If our study of more than 300 of the formerly unchurched discovered anything, it is that conventional wisdom is not always supported by testimony from the formerly unchurched.

Tim Z., a formerly unchurched Christian in Southern California, affirmed the conventional wisdom about reaching the unchurched through relationships when he said a relationship was important to his becoming a churched Christian. But he explained that only one person with whom he had a relationship had much to do with his becoming a Christian: his wife. That issue is not always addressed in the material on reaching the unchurched.

Author Lee Strobel notes the impact his wife had on his becoming a Christian in "Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary." But few other books address the issue of a Christian spouse reaching an unbelieving spouse.

Tim and his wife have organized a Sunday school class with the explicit purpose of equipping Christian wives to reach their non-Christian husbands. The results have been outstanding. In the first three months of the class, four husbands became Christians.

My research team and I have studied more than 2,000 evangelistic churches in America and almost the same number of "less evangelistic" churches. The purpose of our study was not to create a new paradigm to counter conventional wisdom. In fact, much of our research affirms the studies done by others. But the reality is that some of our studies contradicted my presuppositions.

In an attempt to see the world of evangelistic churches in America more clearly, we asked questions not only of the formerly unchurched, but also of leaders in the churches that have reached them. These leaders gave us insights, many of which were neither anticipated nor sought.

As we interviewed people in churches across America, we found among them true leaders and achievers who are willing, even eager, to defy the conventional wisdom of the day if it will enable them to better evangelize and minister. These leaders do not ignore the musings of pundits, and they do not compromise biblical truths. They do, however, seek to discover the most effective ways to reach people regardless of experts' opinions.

George Barna produced a study in 1999 called "What People Say They Want from a Church." Barna asked a nationwide sample of adult church attendees to rate 22 different qualities of churches according to the ones they would look for if they were moving to another community and seeking a new church home. Frankly, I am surprised that Barna's study has not received greater attention, as it does seem to defy conventional wisdom.

Of the 22 factors offered, only nine were considered "extremely important" to the group Barna studied. Barna's study included people who were currently attending a church. They were essentially asked to identify the factors that attracted them to their churches.

Interestingly, the factor of doctrine and theology was the highest-rated factor, a result similar to the findings of our research on the formerly unchurched. In fact, only 6 percent of the respondents indicated that doctrine was unimportant.

Another issue that Barna uncovered in his study related to the pastor and his preaching. The third most important factor in church selection was the preaching; the eighth most important was whether the respondent liked the pastor. Again, Barna's numbers complement our study's findings in emphasizing the importance of pastoral leadership in reaching people.

Note the issues that were not deemed important by Barna's group. Less than 20 percent of the respondents indicated that the following were extremely important in choosing a church home: variety of ministries and programs, convenience of worship times, music/worship style, quality of music, location of church, amount of music in service, comfort of the sanctuary or auditorium, length of sermons, small groups, emphasis on fundraising and money, friends in the church, easy access to parking, and the type of people who attend.

Barna's study did not specifically ask the importance of relationships in choosing a church. He did ask, however, questions about friendliness and number of friends in the church. Interestingly, only 12 percent said that the presence of good friends was extremely important in choosing a church.

Our study differed from Barna's in two major aspects. First, our research group was the formerly unchurched. Second, we specifically asked questions about relationships. Still the common findings were striking. Both studies indicated that the doctrine of the church and the leadership and preaching of the pastor were very important to respondents in choosing a church.

Our study of the formerly unchurched, however, indicated two significant differences. First, we found that the reasons the formerly unchurched chose a particular church were complex and could not be simplified into one or two major issues. Second, while we found that relationships were important in bringing the unchurched to the church, this single factor was not the overwhelming reason, as most studies have indicated.

And what about the issue of relationships? We can affirm the conclusions of other studies: relationships are important in reaching the unchurched. We do not, however, see the high level of importance indicated in the other studies.

Almost four out of 10 of the formerly unchurched indicated that family members were important in their choosing a church. Another one in four said that relationships other than family members brought them to church. If we assume that the responses are mutually exclusive (while they are not), then 73 percent (48 percent plus 25 percent) of those we interviewed told us about the importance of a relationship in their choosing a church.

Although our study affirms how important relationships are in reaching the unchurched, it indicates that other factors are at work that are just as important or more important.