The methods churches are using for evangelism are quite varied. The most common is Vacation Bible School, or VBS, which has been used by seven out of 10 churches for evangelism in the last year. At least half have used literature such as tracts or magazines (59 percent), events such as block parties or a Fall Festival (56 percent), musical events or concerts (51 percent), mailings or fliers (50 percent), and nursing home or retirement center visits (49 percent) specifically for the purposes of evangelism.

Other relatively popular evangelistic efforts include “invite a friend to church” days (42 percent), revivals or crusades (40 percent), evangelism training classes or groups (38 percent), door-to-door visitation within the community (37 percent), community service such as cleanup days (31 percent), online efforts such as blogs or web sites (27 percent), audio or visual products such as tapes or DVDs (26 percent), and booths at community events such as the county fair (20 percent).

Ninety-seven percent of all churches report doing something specifically for the purposes of evangelism over the last year.

Just what churches are doing to evangelize their communities differs quite a bit by denominational group. Southern Baptist churches are particularly big on using revivals or crusades, literature, evangelism training classes or groups, and door-to-door visitation, but are less likely than average to use any sort of online evangelism. Other Baptist groups (National, Progressive, General, etc.) are fairly close to average, but are a bit more likely than others to use literature and door-to-door visitation.

Methodist churches are more likely than average to use events, but less likely to use literature, door-to-door visitation, and revivals or crusades. Lutherans are particularly likely to rely on Vacation Bible School, online methods, and mailings or fliers, and less likely to use revivals or crusades, musical events or concerts, or audio/visual methods. Pentecostal churches are particularly likely to employ musical events or concerts, revivals or crusades, “invite a friend to church” days, and audio/visual products, but less likely than average to use Vacation Bible School for evangelism. Presbyterians are especially unlikely to use literature, revivals or crusades, door-to-door visitation, or audio/visual products.

In general, evangelical churches use a greater variety of evangelistic tools than do mainline Protestant churches. Evangelical churches are considerably more likely to attempt evangelism through literature, revivals or crusades, evangelism training classes or groups, door-to-door visitation, and audio/visual products, while mainline churches have only a greater propensity for doing community service as a form of evangelism.

The survey also explored the kinds of community outreach or programs offered by churches. Pastors were allowed to define their church’s involvement; for instance, a large, well-funded, daily day care center, and having the youth group volunteer to baby sit for single mothers within the congregation once a month, could both qualify as “free or low-cost day care.”

Only three types of outreach are offered by a majority of U.S. Protestant churches in a typical year: food pantry, food collection, or other food-oriented donations (73 percent), Vacation Bible School (68 percent), and holiday food programs such as Christmas or Thanksgiving baskets for poor families (65 percent).

Other types of community outreach offered by much smaller proportions of churches in the last year include prison ministry (25 percent), homeless outreach (24 percent), Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts (20 percent), blood drives (17 percent), after-school programs for kids (14 percent), sports programs (11 percent), and outreach to specific ethnic groups (11 percent).

Fewer than one out of ten Protestant churches offer any kind of free or low-cost day care services, abortion or pregnancy counseling, domestic violence programs, English language classes, job skills or job training, or adult literacy or reading classes.

Just like with evangelism efforts, there are denominational differences in offering community outreach programs. For instance, 46 percent of Methodist churches have some sort of homeless outreach, compared to just 10 percent of Southern Baptists. However, with community outreach efforts there is also a larger pattern of commonality among evangelical churches and among mainline churches than exists with evangelism efforts.

While evangelical churches offer a greater variety of evangelism programs and efforts, mainline churches are offering a wider variety of community programs that aren’t necessarily involving evangelism. Mainline churches as a group are more likely than evangelical churches to have food donations, holiday food programs, Vacation Bible School, homeless outreach, blood drives, Scouting, and domestic violence programs. Evangelical churches are more likely to offer abortion or pregnancy counseling and sports programs, although still relatively few do either of those.

The study also delved into pastors’ reasons for their churches not being more involved in community outreach (regardless of how involved they are). Problems common to at least half of all churches include lacking sufficient volunteers (58 percent), sufficient staff (56 percent), sufficient lay leaders (52 percent), and sufficient funds (50 percent).

Other significant obstacles explained by ministers are that there’s just not enough time to do everything (41 percent), lack of sufficient facilities (31 percent), that the congregation is mostly older people (26 percent), and that the church is located in a small town or rural area (25 percent).

In addition, 39 percent essentially are not highly interested in offering more programs for the community, saying they would rather focus on their own congregation than on the community, they would rather focus on spiritual needs than on physical needs, it’s not a major priority for their church, their community has no major needs, other organizations do these things better than they do, or their congregation or community really aren’t interested in community outreach. This is consistent across all major denominational groups, as well as between evangelical and mainline churches.

Lack of volunteers, funds, and facilities is particularly acute within Pentecostal churches. Methodist churches struggle with older congregations and rural settings more than average. Southern Baptist and Presbyterian pastors also are more likely than average to cite a preponderance of older people in the congregation. Lutheran ministers are less likely than others to point to a lack of resources such as staff, funds, and facilities, but more likely to say their congregation just isn’t interested in community outreach.

Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, found it ironic that so many churches and pastors put a low priority on doing more to reach out to their community. “In an environment where communities and people have so many needs, and in which church growth is such a hot topic and a stated goal for so many pastors, it seems odd that so many churches really don’t wish to do more,” Sellers observed. “This lack of priority takes many forms – the congregation isn’t interested, the community doesn’t want our help, we want to focus on our own people – yet if churches are not consistently reaching outside their own walls, how are they to grow? It was particularly surprising to see about four out of 10 mainline pastors, who tend to place so much emphasis on the social gospel, essentially saying that increasing community outreach isn’t a high priority for their church.”

Sellers also noted that while churches frequently cite a lack of staff, facilities, people, and/or money as reasons for not being more involved in the community, increasing those things doesn’t necessarily lead to greater involvement. “In smaller churches, you often hear about limitations, and how things can be ‘once we grow,’” Sellers said. “But pastors in larger churches – which usually have more staff, more funds, larger facilities, and obviously more potential volunteers and lay leaders – still commonly name the lack of these resources as obstacles to being more involved in the community. Plus, they are much more likely to add to the mix a lack of time to accomplish everything. Having more resources at your disposal apparently doesn’t mean these obstacles are significantly reduced or removed.”

STUDY DETAILS:
Ellison Research has conducted a series of studies among clergy and laity for Facts & Trends. Facts & Trends is a bimonthly magazine produced by the corporate communications office of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. It is designed to assist pastors, church staff and denominational leaders in their roles of ministry by informing them about LifeWay resources and how they relate to current issues in Christian ministry. For information about Facts & Trends, contact Chris Turner at 615-251-2307.

The study was conducted by Ellison Research, a marketing research company located in Phoenix, Arizona. The sample of 811 Protestant ministers included only those who are actively leading churches. The study’s total sample is accurate to within ±3.3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level with a 50 percent response distribution.

The study was conducted in all 50 states, using a representative sample of pastors from all Protestant denominations. Respondents’ age, geography, church size, and denomination were carefully tracked to ensure appropriate representation and accuracy.

Evangelism activities in the last 12 months, by denominational group…
Evangelism Activities All Southern Baptist Other Baptist Meth-
odist Luth-
eran Pente-
costal Presby-
terian All Others
Vacation Bible School 70% 80% 77% 79% 91% 47% 77% 64%
Literature (e.g. tracts or magazines) 59 78 73 46 56 62 41 49
Events (e.g. block parties, Fall festival) 56 53 48 70 54 67 69 48
Musical events or concerts 51 61 47 52 38 64 41 43
Mailings or fliers 50 43 47 51 67 53 55 47
Nursing home/retirement center visits 49 48 45 51 54 55 38 46
“Invite a friend to church” days 42 39 45 44 37 54 47 35
Revival or crusade 40 58 47 28 2 64 15 25
Evangelism training classes/groups 38 54 43 21 37 44 36 30
Door-to-door visitation in the community 37 65 48 30 37 37 23 19
Community service (e.g. cleanup days) 31 28 24 33 35 34 42 29
Online (e.g. blogs, web sites) 27 16 23 26 41 33 29 30
Audio/visual (e.g. tapes, DVDs) 26 24 27 19 11 42 15 24
Booth at county fair or other event 20 19 14 27 25 22 23 16
Sports programs 11 13 12 9 6 12 5 12
Telephone campaign to the community 5 6 4 5 2 9 2 2
Car care or car repair clinic 2 4 6 -- 2 3 -- --
Other 14 14 17 13 10 13 10 15
Nothing specific 3 2 3 1 3 -- 5 6

Evangelism activities in the last 12 months, by church size and theology…
Evangelism Activities Vacation Bible School 60% 78% 85% 79% 67%
Literature (e.g. tracts or magazines) 58 59 65 44 69
Events (e.g. block parties, Fall festival) 49 63 70 58 57
Musical events or concerts 47 54 62 51 53
Mailings or fliers 46 47 64 53 49
Nursing home/retirement center visits 47 45 60 49 48
“Invite a friend to church” days 41 38 52 45 41
Revival or crusade 41 43 28 18 51
Evangelism training classes/groups 31 40 58 30 42
Door-to-door visitation in the community 38 34 36 24 43
Community service (e.g. cleanup days) 27 26 50 40 25
Online (e.g. blogs, web sites) 18 30 52 31 26
Audio/visual (e.g. tapes, DVDs) 20 29 40 18 30
Booth at county fair or other event 19 17 25 19 20
Sports programs 7 12 23 8 11
Telephone campaign to the community 5 3 6 4 5
Car care or car repair clinic 1 4 4 2 3
Other 13 14 19 13 15
Nothing specific 4 3 -- 4 2

Community outreach/programs offered in the last 12 months, by denominational group…
Community Outreach/Programs All Southern Baptist Other Baptist Meth-
odist Luth-
eran Pente-
costal Presby-
terian All Others
Food pantry, collection, or donations 73% 69% 65% 85% 85% 69% 90% 72%
Vacation Bible School 68 70 74 77 90 45 75 65
Holiday food programs (e.g. Christmas baskets) 65 68 62 83 66 60 73 58
Prison ministry 25 20 23 26 21 37 23 22
Homeless outreach 24 10 18 46 22 24 27 23
Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts 20 8 13 39 36 13 51 18
Red Cross blood drive 17 17 12 26 30 6 33 19
After-school programs for kids 14 9 14 21 17 16 17 11
Outreach to a specific ethnic group 11 13 7 10 22 12 16 8
Sports programs 11 14 9 7 6 12 5 13
Free/low-cost day care services 7 6 3 12 8 6 2 10
Abortion or pregnancy counseling 7 12 9 4 2 7 -- 7
Domestic violence programs 6 2 2 5 7 8 14 7
English language classes 5 5 8 5 14 2 12 3
Adult literacy/reading classes 3 3 1 4 3 4 5 1
Job skills/job training 3 4 2 1 3 3 -- 3
Other 22 14 27 31 24 12 24 24
Nothing 4 3 3 -- 2 8 2 6

Community outreach/programs offered in the last 12 months, by church size and theology…
Community Outreach/Programs Food pantry, collection, or donations 66% 81% 86% 87% 69%
Vacation Bible School 58 80 83 77 66
Holiday food programs (e.g. Christmas baskets) 57 72 81 73 61
Prison ministry 19 24 46 24 24
Homeless outreach 21 23 33 37 18
Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts 11 29 35 39 13
Red Cross blood drive 8 20 45 26 14
After-school programs for kids 9 17 26 18 12
Outreach to a specific ethnic group 9 11 14 11 11
Sports programs 6 13 22 7 12
Free/low-cost day care services 4 5 20 8 7
Abortion or pregnancy counseling 6 7 11 3 9
Domestic violence programs 5 5 8 9 4
English language classes 2 6 10 7 4
Adult literacy/reading classes 1 2 9 4 2
Job skills/job training 2 2 6 3 2
Other 20 23 24 32 17
Nothing 6 2 1 2 5

Reasons for not being more involved in community outreach, by denominational group…
Reasons All Southern Baptist Other Baptist Meth-
odist Luth-
eran Pente-
costal Presby-
terian All Others
Lack sufficient volunteers 58% 61% 54% 57% 52% 69% 47% 55%
Lack sufficient staff 56 55 56 56 39 63 44 55
Lack sufficient lay leaders 52 55 53 45 43 57 46 51
Lack sufficient funds 50 46 51 49 39 66 29 46
Just not time to do everything 41 37 39 39 43 43 48 44
Lack sufficient facilities 31 28 26 33 19 46 36 28
Congregation is mostly older people 26 34 20 37 30 14 34 26
Small community/rural setting 25 29 22 34 32 17 23 25
Congregation isn’t really interested* 13 14 5 20 25 9 14 15
Rather focus on spiritual than physical needs* 11 10 17 6 17 16 2 8
Not sure how to go about outreach 11 10 10 10 13 14 19 9
Not a major priority for the church* 10 6 10 9 14 12 12 12
Others do a better job at it* 9 6 10 4 16 4 17 15
Prefer to focus within the congregation* 7 4 8 3 10 9 14 9
Tried before, it wasn’t successful 5 4 3 4 5 4 5 8
No major needs in our community* 4 5 4 1 6 8 10 --
Community isn’t really interested* 4 9 4 1 4 -- 5 4
Other reasons 6 5 6 6 7 4 3 7
* Combined: not interested in doing more 39 37 38 33 49 35 46 42

Reasons for not being more involved in community outreach, by church size and theology…
Reasons Lack sufficient volunteers 62% 55% 49% 51% 62%
Lack sufficient staff 59 50 51 48 59
Lack sufficient lay leaders 53 54 43 48 54
Lack sufficient funds 54 45 43 46 52
Just not time to do everything 31 52 57 37 44
Lack sufficient facilities 36 26 28 28 32
Congregation is mostly older people 37 12 14 36 24
Small community/rural setting 31 19 15 28 24
Congregation isn’t really interested* 18 10 6 16 12
Rather focus on spiritual than physical needs* 13 9 11 4 13
Not sure how to go about outreach 12 10 9 12 11
Not a major priority for the church* 11 10 10 12 10
Others do a better job at it* 6 12 15 12 8
Prefer to focus within the congregation* 8 10 4 8 6
Tried before, it wasn’t successful 7 4 1 5 6
No major needs in our community* 4 4 2 3 4
Community isn’t really interested* 4 4 3 2 5
Other reasons 6 6 4 6 6
* Combined: not interested in doing more 39 36 46 38 39

Numbers may not add to exactly 100% due to rounding. "Don't know" responses are not shown. The survey included all Protestant denominations, but the groups shown separately in the table above were the only ones with large-enough subsamples to examine separately.