of 70 %, while less than half of mainline leaders ( 9 % said they were very effective , and 37 % say they were somewhat effective ) expressed less confidence in reaching out to unchurched people . Pastors overall say they are “ excellent ” at evangelizing and sharing the gospel at a rate of just 10 %. 11 % percent of pastors are frustrated by “ how to do effective outreach .”
Service projects are used to connect the church to others outside of the church body and serve them . 5 is the average number of projects conducted in a year , while 3 % of pastors say their church did more than 50 service projects in the past year , and 5 % said that did not do any . Both budget and church size factored in to service projects being conducted . One in nine of churches that had less than 100 adult attendees , and 17 % of churches whose annual budget was less than $ 100,000 did not have any service projects in the past year . Congregations who had a budget of more than $ 1 million averaged 8 to 10 service events , with no reports of no service projects at all .
Bible engagement
Barna ’ s annual State of the Bible survey , in partnership with American Bible Society , asked U . S . adults to about their beliefs and habits surrounding the Bible in 2017 . The survey had five categories to describe involvement with the Bible : Bible Engaged : Those who read , use or listen to the Bible four times a week or more , view the Bible as the actual or the inspired word of God with no errors , or as the inspired word of God with some errors .
Bible Friendly : View the Bible as the actual or inspired word of God with no errors , read , use or listen to the Bible fewer than four times per week .
Bible Neutral : View the Bible as the inspired word of God , with some factual or historical errors , or believe that it is not inspired by God but
New from J . Clif Christopher , CFRE
How pastors are handling outreach
In partnership with Pepperdine University , Barna conducted research on pastors ’ opinions of how their current outreach and discipleship efforts were faring . Outreach is important to churches because it is part of what is considered “ cultural leadership .”
50 % of pastors believe their church is “ somewhat effective ” at reaching out to unchurched people , while 32 % say they are “ not very effective ” at reaching out , and 4 % “ not at all effective .” 13 % consider their church to be “ very effective ” at reaching out to unchurched people . As far as discipleship , pastors are more confident . 14 % say they are very effective in their efforts regarding discipleship and spiritual formation , with 73 % saying they are somewhat effective .
21 % of pastors in growing churches say their congregation is very effective in outreach , and 22 % of pastors in growing churches say they are good at discipleship . Just 4 % of pastors at church experiencing declines say they are effective in these areas .
Leaders of large churches are more confident in their ability to be successful with outreach of unchurched people , at 20 %. 14 % of small churches believe they are very effective at this , and 9 % of midsize churches feel very effective . Non-mainline leaders say they are either very or somewhat effective at reaching unchurched people at a rate
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