About the Study

Houston is home to a variety of Christian denominations and offers a diverse array of worship styles, church service times, and meeting locations. Despite the numerous options and ongoing invitations extended to Houstonians, many who identify themselves as Christians choose to forego local church involvement. Increasingly concerned by this trend, church leaders across the denominational spectrum are eager to know and understand why some Christians choose to sit out of church and what specifically can be done to effectively reach out to these particular individuals and families.

Motivated by a desire to move beyond mere speculation, a collaborative group of Houston-area churches recently combined resources and empowered the renowned researcher George Barna to conduct a targeted survey. The goal was to uncover concrete facts and reliable answers by consulting with the ultimate source—the people who profess Christianity but do not attend church.

The survey conducted by the Barna Group included the following questions, as well as other qualifying, demographic and follow-up questions. The wording on some of the questions listed here has been slightly modified from the actual telephone script used by Barna. Also, we’ve removed the lists of possible answers from questions that offered such options.

How often do you attend services at a church affiliated with the Christian faith?
How committed are you to the Christian church you attend most often?
Thinking about your life and all of the commitments and responsibilities you have, what would you say is your highest priority in life these days?
What would you say is the single most significant challenge you are facing in your life today?
Based on whatever you know or feel about the Christian faith, overall, do have a favorable or unfavorable impression of the Christian faith?
Has there ever been a period in your life when you regularly attended a church affiliated with the Christian faith?
About how long has it been since you’ve regularly attended a Christian church?
What are the reasons why you do not attend religious services?
In the next six months, how likely is it that you will attend a Christian church at least once a month?
What would be the most appealing way for you to get involved in the life of that church?
What would be your main source of media information that you would rely upon to identify churches in your area that you might like to visit: newspapers, radio, TV, magazines or the Internet?
Which particular media source would you rely on for information about churches?
Would certain outreach efforts make you more interested in attending that church or less interested, or not make any difference?
If you were checking out churches to find one that fits your needs best, what factors would you be most interested in?
Have you ever made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life today?

As is no surprise, the Barna Group did a superb job collecting and assimilating a wealth of highly beneficial data for use by area churches in the communications, outreach, evangelism, programming and other efforts.

Churches sponsoring the study include: