Can The Church Reach Adults?

Last week I wrote about my concern that the Church doesn’t believe in adult conversion. At the very least, a lot of churches don’t act like they do. We can see the Church working hard to reach children, but I suggested Christians need to work more diligently on witnessing to and discipling adults. If my criticism is correct, though, I haven’t helped much yet, have I? We need to ask ourselves, “Can the Church reach adults and how?”

A Ministry Silver Bullet Doesn’t Exist

All I can assure you of regarding outreach, conversions, and ministry “outcomes” is that there are no guarantees. Every community has its own needs, history, and culture. They require a personalized approach. For instance, I live in a rural community comprised of independent men and women with farming roots and a, generally, conservative worldview. I’m not convinced ministry leaders ought to approach that community the same way they would approach an urban, white-collar neighborhood in search of a socialist utopia. Both groups need to be saved through Jesus Christ, but we may need to get their attention through different methods.

How Can The Church Reach Adults?

1. Follow up with parents after kids’ ministry.

Those children’s ministries that we pour our blood, sweat, tears, and money into don’t need to be singularly focused on kids. We want to reach entire families. If we’re honest, the best scenario for the children we minister to is that they have a Christian influence at home, as well. So, why wouldn’t we want to see moms and dads come to Christ? It’s good for everyone involved!

Follow up with the parents. It is absolutely essential.

2. Invite people to church.

This isn’t exactly an original idea, and it’s not always an effective tool to get people to attend a church service. Many of us have invited someone to church who consistently has excuses to not come or eventually ends up ghosting us. However, an invitation is sometimes the only thing someone needs to attend a service. Church Trainer Group, a ministry out of Tennessee, reports finding that anywhere between 70-85% of church guests attended in any given week because a friend or relative invited them. This is in line with an often repeated statistic from the Billy Graham Association that 83% of church guests visited because a friend or relative invited them.

The statistics don’t tell us 80% of the people we invite will come to church, but they certainly suggest that most of the new people who darken our church doors are there because they were invited. Reach out to those closest to you and pray for a positive response.

3. Consider what your community needs.

Your community needs Jesus. We know this without any doubt. But what about tangible helps that unchurched people will understand and appreciate? What do our communities need to help prepare their hearts for the gospel?

Are they low-income people who struggle to put food on the table? Serve a community meal on a predictable basis or meet the need with a food pantry.

Are they dealing with grief and loss? Offer a support group such as GriefShare. You might not even see this need , but put out some feelers just in case. Sadly, you might be surprised.

The possibilities are endless, but they are also specific to your community. One thing you’ll notice, though, is that ministering to adults is messier and potentially more involved than running a week of Vacation Bible School and a Kids 4 Truth Program. Notably, the kids’ programs are often geared around play and fun while serving a community’s needs typically offers less of a party atmosphere.  Unfortunately, that fact dissuades some Christians from diving into adult/community ministry.

4. Recognize that ministry happens outside of the church walls, too.

Way back when my husband and I were new Christians, he suggested to our church’s leadership that we should offer to meet inside homes for a Bible study/discipleship time. Our church was experiencing some difficulty with men who were interested in learning more but would not come to Sunday School services. These men were unchurched, unsaved, and unaccustomed to getting up early on a Sunday morning. Besides, church is an intimidating place to some people, especially those who are unfamiliar with it.

The leadership readily agreed that these men needed a separate class/meeting from what was already being offered. Please, take a guess at when and where the pastor insisted this class take place. Sunday morning during regular Sunday School hours!!! Take a seat, ladies, because you’re about to be shocked. This class was a failure, and we lost track of these men.

What’s my point? Ministry isn’t boxed into a church building. We can take God’s work anywhere and everywhere. I knew a man who stood outside of a methadone clinic and talked to recovering addicts. He was ministering. I’ve ministered to ladies while drinking coffee in a coffee shop (my favorite thing to do), eating at a restaurant, talking on the phone, taking a walk, and even while sitting in silence in a living room. Ministry can look like many things and take place where it must.

Don’t get hung up on “but that’s not how we’ve done it in the past.” Ask yourself if doing things like you always have is actually working. If it is, awesome! If not, you’d better be ready to be flexible.

5. Invest in personal relationships that are not church related.

My closest relationships are with Christians. We have common beliefs, worldviews, morals, interests, etc. It makes sense that believers are my people, but I need to be open to unsaved people in my life, too.

Sure. We can hand out tracts, invite neighbors we never interact with to church, and share the gospel with coworkers. But will that impact them in any significant way?

Don’t stop doing those things, but spend time building legitimate relationships with some of these folks. Be their friend. Meet new people by taking up a hobby or joining a club or organization. This gives you the opportunity to meet people with a similar interest, and it also gives you access to people who need Jesus.

6. Be authentic.

I just told you to go out of your way to create relationships with people who aren’t Christians, but your new unsaved friends can’t be a project. People know when others are being fake or inauthentic with them. Your witness loses all its credibility if the people you interact with believe you are only trying to convert them.

Of course, you want them to be saved, but you should care about them even if they don’t come to know Jesus as their Savior. They were made in the image of God just like you, and they deserve respect and love as much as everyone else. If you can’t truly see them as friends, it would be better for you not to engage with them as if they are. They’ll know you’re faking it.

7. Don’t engage in “friendship evangelism.”

Some Christians think that keeping their faith to themselves when they are around their unsaved friends will slowly lead those friends to salvation. Through magic? Luck? However they think it will happen, it isn’t going to be through sharing the bad news about sin and the hope we have in the gospel.

Being a super nice lady who wears a cross necklace and doesn’t engage in the same outwardly sinful behaviors as your unsaved friends won’t help them see their need for Jesus. Someone must tell them, and your friendship with no gospel discussion is a quiet agreement with their rejection of Christ.

8. Drop the Christianese.

So, I just told you to be open and verbal about your faith, but now I’m going to tell you to tone it down. Clear as mud, eh? Christianese, the language churchgoing believers use freely around one another, is super confusing and creepy to those who don’t speak it. Examples include but are not limited to:

Calling everyone a brother and sister

Talking about anything being “under the blood”

“Propitiation”

“Hedge of protection”

“Traveling mercies”

“On fire for God”

“Loving on”

“Doing life” (I’d be happy to banish this expression forever)

None of these are inherently bad, and I don’t think we need to stop saying these things. On the other hand, we should keep in mind that this jargon is unfamiliar to people outside of church, and we shouldn’t overwhelm them with insider talk. It might make them feel left out or concerned that you might be a part of a cult with a strange language. Tread carefully.

9. Don’t compromise.

Sometimes, to reach adults, we soften the harder teachings in God’s Word. Transgenderism is a sin and denies God’s created order whether or not your church guest is transgender. Fornication is sin, despite the fact that the new couple in your church is living together out of wedlock and expecting a baby. Catholicism is not biblical Christianity even when a member’s Catholic grandma is in town for a visit.

Should you go looking to say the most controversial things all the time? Please don’t. But don’t deny Truth, either. The Bible is offensive to those who reject it. Personally, I found it the most offensive when I felt the most convicted by it before I was saved. In fact, the offense I felt made my need for Jesus more clear to me.

Remember who you are serving, and don’t forget that pretending Christianity is something it isn’t in order to entice someone into church is lying and denying the truth about who God is. Don’t offer a false Christianity to win people to “our side.” God saves. Just do as the Lord instructed: share the gospel and disciple believers.

Final Thought

I wish I could give you the 5 Step Plan To Win Adults To The Lord, but there is no such thing. Can the Church reach adults? Absolutely, but it isn’t always an easy task. It can feel discouraging and make us want to give up, but we won’t feel that way if we keep our eyes on Jesus. None of this is in our hands. We plant and water, but God is in control. The Church can reach adults because God can reach anyone He so chooses.

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.”

1 Corinthians 3:6-8

How are you reaching adults in your community? What has worked and what has failed?

Image courtesy of Jussara Romão via Unsplash.