LLC Book for Jan-Feb 2020: You Found Me by Rick Richardson

I cannot say enough good things about the LLC resource book for January and February: You Found Me: New Research on How Unchurched Nones, Millennials, and Irreligious Are Surprisingly Open to Christian Faith by Rick Richardson

First, it dispels the predominant story being spread among Christians that the unchurched, nones and younger generations are mostly resistant to the Christian faith. This story is over-blown and is inaccurate.

Rick writes: Our narrative has led to many people in churches becoming pessimistic about their witness and their future, which has given direction and legitimacy to their passivity. If this is going to change, we need to root out the mistaken myths that Christians tell ourselves about the state of the church, replacing them with truth that gets us on mission for the gospel in our communities.

He proceeds to demonstrate that this discouraging story is based on false statistics and has created mistaken myths. As these are passed along many churches vacate their responsibility to be witnesses for Jesus.

Second, the book is optimistic, advocating for active re-engagement with unchurched folks in ways that are both caring and relational.

Rick writes: I believe that Jesus’ words about a plentiful harvest are just as true today as they were in his day. What we need is not naysayers, pessimism, and doom but rather laborers who see the harvest that is there and know how to cultivate it. Our problem starts with a false narrative about a disappearing receptivity coupled with a lack of the skills, attitudes, and abilities needed to cultivate the ripe American harvest and to reach the people who are receptive. The harvest is plentiful to those who have eyes to see it, a heart that is open to how it is expressed, and the skills in watering, nurturing, and cultivating the spiritual interest that is common among people in our culture today.

Rick also says: One-third of unchurched Americans expect to return to church regularly sometime in the future. That is 47.6 million adults and children who are expecting to return to regular church.

Third, reaching out with the Good News is not as daunting as we imagine. In fact, it can be enjoyable and full of surprising twists and turns that may result in people coming to faith. Towards this end, the book advocates a conversational-relational approach as we seek to share our faith.

Rick writes: First and foremost, the conversational-relational approach to witness is still the best approach and continues to have a high receptivity rate almost everywhere…. 79 percent of unchurched people are fine with us talking about our faith if we value it.

Fourth, the book examines churches that are growing through conversion growth rather than through transfer growth. These are labeled 10-percent conversion-growth churches. They are not doing anything magic. They are led by pastors who model relational evangelism. Church members imitate their pastors and engage in witness as well. These churches equally emphasize caring, outreach ministries to their communities while seeking to develop meaningful relationships with the people they serve. The ultimate goal is to introduce people to Jesus Christ.

Rick breaks this down into three strategies: 1) Members of the congregations build relationships with people in the community/neighborhood. 2) Churches develop bridges between the congregation and community, usually a person who simultaneously belongs to the church and belongs to the community. 3) Churches focus on the unique needs and cares of their community. The resulting ministries are above all relationally driven more than programmatically driven.

Rick also stresses that the end-game is not social ministry in and of itself. He says: The top-10-percent conversion-growth churches know how to serve people and also know how to verbally share their faith as they serve….Churches that only engage in compassion ministry and never verbally proclaim their faith in Christ are the worst at reaching new people and growing their congregations …. However, it was churches where both were emphasized that saw the most significant impact, churches where service and verbal witness were intertwined and valued. In these cases, there was no dichotomy between social engagement and proclaiming the good news about Jesus, and as a result they proved much more effective in both.

There is so much more to learn from studying this resource. More importantly, applying its insights holds the potential to lead many people into a relationship with King Jesus through "conversion-culture churches". I strongly recommend this book for your study and implementation.