Editor's note: For research purposes, Dr. Thom Rainer classifies the unchurched into five groups, U1 through U5, with U1 the most receptive to the gospel and U5 the least receptive.
In some ways, a good starting point for understanding U4s is to know how significantly different they are from U5s. Whereas the other categories on the "Rainer Scale" change in degree, U5s are virtually a category that stands alone. So when we start looking at the U4s, we will see a dramatic change from the previous category.
The difference between the U4s and U5s is no more dramatic than the two groups' views of heaven and hell. Only 13 percent of U5s believe in the existence of heaven, but the number jumps dramatically to 54 percent among the U4s. That the majority of U4s believe in heaven, however, should not be misleading. More often than not, the heavenly view is far from orthodox.
Peter B. is a U4 from Oregon. Like the peers in his group, Peter is not antagonistic toward the church, but he certainly was not receptive to any of our overtures to explain the way of Christ. When we asked him to talk about heaven, however, he was effusive.
"Something happens, you know, when we die," he pondered. "There just seems to be too much evidence that this life is not all that there is to it. I got a friend in Eugene who swears he talks to his dead mother every week. Who am I to question his beliefs?"
Another common characteristic of the U4s is their willingness, if not desire, to confirm the beliefs of virtually everyone. Speaking further of his friend in Eugene, Peter comments, "It's not like he's some kind of wacko. I mean there are television shows about people who talk to the dead. There's just got to be more than this life."
Our interview questions did not specifically ask respondents to describe their picture of heaven. Yet it was not uncommon for the unchurched persons to elaborate on their perspectives of heaven.
Peter was among the more loquacious. "Man, it's not easy to describe what heaven is like because no one has ever come back from there to tell us. It's got to be a place that's pretty cool. I mean, whenever you hear about spirits or ghosts trapped here on earth, most of them just want to leave and get to heaven. They obviously want to be in a good place or they wouldn't want to go there."
Peter also sees a plurality of religions as further evidence of some type of heaven. "Every religion seems to have some kind of belief in another life. I don't think they are all wrong. There has to be something to it."
But he remained vague about describing this next life. "You just can't know," he insists. "I just believe that it is something as good as this life, probably better. I really don't believe in that reincarnation stuff. To me, that is the really stupid belief. I can't imagine being a cat in another life."
The U4s had a significant minority group, however, who did not believe in the existence of heaven. While the majority (54 percent) did affirm the reality of an afterlife called heaven, approximately one third (34 percent) did not believe in heaven. Kirk Y. of Kansas is representative of this minority group.
"It's just not rational," Kirk muttered. "I mean we're just physical beings. We are born, we start breathing, we stop breathing and we die. That's basically all there is to it. How can we expect to live after our bodies die? It just doesn't make sense. I think it is the wishful thinking of some people who are afraid to face reality."
Though I did not personally interview all of the unchurched for this study, I read every report submitted to me by the research team. We also had several meetings at which we compared notes and experiences. A consensus among our team was that the U4s do think of heaven; they do wonder what happens when we die.
 Dr. Thom S. Rainer, adapted from "The Unchurched Next Door," Zondervan, 2003
Source: "The Unchurched Next Door," Zondervan, 2003
