Why do people start coming to church? What should we do at South Darebin to encourage new worshippers?
The 2020 National Church Life Survey indicated that around four in ten Australians are open to being invited to church if invited by a family member or close friend. However, about a third of Australians said they would not attend if invited by a family member or friend, the survey indicating that scandals are the biggest barrier to Australians attending church.
The survey indicated that if it is important to the inviter that a person attend, a person is more likely to do so. The next most selected factors for an accepted invitation were whether the church is perceived as doing good work in the community (19 per cent) and if the person is confident of feeling welcome in the church (18 per cent). Being made to feel welcome is a more important factor to Australians who describe themselves as moderately religious or spiritual.
These findings provide us with food for thought as we seek to attract more people from the wider South Darebin community to join us in regular fellowship and worship.
Grace and peace to you all,
Chris