Unspinning Lifeway/North American Mission Board survey

Spinning a survey which shows evangelism is surpassingly difficult, the Southern Baptist Convention's (SBC) LifeWay Research and the North American Mission Board (NAMB) both say "most people would attend [church] if invited in the right manner."

The sometimes credibility-challenged NAMB commissioned the survey in preparation for its national "God’s Plan for Sharing (GPS)" evangelism drive, to be launched in 2010.

Buried in the body of the "spun" NAMB summary is a plain statement that the survey of more than 15,000 adults in December 12-22, 2008, found that "personal invitations from family members or friends is the only method that a majority of Americans say would effectively draw them to church." And by ubstituting could for would and you get a straight, unspun lede for the story.

Your see, presentation data provided by Lifeway director Ed Stetzer shows that 34% of those surveyed are "somewhat willing" and 22% are "very willing" to receive information from a friend or neighbor about a local church or religious community. From family members, it's 37% and 26% respectively.

"Somewhat willing," the largest positive group in both cases, may include everyone who is willing to listen politely, rather than either change the subject or just get up and go home.

A little field experience with these conversations will teach almost anyone that it is a long step beyond persuading wayward family members and neighbors to (perhaps impatiently) receive information, and having them show up at church.

The friends (22%) and family members (26%) who are "very willing" to listen aren't necessarily willing to attend church in response either.

That may be why "Baptists like to talk more about evangelism than to actually do it," as Stetzer put it. A lot of Baptists are likely to have had had ample try-and-fail experience with unchurched family members, neighbors and others. Especially, as the survey suggests, others.

If GPS is a hard sell, the current difficulty of evangelism isn't the only reason. Years of controversy over SBC numbers -- not just the NAMB but also the International Mission Board and some state organizations -- make this a good time to be as transparent as possible.

Actions like Stetzer's provision of additional data [PowerPoint] are the best medicine for skepticism. As former North Carolina Biblical Recorder Editor R.G. Puckett often put it, "Tell the truth and trust the people."