Quotes from George Barna

Nearly 60% of Americans who regularly attend Christian church say there is no such thing as the Holy Spirit—they say the Holy Spirit is just a symbol of God's power or presence or purity.

The absolute goal of vision for ministry is to glorify God.

God can, has and will use anybody who is open to serving Him to convey the gospel. He will bless the efforts of His servants whether they are gifted as evangelizers or not.

We cannot be effective if we continue to cling to the old ways, the old strategies, the old assumptions.

The average Christian leaves planet earth never having led anyone to Christ.

Leadership is the process of motivating, mobilizing, resourcing, and directing people to passionately and strategically pursue a vision from God that a group jointly embraces.

Leadership is the art of serving God by helping His people become more like His Son through the indefatigable pursuit of His vision and values.

It is not a church's job to spiritually develop your children. Scripturally, it is the job of the parents. The church body is supposed to support parents in raising children, not replace them.

Most churchless people aren't looking for a church. They're seeking an encounter with God. And even if they're not seeking him directly, the vast majority are seeking to experience the essence of who he is: love.

The group most likely to see themselves as lonely, stressed out, and concerned about the future is the unmarried, whether divorced or never headed to the altar.

Churchless born agains are not interested in being pressured into immediate engagement. They left the fold before, and they will do it again if they feel they are being manipulated to participate in programs or activities merely to help an organization reach its quantitative goals. If they return, it will be for spiritual and relational reasons; they do not want to be numbers on the bottom line or cogs in the machine.

Today's churchless adults are not remarkably less favorable toward churches in their community; if anything, there is simply a growing "yawn

Today's unchurched are more likely to say they are simply not sure, reflecting their disinterest in churches generally, or are more likely to say they would prefer attending some activity other than the Sunday service.

While the churchless continue to show some openness to high-touch, relational connections—pastoral home visits (27 percent), a phone call from a church (24 percent), a survey conducted with them about their interests (21 percent)—they are also increasingly resistant to other forms of outreach.

In our experience, as believers practice loving attitudes and behavior toward others inside and outside their faith community, unchurched friends and family don't have to be talked into church participation. They seek it out, drawn by the promise of love.

1. Churches seem restrictive and overprotective. Self-expression has become one of the foundations of our postmodern culture. There is less concern about truth than about freedom to express feelings, ideas, and experiences. The demand for expressive liberty has certainly threaded its way into the realm of spirituality, as well—which poses a problem for many churches, since many young adults say their experience of church feels stifling, fear-based, and risk-averse.

But it does mean we should be wary about "using" our relationships with churchless friends as means to the end of getting them to church.

We have wandered so far from fundamental spiritual knowledge in our culture that literally tens of millions of people—many of whom have long-term ties with the Christian church—have no clue how to even describe a true spiritual experience.

These new times require new strategies for making faith real in people's lives. Nothing drives home the need for such innovation as attempting to connect (or reconnect) with the de-churched. Their dismissal of Christian churches is not mean-spirited; it simply reflects the firsthand experiences that led them to conclude churches are ill-equipped to support the flourishing life they hope for.

The key, of course, is loving the churchless for who they are rather than for what they can offer our church

We've by far had the most success inviting people into our community life by inviting them to serve alongside us. As a matter of fact, that's about the only thing that's worked consistently as far as "official" church activities go. The other thing that has worked is parties—birthday parties, Super Bowl parties—where we invite churched friends and unchurched friends just to connect.

One thing we hear from churchless and churched people alike is that they intensely desire the local church to provide what no other group can offer: an experience of the presence of God.

Churchless adults tend to be independent and self-reliant, more skeptical than the churched about the motivations of people and institutions, and ready to stonewall those entities until they prove trustworthy and beneficial.

until a people's most pressing needs are addressed they will remain oblivious to other information and opportunities related to other needs, no matter how absolutely important they are. Family