Mike O. attended a conference session run by David Kinnaman, author of a really interesting book unChristian.
Kinnaman is president of The Barna Group, a sort of Gallup polling group for the Christian world.
He presented several statistics about non-Christians and where we get our perceptions of Christians:
Where do young non-Christians get their perceptions of us?
- 59% from churches
- 50% from Friends
- 48% from other religions
- 44% from books
- 40% from parents
- 31% from TV/movies
- 16% from music
Also on the list of his findings:
- There is more similarity between young Christians and young non-Christians than there is between young Christians and older Christians.
- Most non-Christians blame interactions with Christians for their negative view of Christianity.
- Non-Christians have an average of five Christian friends.
- 53% [of non-Christians] have been approached to become a Christian.
- 38% said that conversation felt awkward or uncomfortable
- 14% who said it was friendly.
Do those stats make sense to you?
Do any of the numbers surprise you?
How many Christian friends do you have…?