Editor's Note: In his book "The Unchurched Next Door," Thom S. Rainer surveyed hundreds of formerly unchurched people to determine what finally drew them to corporate worship. This is the third in a series about his findings.

Last week we shattered the myths that the unchurched are all Anglo, middle-class suburbanites with no church background and that the unchurched are turned off by denominational names in the church name. This week we will see three more of these myths shattered by our research.

Myth #3: The unchurched never attend church

The word unchurched naturally implies that a person has no interest in a church and never attends a church. Our survey of the formerly unchurched indicates, however, that relatively few Americans never attend church.

Our information seems to have the support of other studies. George Barna's 1999 study of the unchurched found that 31 percent of the American adult population is unchurched. For his survey a person was classified as unchurched "if he or she had not attended a Christian church service during the past six months, other than a special event such as a wedding or funeral or holiday service."

Barna had to use a fairly tight definition to include as many as one-third of all adults in the definition of unchurched. He indicated that the unchurched person would not have been in church in the past six months only. Furthermore, the Barna study did not include attendance at a holiday service such as Christmas or Easter as church attendance.

Such a narrow definition was necessary because most adults attend some type of church service in the course of a year. If we defined an unchurched person as one who never attends any kind of church service in a year, including holiday services, the population of the unchurched in America would be small.

Because some church leaders view the unchurched as people completely foreign to the church, they may also assume the unchurched are totally ignorant about biblical or church matters. Our study of the formerly unchurched, however, found that the church was neither strange nor frightening to them when they visited.

"I had attended some Easter services and a few regular services over the past four or five years," Paul Y. of California told us. "I might not have been as familiar with the church as the regular members were, but I wasn't totally ignorant either."

When we asked a portion of the formerly unchurched in our study how often they visited a church a year prior to joining, none said never. Some of the formerly unchurched attended as much as once a quarter even though they had no church affiliation in the past.

Church leaders should realize that the unchurched are not as unfamiliar with the church as we sometimes believe them to be. Indeed, many of our formerly unchurched respondents found some efforts to make the church seeker-friendly a bit amusing.

Pam W. of Oregon noted that although she had never attended church with any regularity, she certainly understood the basic concept of sin, a word one preacher she heard avoided awkwardly.

The unchurched, for the most part, do have some familiarity with the church. On Easter Sunday in 1999, 12 percent of atheists and agnostics attended a Christian church service, nearly a million adults.

If one out of eight atheists and agnostics attend at least one service a year, we can presume that the vast majority of the unchurched, who hold to some theistic belief, will show up at least once a year. Will the church be ready for them?

Myth #4: The unchurched cannot be reached by direct personal evangelism

Mark W. lives in a medium-sized town about 60 miles from St. Louis. He was one of the several million unchurched who attended church the previous Easter Sunday.

"I typically attended church on Easter," Mark told us. "There was no particular reason for my once-a-year church habit. No major crisis, no guilt trip. It was just something I did."

Mark gladly filled out the guest cards as requested in the service. He did not mind hearing from the pastor by letter and receiving information on the church. In 1999, however, he received a telephone call from someone at the church requesting an opportunity to visit him. Mark agreed to receive the two men from the church.

"The two guys got right to the point," Mark commented. "They explained to me how I could become a Christian. I received Christ and have been in church ever since."

The seeker-sensitive movement has been a needed wake-up call for dead, inwardly focused churches. The movement has rightly reminded churches to be aware of or sensitive to the presence of lost persons in a worship service. Some churches, however, experience a decline in personal evangelistic efforts when the church focus is on seeker sensitivity. This decline is due to an attitude that sees the seeker-sensitive worship service as the only way to reach seekers.

The formerly unchurched in our study left little doubt as to the importance of personal evangelism in reaching the unchurched. More than half indicated that someone from the church they joined shared Christ with them. Another 12 percent told us that someone other than a member at the church they joined personally evangelized them. Only one-third of the formerly unchurched said that no one made an attempt to share Christ one-on-one.

The majority of the formerly unchurched who were personally evangelized also told us that someone made an effort to see them within a month of their visit to the church. While the building of relationships with the unchurched is critical, we heard repeatedly that an evangelistic visit, even by a stranger from the church, had an eternal impact.

Myth #5: The pastor must be a dynamic and charismatic leader for the church to reach the unchurched.

Recently I spoke to a large audience in the Detroit area. John Maxwell preceded me and Josh McDowell followed me. In my imagination I could hear some of the audience saying, "I know John Maxwell, and I know Josh McDowell, but who is this Rainer guy?" I could have been intimidated to be sandwiched between two of the greatest communicators in America, but I decided to be myself. And I had a great time!

Do you ever go to a conference and hear a great communicator or charismatic leader and leave with a sense of frustration? Pastors often say, "I'm just not the leader that Rick Warren is." And laypersons often unfairly compare their pastors with many of these dynamic leaders.

Our research team interviewed the formerly unchurched about their pastors. For example, Joe M. of eastern Kentucky said of his pastor, "He's a great guy, but I've heard a lot of better preachers. And sometimes he doesn't seem to have the best organizational skills. But our church keeps growing and reaching lost people."

The pastors themselves often commented that they have to work hard when other leaders, perceived to be more dynamic, seem to have a natural ability to reach people. Micah L., a Nazarene pastor from Idaho, told us, "I have come to the conclusion that I can't be Bill Hybels or John Maxwell. I can, however, be faithful with the gifts God has given me. And God is blessing our church."