If you have any doubt about the spiritual receptivity of the U1s, listen to them talk about prayer and all doubts will be removed. In fact, we on the research team thought the U1s had a more fervent prayer life than most Christians. Nine out of 10 U1s indicated that they have a regular prayer life, and seven out of 10 told us they pray daily.

Sometimes the U1s were effusive about their prayer lives. Patty M. of South Carolina once attended the United Pentecostal Church of God. "I used to be a holy roller!" she excleaimed. When we asked Patty if she prayed to God on a regular basis, she responded enthusiastically, "Yes! Every day! I must talk to him because he is everything to me. He is wonderful. He can make you feel so wonderful. I believe in his power so much!"

Like many U1s, Patty has a supernatural view of life. She believes in a God who intervenes in the lives of people. But Patty is also like many of the unchurched who pray, in that she sees God mostly as the being who fulfills her wish list in prayer. She really does not pray for God's will to be done; rather, she prays to feel good and to get what she needs. Her view of prayer is largely limited to self-help.

Still, the evangelistic potential of reaching the praying unchurched is significant. Several years ago I served as pastor of a church in St. Petersburg, Fla. Early in my ministry at the church we began delivering surveys to hundreds of homes near our church. The survey was actually a door hanger. We would visit homes on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. When someone came to the door, we would introduce our church and ourselves and indicate that we were seeking our neighbors' help in becoming a better church in the community. We asked them, if they were willing, to complete the survey within an hour and hang it on the door when they were finished. We promised not to knock on the door a second time.

The response was incredibly high, over 50 percent. The survey asked many questions, but there was also a place on the back to write in any prayer requests. We were amazed at how many people requested prayer. They left their addresses and telephone numbers, and we responded to every one of them.

Pinellas County, Fla., in which my church was located, is almost 90-percent unchurched. So we knew that most of the respondents were unchurched. Yet we still connected with them through prayer. A number came to our church, and a good number of those became Christians.

One of the best ways for you to reach the unchurched evangelistically is to ask people regularly if they have any need for which you can pray. You may be surprised to see how readily your coworkers, friends and neighbors respond to you. And you will see quickly how prayer is a point of connection to the unchurched.

--from "The Unchurched Next Door"