• In the summer of 2006, LifeWay Research conducted a survey of 469 formerly churched adults to better understand why people stop attending church and what it would take to bring them back.
  • Four percent of formerly churched adults are actively looking for a church to attend regularly (other than their previous church).
  • Six percent would prefer to resume attending regularly in the same church they had attended.
  • 62 percent are not actively looking, but are open to the idea of attending church regularly again.
• Three out of four adults are willing to give church another try
• More than a third are motivated to consider returning "to fill a gap felt since stopping regular church attendance" (34 percent).
• The most common motivation of those who would consider returning comes straight from the soul: "to bring me closer to God" (46 percent).
  • Thirty-two percent of those surveyed want to "be around those with similar values"
  • 31 percent would consider returning "to make friends."
  • A similar number would return "to make a difference/help others" (30 percent) in their community.
  • More than half would be inspired to regularly attend church "if I simply felt it was time to return to church" (58 percent)
  • 31% said "if I felt God was calling me to visit a church"
• The survey showed that many would respond to an invitation from a friend or acquaintance (41 percent), their children (25 percent) or an adult family member (25 percent)
• Thirty-five percent indicated that they would be inspired to attend church "if I knew there were people like me there."

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