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U3s may not go to church, but they do go to their knees

Someone doesn't have to go to church to believe in-and feel a need to communicate-with God. U3s are a perfect example. Although they don't often darken the door of a house of worship, they pray in significant percentages.

February 17, 2004

Dr. Thom Rainer in his book "The Unchurched Next Door" shares research conducted on people who do not regularly attend church. He classifies their receptivity on a scale from one to five. U1, or Unchurched 1, represents the group most receptive to the gospel. U5, or Unchurched 5, are the least receptive. This item is one of an ongoing series that shares the results of his studies about the unchurched.

One of these days I would like to lead my research team on a quest to discern the prayer lives of active, churchgoing Christians. One factor of which we are certain is that most of the unchurched are praying people. And they see little disconnect between an active prayer life and an inactive church life.

For this project, we began with a simple question: Do you pray regularly? Though we did not provide a precise definition for "regularly," the U3s were quick to respond one way or the other. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) indicated a regular prayer life.

Our next question asked the frequency of their prayers. In a simple, open-ended question, we asked how often they prayed. The results were intriguing.

The "other" response includes numerous comments of U3s who pray more than once a day. We even had one U3 who claimed that she prayed in her sleep!

We see the significance of this data on prayer as twofold. First, these U3s are not spiritual beings. They believe in some type of God who hears and answers prayers. Their understanding of God and prayer may be far from orthodox, but their beliefs are at least a point of connection for the one who shares his or her faith.

Second, the prayer lives of many of the U3s indicate men and women who are searching for answers. They realize something is missing in their lives. Many of them are praying to an unknown God with the hope, as Gina H. of Nebraska said, that "someone up there has heard something and can do something about it."

Ryan G. of Wyoming prays to "a higher power. I pray to him, her, or it daily. It's probably not a typical prayer, but it is prayer. I just got to believe somebody is hearing me."