of-denominations\/","title":{"rendered":"American ‘Nones’ Open to Wide Range of Denominations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Ken Walker<\/em><\/p>\n

Americans have a surprising openness to Christian churches, even those who are supposedly turned off to religion, a new survey finds.<\/p>\n

No matter which denomination is in the name of a church, fewer than half the nonreligious say \u201cit\u2019s not for me.\u201d Their views are more favorable than unfavorable toward a wide range of faiths\u2014Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Assemblies of God, and non-denominational.<\/p>\n

These findings, based on a new survey of denominational opinions by Lifeway Research, may come as a surprise to those who\u2019ve seen recent headlines. Growing numbers of people who don\u2019t identify with any church have gathered considerable media attention. But Lifeway Research vice president Scott McConnell says many of these \u201cnones\u201d aren\u2019t as closed to church as many assume.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because someone has no religious preference does not mean they have closed the door to the Christian church or a denomination as being something that can meet needs in their lives,\u201d McConnell says.<\/p>\n

The recent nationwide telephone survey of 1,000 adults of varying ages, backgrounds, and beliefs posed two types of questions. In addition to asking whether nine denominations or faiths are for them, researchers sought to determine whether Americans\u2019 image of each group is favorable or unfavorable.<\/p>\n

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Among the overall findings:<\/p>\n

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  • No denomination is ruled out by a majority. People are most skeptical about Pentecostal churches, but even then only 45 percent declare, \u201cit\u2019s not for me.\u201d<\/li>\n
  • Impressions of each denomination are more favorable than unfavorable.<\/li>\n
  • However, many people don\u2019t understand denominational differences. For each faith, 20 percent to 35 percent say they are not familiar enough to form an opinion. This group almost always outranks those with unfavorable views.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    One in 5 say they are not familiar with Catholic or Baptist faiths. Even more\u2014about 1 in 3\u2014are unfamiliar with Lutheran, Presbyterian, Assemblies of God, or Pentecostal.<\/p>\n

    Many non-Christians open to denominations<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Though they may be puzzled about what a denomination teaches, many Americans are receptive to church, the survey shows. While 40 percent to 48 percent of the nonreligious\u2014atheists, agnostics and those with no religious preference\u2014assume such groups as Catholics, Baptists and Pentecostals are \u201cnot for me,\u201d a majority don\u2019t automatically exclude them.<\/p>\n

    In addition, anywhere from one-third to half of those from non-Christian religions do not assume the nine denominations named in the study are \u201cnot for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \u201cOne might assume that when someone makes a conscious decision in favor of a certain religious preference, that means \u2018no\u2019 to everything else,\u201d McConnell says. \u201cWhile many are not open, to see half of the \u2018nones\u2019 and a third of those in other religions indicate they are not closed to Christian churches makes us re-think that.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Denomination\u2019s name may do no harm<\/strong><\/p>\n

    In addition, the research shows that a trend in recent years to omit denominational identity from a church\u2019s name may not help attract non-members.<\/p>\n

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    \u201cIt would depend on who you\u2019re trying to reach,\u201d McConnell says. \u201cBut some denominational groups have as much \u2018brand equity\u2019 as non-denominational churches, which have been growing the fastest.\u201d<\/p>\n

    The best-known faiths garner the most approval. Baptist and Catholic\u2014which have the highest rate of familiarity (and the highest number of adherents)\u2014top the survey for favorable impressions, with 61 percent for Baptist and 57 percent for Catholic. Most respondents also look favorably on non-denominational churches (53 percent) and Methodists (52 percent).<\/p>\n

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    Conversely, only 38 percent hold a favorable view of Pentecostals, while 35 percent say they aren\u2019t familiar enough to form an opinion. Fewer than half also report favorable impressions of Southern Baptists, 49 percent; Lutherans, 46 percent; Presbyterians, 46 percent; and Assemblies of God, 45 percent.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily a negative to include the denomination\u2019s name,\u201d McConnell says. \u201cBut in looking at the overall totals there are problems with preconceived notions with any name signaling where you are, theologically or historically. It also appears the Assemblies of God is probably pulling up the Pentecostal perception and Southern Baptists are negatively impacting the Baptist brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Few rule out Baptist, non-denominational churches<\/strong><\/p>\n

    People are most open to Baptist and non-denominational churches, the study found, with \u201cit\u2019s not for me\u201d chosen by only 36 percent for Baptist churches, 37 percent for non-denominational churches and 39 percent for Southern Baptists. No faith group is ruled out by more than half of those surveyed, but 41 percent say the Lutheran church is not for them, and 40 percent feel that way about the Assemblies of God, Methodists and Presbyterians.<\/p>\n

    Though most Americans report favorable opinions of Catholicism, 42 percent say the Catholic faith is not for them. An even higher share, 45 percent, feels that way about the Pentecostal church.<\/p>\n

    Education also influences perceptions. For example, those with a graduate degree are more likely to assume groups like Baptists and Pentecostals are not for them than people with a bachelor\u2019s degree or less education.<\/p>\n

    When it comes to the church\u2019s future, McConnell points to one finding that should concern each denominational group tested. More than 4 in 10 young adults age 18-24 indicate various denominations are not for them.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWhile young adults are often testing their views as they enter their 20s, about half do not perceive Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Lutheran or non-denominational churches as places for them as they explore,\u201d McConnell says.<\/p>\n

    Ken Walker is a freelance writer from Huntington, W.Va.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Methodology<\/strong>
    The phone survey of Americans was conducted Sept. 26-Oct. 5, 2014. The calling utilized Random Digit Dialing. Sixty percent of completes were among landlines and 40 percent were among cell phones. Maximum quotas and slight weights were used for gender, region, age, ethnicity, and education to more accurately reflect the population. The completed sample is 1,000 surveys. The sample provides 95 percent confidence that the sampling error does not exceed plus or minus 3.5 percent. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Lifeway Research is a Nashville-based, evangelical research firm that specializes in surveys about faith in culture and matters that affect the church.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Download the research<\/p>\n

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    Churches Still Recovering From Pandemic Losses Pastors Value Denominations Now, Not as Sure About the Future 3 Ways to Reach Non-Religious People in Your Community <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Ken Walker Americans have a surprising openness to Christian churches, even those who are supposedly turned off to religion, a new survey finds. No matter which denomination is in the name of a church, fewer than half the nonreligious say \u201cit\u2019s not for me.\u201d Their views are more favorable than unfavorable toward a wide … Continue reading “American ‘Nones’ Open to Wide Range of Denominations”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32944\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}