The Unchurched Next Door

Understanding Faith Stages as Keys to Sharing Your Faith

By: Thom S. Rainer

Narrated by: Don Reed

If You Invite Them, They Will Come.It’s true. In a national survey done by author Thom Rainer and his staff, eight out of ten unchurched men and women said they would come to church—if only someone would invite them. When and how is the next big question. Rainer helps you figure out where your neighbors, friends, and coworkers are in their spiritual quest, and how you can know who among the unchurched people in your life are receptive to Christ.In this fascinating book, Rainer identifies five “faith stages”—levels of responsiveness, prefixed with a “U” for “Unchurched”—that represent your running buddy, your sister-in-law, or your hairdresser:U1 Highly receptive to hearing and believing the Good NewsU2 Receptive to the gospel and churchU3 Neutral, with no clear signs of being interested yet perhaps being open to discussionU4 Resistant to the gospel, but with no antagonistic attitudeU5 Highly antagonistic and even hostile to the gospel“A discovery we made is that reaching lost and unchurched people is not always best accomplished with some cookie-cutter strategy,” Rainer writes. “The unchurched are different in how they respond to the gospel.” How different? You’ll be amazed at the variables that exist when it comes to how open people are to the Christian message. Once you've recognized which stage your unchurched friends and family are, you can much more effectively connect them with Christ. Open this book, and open your mind and heart to the powerful new possibilities of reaching The Unchurched Next Door.

Excellent Read and Study

I really enjoyed the reading of this book. it analyzes our fear of sharing the Gospel in a unique way.

The Unchurched Next Door

This was a great book, do not be disobedient, go out into all the world...

Needs to be preached in every church in the world!

What made the experience of listening to The Unchurched Next Door the most enjoyable?

The many stories and responses of the responders was fascinating, and the revelation that both the statistics and the stories brought into light was amazing! That is: People are more ready than we think they are! We just have to match the Faith stage to the invitation method.Very, very informative stuff, and I am now listening to it again and using it as fuel for my preaching.

I would love to see Thom S Rainer write another book outlining his survey forms, and instructing local churches how to utilise both the surveying process and the survey results in our own area. I am in semi-rural Australia, and would like to graph my own town/city.

Seriously! I cannot see why this has only scored a 4 star rating so far - this book is transformational, my congregation are sitting there wide-eyed!

great info

big eye opener for how Christians should ask those around us to church. turns out most people won't bite our heads off for doing so!

Very Insightful

I strongly recommend this book to every Christian in North America. It is very insightful and brings a good challenge for Christians to be the welcoming person to the unchurched.