Pioneer Christian Monthly - September, 1986

"Learning to Think Like an Unbeliever - Door to Door" Part 1
Murray Moerman

Do you think like an unbeliever?

You may say: "Well, no. I think like a believer. At least I try hard to. I read my Bible, pray, meditate on the message each time I go to church. Sometimes I still catch myself thinking in old negative ways, but I'm working on it."

That's very commendable, of course. But when it comes to church growth, most of us think, in fact, too much like believers.

How can that be possible?

It's not possible, of course, in relation to the Lord. But it is possible in relation to the unbeliever.

Most of us, even if we have been Christians for as briefly as two years, have had such a transformation in our thinking, even if you are as imperfect as I am, that we have lost the ability to think like our unbelieving neighbours.

Is that bad?

It is if we want to communicate with and win unbelievers into the Kingdom of God.

In most cases our church activities are geared to the way believers think. We use the language believers understand, we assume the goals and values we expect believers to hold, and we talk about the issues in which we expect believers to be interested.

Much of the advertising churches do make the same assumption. Much church advertising, if you look at it carefully, is geared to draw interested people from their respective traditions, or Christians who have moved to town and are looking for a church.

If we want to communicate with unbelievers however, we need to learn to think like unbelievers.

How do we do that?

Door to door visitation is not the most efficient methodology for achieving many evangelistic goals, but for the goal of learning to think like unbelievers there is no substitute.

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church, has suggested five questions to help you learn to know and think like your community in order to address them directly and gear your ministry to meet their felt needs.

The questions are introduced in the setting of a door-to-door opinion poll. It is important to go with an attitude, not of going to tell people anything or of going to invite people to do anything, but with an attitude of going to learn. Often in the process of introducing myself and the poll and asking the person for three. to five minutes of their time for their opinion I assure them that I am not selling anything, directly or indirectly.

The first question then is: Are you an active member of a nearby church?" if the person says yes, you may thank them for their time and move on to the next home. We are looking to learn the mind-set of the unbelievers. (You may wish to continue the interview with a few believers to see the clear contrast between the way believers think and the way unbelievers think.)

The second question is: "What do you think are the greatest needs of the people of this community?" I explain that we want to serve the community but that we cannot do so unless we know with accuracy what are the actual needs of the community.

Permit me two comments: 1) We have found that the needs people express are extremely practical and concrete. 2) It is important not to receive this as interesting information but to design programs and preaching to address these specific needs. Allow the needs of the community to shape your ministry agenda.

The third question is: 'Why do you think most people around here don't go to church?" This question recognizes the fact that we who attend church are in a minority and that the person we are interviewing is in the majority. It also invites the non-believer to tell us what he doesn't like about the church, and allows us to make the changes necessary to our church which would allow outsiders to feel comfortable there. Most people are not opposed to God or the life and message of Jesus Christ, but are frustrated with the Church. There are many practical changes we can make, not compromising but enhancing the message of the gospel in our churches.

Next month we will continue this discussion of how we can learn from unbelievers in order for the lost to be found and for Christ's Church to grow!

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