And Now There Are None

by Reba Collins

They don’t care.

Not only that, they don’t even think they need to care.

Who are “they?”

They are the roughly 20% of the American population who mark “none” on their religious group affiliation. And they are growing in number.

We have seen the percentage of unchurched people increasing over the past several decades. Until recently, though, most have claimed some religious affiliation, just not a particular religious group. We have traditionally called these people groups “seekers.”

But shifts are occurring in not only affiliation, but mindset as well. A growing number of people no longer classify themselves with any type of religion, and they don’t care if they ever do find a religious group. In other words, they aren’t seeking anything that the church has traditionally offered.

James Emery White, pastor, blogger, and professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, compares this current cultural shift to “having a world full of people being open and even interested in coffee, but purposefully driving past Starbucks with complete disinterest.”

Pastor White explores this cultural shift in his new book, The Rise of the Nones: Understanding and Reaching the Religiously Unaffiliated, available at Amazon.com.  He offers an excerpt from the book on his Church & Culture blog, along with many other great insights on cultural shifts confronting the local church.

Check out both of these tools to understanding better why the people who are all around your church aren’t affiliated with your church. That is, if you care.