When Proselytizing Fails" An Organizational Analysis Reginald W. Bibby Washington State University Merlin B. Brinkerhoff University of Calgary The authors assert that an adequate understanding of religious proselytizing requires an understanding not only of the converts but also of organizational attempts to recruit them. Maintaining that the proselytizing of outsiders requires contact, bridging, and assimilation mechanisms, they examine the evangelistic efforts and results of 20 proselyte-minded Canadian churches over a five-year period. They find little evidence in evangelistic programs for the existence of such mechanismsf or reaching outsiders. M oreover, new convert members aref ound to be primarily family members,friends, and people from other churches. They conclude that in spite of the apparent failure to proselytize many outsiders, the organizational mechanisms may continue to persist because of the latent functions they serve. Much of the work in the Sociology of Religion relating to the subject of pro- selytism has focused on the individual convert as the unit ofanalysis. Theories and empirical studies have tried to explain proclivity to religious conversion and affiliation in terms of the nature of converts. Thus Glock (1965) has synthesized a long tradition in positing the forms of personal deprivation which serve as sources of religious involvement. 1 Lofland and Stark (1965) have proposed a process theory of conversion which focuses upon the convert and the stages through which he passes on the road to conversion. Similarly, a number of empirical studies have examined the convert and his characteristics (Beynon, 1938; Hoh, 1940; Catton, 1957; Monaghan, 1967; Robbins, 1969; Seggar and Blake, 1970; Nelson, 1972). While such a convert-centered approach offers insight into the social and psychological characteristics of people who are "won over" to religious groups, it examines only one social actor in the proselytization process--"the sheep." A comprehensive understanding of proselytism requires a look at the other side as well--"the shepherds," or the role of religious groups or organizations in the conversion process. Such an emphasis, while somewhat limited in the literature, has been present recently in the work of such people as Moberg (1962), Sobel (1966), Lofland (1966), Gerlach and Hine (1968), Demerath and Hammond (1969), Kunz and Brinkerhoff (1969), and Seggar and Kunz (1972), as well as in works relating to the church-sect tradition (Niebuhr, 1929; Pope, 1942; Wilson, 1959). In this paper we report the findings ofour examination of the evangelistic IFor a discussion and critique of the depfivation approach, as well as the presentation of alternative forms of religious involvement, see Reginald W. Bibby and Merlin B. Brinkerhoff, "Sources of ReligiousInvolvement:Issuesfor Empi¡ Investigation." ReviewofReligious Research, Winter, 1974. 189 by guest on July 19, 2011 socrel.oxfordjournals.org Downloaded from
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When Proselytizing Fails" An Organizational Analysis Reginald W. Bibby Washington State University
Merlin B. B r i n k e r h o f f University of Calgary
The authors assert that an adequate understanding of religious proselytizing requires an understanding not only of the converts but also of organizational attempts to recruit them. Maintaining that the proselytizing of outsiders requires contact, bridging, and assimilation mechanisms, they examine the evangelistic efforts and results of 20 proselyte-minded Canadian churches over a five-year period. They find little evidence in evangelistic programs for the existence of such mechanisms f or reaching outsiders. M oreover, new convert members are f ound to be primarily family members, friends, and people from other churches. They conclude that in spite of the apparent failure to proselytize many outsiders, the organizational mechanisms may continue to persist because of the latent functions they serve.
Much of the work in the Sociology of Religion relating to the subject of pro- selytism has focused on the individual convert as the unit ofanalysis. Theories and empirical studies have tried to explain proclivity to religious conversion and affiliation in terms of the nature of converts. Thus Glock (1965) has synthesized a long tradition in positing the forms of personal deprivation which serve as sources of religious involvement. 1 Lofland and Stark (1965) have proposed a process theory of conversion which focuses upon the convert and the stages through which he passes o n the road to conversion. Similarly, a number of empirical studies have examined the convert and his characteristics (Beynon, 1938; Hoh, 1940; Catton, 1957; Monaghan, 1967; Robbins, 1969; Seggar and Blake, 1970; Nelson, 1972).
While such a convert-centered approach offers insight into the social and psychological characteristics of people who are "won over" to religious groups, it examines only one social actor in the proselytization process--"the sheep." A comprehensive understanding of proselytism requires a look at the other side as well--"the shepherds," or the role of religious groups or organizations in the conversion process. Such an emphasis, while somewhat limited in the literature, has been present recently in the work of such people as Moberg (1962), Sobel (1966), Lofland (1966), Gerlach and Hine (1968), Demerath and Hammond (1969), Kunz and Brinkerhoff (1969), and Seggar and Kunz (1972), as well as in works relating to the church-sect tradition (Niebuhr, 1929; Pope, 1942; Wilson, 1959). In this paper we report the findings o four examination of the evangelistic
IFor a discussion and critique of the depfivation approach, as well as the presentation of alternative forms of religious involvement, see Reginald W. Bibby and Merlin B. Brinkerhoff, "Sources of Religious Involvement: Issues for Empi¡ I nvestigation." Review ofReligious Research, Winter, 1974.
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efforts 2 and results o f 20 proselyte-or iented churches over a f ive-year period,3 in an a t t empt to posit a f r amework which will add insight into the impor t an t role which religious organizat ions p e r f o r m in the proselytization process.
Approach
An impor tan t c o m p o n e n t of the evangelical belief system is that anyone who has not made "a personal c o m m i t m e n t to Christ" is considered a "spiri tual outsider ." This holds even t hough he is the child of a member . Yet, explicit in the s t rong c o m m i t m e n t to evangelis ta is the idea that the ent i re world should be "reached," and that proselytizing will only begin at home. A s a result, conservative Protes tant g roups have tradit ionally placed considerable emphasis , for example , u p o n send- ing missionaries to fore ign countries, as par t o f an a t t empt to fulfill the "Great Commission" to "go into all the world and preach the gospel." T h u s while the evangelicals include children as converts, we argue that family converts may be classified as essentially "insiders," as contrasted to people who come into evangelical groups f r o m outside the evangelical communi ty of subcul ture (hereaf ter desig- nated "outsiders"). T h e pr imary interest in this paper concerns the at tempts of conservative churches to evangelize outsiders and the incidence of their success.
Proselytes who jo in conservative churches provide an instance of a b roade r social p h e n o m e n o n , namely, the addi t ion o f outsiders to voluntary groups. Given that voluntary groups will commonly add new members who are t ransfers f rom o ther "branches" and the chi ldren of members , it seems ra ther s t ra igh t forward to assert that if such g roups are going to add new members , they will have to develop mechanisms for (1) reaching out to individuals, (2) b r ing ing them in, and (3) keep ing them in. 4
Contact: Reaching Out. There clearly has to be a point of contact where the outsider becomes aware of the group. The organization might have mecb.anisms to facilitate this which are either group or member initiated or both. This might include personal contact with a group member or formal advertising; they might also be initiated by non-group and non-member sources, through the media, word-of-mouth, etc.
Bridging: Bringing In. Once contact has been made with the outsider, it is further necessary to establish ways of "getting him to cross the bridge" and sit with the group. Here the escorting presence ofa group member would seem to be almost indispensable, although it is conceivable that in some instances the bridging device might be an invitation o r a request, for example. Unfamiliar with the group and its members, it is highly unlikely that the outsider would simply "come on his own."
Assimilation: Keeping In. The taking up of membership in a voluntary group would seem to depend heavily upon the outsider's coming to identify with the group, organiza- tionally (e.g., goals, norms, roles, social controls) and culturally. Further, his becoming a member would also seem to be dependent upon the willingness of the members to receive him.
2We are using the words "evangelism" and "proselytism" interchangeably in this paper; the former term is the one used in conservative church circles. Both terms are meant to refer to the process whereby religious groups seek to add converts to their ranks. aOther major findings of the study have been reported in Reginald W. Bibby and Merlin B. Brink- erhoff (1973). 4The three mechanisms or processes which we refer to as contacting, bridging and assimilation are only analytically distinct; in reality, they undoubtedly tend to merge or overlap.
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It is a r g u e d tha t these th ree fac tors a re necessary condi t ions fo r t h e j o i n i n g o f vo lun t a ry g r o u p s by outs iders . T o the e x t e n t t ha t p ro se ly ¡ bodies such as evangel ical P r o t e s t a n t chu rches conve r t such people , one wou ld expec t these th ree fac tors to be p resen t . 5
Background and Methodology
In an a t t e m p t to exp lo re the role o f re l igious o rgan iza t ions in prose ly t i sm, 20 p r o s e l y t e - m i n d e d c h u r c h e s in a W e s t e r n C a n a d i a n city with a p o p u l a t i o n o f some 415 ,000 was inves t iga ted . T h e c h u r c h e s were selected f r o m a list o f 81 cong rega - t ions associa ted with the city's Evangel ica l Minis ter ia l Associat ion. ~ T h e r a n d o m sample i nc luded six Baptist , five Pentecos ta l , t h r ee N a z a r e n e , two Miss ionary, two Salvation Army , one Chris t ian a n d Miss ionary Alliance, a n d one P lymou th Bre th- r en cong rega t i ons . T e n o f the c h u r c h e s were p r e d o m i n a n t l y m i d d l e class while t en were w o r k i n g class. 7 In o r d e r tha t the b ias ing effects o f " p e a k " years o r "o f f " years m i g h t be min imized , the prose ly t iz ing e f for t s a n d resul ts were e x a m i n e d over a f ive-year p e r i o d (1966-70). F u r t h e r m o r e , this r e p r e s e n t e d a t i m e o f a l l e g e d conserva t ive c h u r c h m e m b e r s h i p g r o w t h in N o r t h A m e r i c a genera l ly , s
Since the s tudy was d i rec ted t o w a r d va r i ed facets o f evange l i sm, inc lud ing commitment to the evange l i sm concep t , the inc idence a n d types o f evangel i s ta attempts, a n d the n u m b e r a n d n a t u r e ofproselytes, five va r i ed da t a sources were
d e v e l o p e d a n d uti l ized:
(1) Leadership Questionnaire. This form was filled out by the minister and four people he considered to be leaders in his church. Consisting of 40 items, it was intended to provide insight into the theological posture of the church generally and its commitment to the concept of evangelista specifically.
(2) Program Information. Procured through an interview with each minister and the use of available literature, this information pertained to the churches and their programs, with particular attention given to their evangelistic efforts.
(3) Media and Meetings. The evangelistic attempts of the churches were investigated by examining newspaper advertisements and through attending numerous minis-
5Bryan Wilson (1959:11), in his discussion of conversionist sect groups, offers an observation which seemed highly relevant to the conservative groups being examined here, and hints at the problems they will have building such points of emphasis into their programs. Wilson maintains that such religious groups experience tension because of the contradictory values of separateness frorn the world and the summons to go out into ir and preach the gospel. He writes, "evangelista means exposure to the world and the risk ofalienation of the evangelizing agents. Itmeans also the willingness to accept into the sect new members. . , who are incompletely socialized from the sect's point of view." 6we are well aware of the fact that evangelical and evangelistic congregations are not necessa¡ synonymous, that the former term refers to identification with a specific Protestant historical tradition, while the latter term describes the attempt to proselytize. However, since evangelical groups have traditionally stressed the irnportance of evangelista, using this association list seemed to provide a good starting place for selecting the kind of sarnple we were seeking. 7The criteria used in determining the predominant social class of the congregations included spatial location within the city, general occupational levels of the parishioners, and the type of training received by the ministers. 8Documentation of this assertion can be found, for example, in the annually published Yearbook of American Churches (National Council of Churches) for United States churches and in Tipp and Winter (1970) for Canadian churches. For a summary of these divergent growth trends, sce Dean M. Kelley (1972: 1-35) and Bibby and Brinkerhoff (1973).
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terial meetings at which, among o ther things, evangelistic programs were dis- cussed. (The latter observations, however, were limited pr imari ly to 1968-70),
(4) Membership Records. Seeking to de te rmine the incidence of proselyte membersh ip additions to the 20 churches between 1966-70, lists of n e w members added dur ing that per iod were examined with the assistance of the ministers (in two instances with secretarial assistance). New members were classified into one of three categories: (i) reaffiliate, recognized to be an evangelical Christ ian upon initial contact with the church, e.g., t ransfer ; (ii) birth-type convert, converted since contact with the church and having at least one evangelical pa ren t or guard ian pr ior to age 10; (iii) Proselyte-type convert, conver ted since contact with the church and not having at least one evangelical pa ren t or guardian pr ior to age 10.
(5) Proselyte Information. This material was ga thered at the time o f m e m b e r s h i p classifica- tion with the informants the same as in #4. Data per ta ined to the variables of age, sex, marital status, nationality, education, occupation, time and means of conver- sion, previous church affiliation, and preconversion place ofres idence , as well as specific factors involved in conversion. Such informat ion per ta ined to the convert as of the time of conversion.
With regard to procedures, in the late spring of 1971 two meetings were held less than a month apart with each of the ministers, one to explain the nature of the studympresented as "A Study of Evangel ism"uand a second to procure the data with respect to programs, new members, and proselytes, as well as to distribute the leadership questionnaires. The questionnaires were returned by mail and where necessary picked up in person. This approach yielded a 100% response rate (N= 100).
Findings
Commitment to Evangelism
T h e r e s p o n s e s o f t h e 100 c h u r c h l e a d e r s to t he q u e s t i o n n a i r e i t e m s p e r t a i n i n g
to e v a n g e l i s t a r e v e a l e d t h a t t he "of f ic ia l " p o s i t i o n o f t he c h u r c h e s was a s t r o n g c o m m i t m e n t to t he goa l o f e v a n g e l i s m (see T a b l e 1). T h e r e s p o n s e s to t he f i rs t
TABLE 1
Commitment to the Goal of Evangelism as Reflected by Responses
of Church L e a d e r s
Item Agree Disagree Undecided % % %
Children bona to Christian parents 1 are by birth Christians
Evangelism is the job of the professional 2 clergy, rather than the layman.
Every true Christian will try to 100 openly tell others about Christ.
The church should concentrate 4 more on social action than saving souls
The church needs to emphasize 5 religious education in our day, rather than conversion
99 0 99
96 2 99
0 0 I00
94 2 98
94 I 98
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E x t e n t to Which Churches Ut i l i zed P rog rams for Evangel is t ic Purposes ,
as R e p o r t e d by Minis ters (N=20) *
Program Activity Hardty At atl- Some Quite A Bit- Not Much A Great Deal
Worship Services 3 11 6
Special Meetings 3 10 7
Sunday School 2 6 12
Youth Groups 5 11 4
Special Retreats 6 12 2
Camps 0 7 13
Cooperative Crusades 10 10 0
Pastoral Visitation 4 11 5
Lay Visitation 11 8 1
Mass Media 19 0 1
TOTALS 63 86 51
*Respondents were given the opportunity to cite any further evangelistic efforts; few were noted.
item reflect the belief that conversion and personal commitment are necessary if anyone-- including a Christian's offspring--is to be called "a Christian." Reactions to the second and third items reveal the belief that "witnessing" is the job of every Christian, while responses to items four andfive suggest that evangelism is seen as more central to a church's ministry than such emphases as social action and religious education.
The commitment of the churches to evangelism is fur ther reflected in the evangelistic emphasis that the ministers claim characterized their programs be- tween 1966-70. Asked, "To what extent would you egtimate your church has used the following as a means of evangelism between 1966-70?" and presented with a list of 10 program activities, the ministers maintained that an evangelistic thrust had characterized almost all facets of their church programs (see Table 2). 9
During the five-year pe¡ under study, the six Baptist churches in the sample, in addition to their independent evangelistic efforts, participated to varying degrees in "The Crusade of the Americas," a two-year evangelistic program. Included in such a program were training classes for church members for the purpose of enhancing their ability to "witness to others," week-long evangelistic services, a n d a concluding city-wide evangelistic rally. In addition, almost all of the 20 churches participated in other small city-wide cooperative evangelistic crusades. Further , the media suggested other extensive evangelistic efforts. Vir- tually all of the 20 churches made at least limited use of the media. They placed regular Saturday ads in the church section of the city's major newspaper. The
~While clearly these ministerial estimates offer only a crude gauge of the efforts that were "actually" expended, the fact that the question was taken for granted by these ministers and that they claimed "some" use ofalrnost all of these va¡ means indicates that evangelism was regarded as a normative part o f their programs.
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extent to which the media were employed varied. Over half of the churches advertised weekly Sunday evening "evangelistic services." Moreover, with great regularity they utilized advertisements to announce the coming appearances of guest speakers, evangelists, and touring music groups who would be holding special revival or evangelistic meetings. The remaining churches were less explicit in their advertising of evangelistic programs. Their newspaper ads noted services and special activities, but knew little of a "hard sell" emphasis. Clearly, then, the congregations examined had an explicit commitment to the goal of "winning converts" and seemingly sought to see that the goal was realized; at least this was verbally expressed.
Contact
An examination of the evangelistic programs of the 20 churches revealed that in their formal activities these groups appeared to provide few opportunities for contact with outsiders. Visitation, pastoral or lay, along with advertising, would seem to have provided the key opportunities for confronting potential proselytes. Yet, while ministers claimed to have done "some" such visiting (e.g., door to door canvassing, meeting parents of Sunday School children), they admitted that such efforts were not extensive (see Table 2). Further , systematic lay visitation was also clearly limited, while the role of the media in making contact with outsiders--and hence playing a role in evangelism--was felt to be for all intents and purposes negligible. Indeed, the one minister who claimed his church had used the media "quite a bit" documented his assertion by offering as examples his bi-weekly church paper and his congregation's distribution of tracts.
Insofar as the "contact concept" was not built more explicitly into the programs ofthese churches, ir might be argued that contact with outsiders was carried out by church members as they "brushed shoulders" with such people in the course of living their everyday lives. For as the church leaders indicated unanimously, the evangelical ideal is that "every Christian should live for Christ in a 'full-time' sense."
Data on the precise frequency and durat ion of such contacts made "by the church in the world" were extremely difficult to obtain. However, a few points might be suggested. First, few would argue that many church members simply do not "let their lights so shine before men." They interact with outsiders, but they rail to communicate their alleged religious commitment and involvement. Still a second sizable group of members are caught in the dilemma noted by Wilson (1959:11): they are trying to be separate from the world and yet are somehow expected to have sufficient contact to commend their faith to outsiders. Thus it seems safe to predict that, ironically, some of the conservative members who had sufficient religious commitment to want to "witness" would also have had too much religious commitment to allow them to "mix with the world." Significantly, 21% of the church leaders felt that "Christians should not have close non-Christian friends." One female leader who argued for having such friends put the dilemma succinctly, writing, "How else can they convert non-Christians?"
For still a third group, our contact with conservative Protestants leads us to believe that the rationale of"separation from the world" may actually function asa device for resolving the uneasy feeling of trying to relate to others ("the lost") whose life-styles are uncomfortably different from that of the evangelical subcul-
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ture. Further, as Peter Berger (1970:21) points out, the believer is a member of a "cognitive minority," holding a world-view which can only be sustained through ongoing interaction with others who hold a similar interpretation of reality. Minimizing contact may thus in part be the result of avoiding interaction with those people who would most severely challenge one's "minority world-view."
The point, then, based on these empirically-grounded impressions in the ab- sence of systematic data, is that the problem of contact was hardly eliminated through church leaders depending on their members to promote the interests of the group when in proximity to outsiders. It seems conservative to argue that the pool of potential proselyte members, theoretically the city's entire non-evangelical population, decreased considerably through the failure of contacts to be made, apartfrom the question of reception to such contacts.
~~a~ng Insofar as members and ministers succeeded in making contact with outsiders,
they received essentially responses of either interest or no interest. For these few outsiders who showed interest, it was necessary to find a way to bring the potential proselyte into the presence of the group.
The 20 dmrches provided little cvidence of having developed formal bridging mechanisms, of even to have been explicitly aware of their vital tole in bringing in outsiders. Where bridging efforts could be observed, they included the organiza- tion of events designed to attract parents via their children (Christmas concerts, Sunday School picnics, Father-Son and Mother-Daughter banquets), children via children (Sunday School awards for bringing new friends), relatives vŸ relatives (Ÿ pews" set aside for special services), and friends via friends (common emphasis: "Come a n d bring a friend"). Two of the sample churches "bussed" children to Sunday School. Yet our contact with the ministers in meetings and interviews lcads us to assert that insolar as bridges were provided, their appear- ance seemed t o have been more the result of chance ra ther than conscious evangelistic strategy. The view verbalized in meetings by many of the pastors was to the effect, "Itis our task to witness [make contact]; f rom there it is up to the Holy Spirit."
At the same time, this is not to say that bridging did not take place on a more informal, "natural" level, spontaneous and non-routinzcd. Indeed, as will be discussed shortly, it is alear from the data that some bridging was in fact occurring. The data again do not allow a conclusion as to exactly how much bridging was taking place relative to the number ofopportuni t ies so provided through contacts being made (clearly a rather formidable methodological challenge). However, in view of the lack of explicit recognition of the tole of bridging in the formal church programs, again it appears conservative to estimate that the number of bridges provided was considerably less than the number of"successful" contacts (where interest was shown).
To sum up the observations to this point, apart from the question of their own responses to the overtures being made, the pool of potential proselyte members was reduced progressively tothose (1) with whom contact had been made, and (2) for whom bridging mechanisms were provided. The data indicate that proce- dures for contact and bridging were poorly defined, leading us to deduce a low level of execution. Thus, ironically, not unlike the Biblical parable in which the
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feast is ready and all that is required is guests, the data for the 20 churches indicate that the ministers had their evangelistic sermons ready, Sunday Schools had child evangelists and "decision days" on the schedule, evangelists and singers had been "booked," and youth group programs, special retreats, and camps were readied for action. The key question was whether of not the members "had gone out to the highways and byways and brought them [the outsiders] in." The information gathered and examined suggests that they had not.
Assimilation
Insofar as such outsiders were there, some rejected the group while others did not. Yet some ofthese latter outsiders may also have found that the group rejected them. Al1 of the 20 churches had important rites of passage. Following in the Believers' Church tradition, ~o 87% of the leaders agreed that "only people who are born again should be allowed tojoin the church," with a majority f rom every congregation concurring. Consequently, once exposed to the groups, the outsid- ers found themselves placed under considerable pressure to "be converted." Those who subsequently professed a conversion experience thus in effect reached an important stage in the assimilation process.
But not all of them were received into formal church membership , which suggests an intriguing finding. While the operational definition of conversion differed from church to church, 1~ great emphasis was placed upon the necessity of a changed life---changed in keeping with the groups ' expectations concerning the nature of such a transformation. For example, responding to the statement, "When a person joins a church he should not be told that he cannot do certain things (e.g., smoke, drink)," almost 60% of these leaders disagreed. In almost all of these churches, then, only when the members were convinced of the behavioral validity of an outsider's conversion as conceived in terms of strict personal moral- ity was he eligible to become a formal member . That is, the outsider who "pro- fessed faith in Christ" was regarded as a Christian but n o t a s yet ready for membership.
What seemed to be taking place here was a clash between the theological and the social. Theologically, in response to the summons to "go and make disciples," the evangelicals zealously encouraged a few people to "become Ch¡ But as social groups, they were unwilling to assimilate those who were incompletely socialized (Wilson, 1959:11). Consequently, such people, while theologically "born again," were denied formal membership until, as adherents, they were socialized to the point of"f i t t ing in" with the group. 12 Thus, while all 20 ministers interviewed agreed that converts should formallyjoin with the local church, seven did not think that their membership additions between 1966-70 were a fairly accurate reflection of the evangelism carried out by their churches. Asked why not, all of these ministers cited the "youth factor" (the child converts are too young
l~ ah exposition of this concept see Max Weber (1958:144) or Donald Durnbaugh (1968). al The church leaders had no illusions about theological homogeneity among Protestants and, presum- ably, evangelicals. Only 10% felt that "there are practically no important differences between what the va¡ Protestant churches believe." lZSignificantly, such adherents are traditionally not allowed to vote or hold "high offices" in evangelical churches, so that they are only partially associated with the group.
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for membership), while all but two also cited "stiff membership requirements." Only one of the seven ministers su ggested that reluctance tojoin on the part of the converts was the problem.
It seems apparent , then, that the newly converted outs iders--young and otherwise--had in common the fact that they were inadequately socialized into the subcultures of the groups, with the result that their admission could have been to the detriment of subcultural homogenity. One Baptist youth director expressed this position graphically. Responding to the forementioned item on the relation- ship between conversion and religious education, he added, "Need conversion first, with religious education to follow." In summary to this point, it has been argued that there are three mechanisms in the proselytization process (contacting, bridging and assimilation) which operationally has afunneling effect. Of the "pool of potential converts" to the evangelical denominations, few appear to be contacted, even fewer bridged, and the number which are assimilated appear even fewer.
Proselytization Consequences
Our analysis of membership additions revealed that between 1966 and 1970, the 20 churches admitted a total of 1,532 members. Some 1,104 (72%) were reaffiliates from other evangelical congregations while 284 (18%) were children of members. Less than 9% (132) were outsiders. It is interesting to observe that, together, the congregations thus averaged less than two (1.3) such proselyte mem- bership additions per year per congregation.
The Outsiders
The 132 outsiders who went through the proselytization processes of contact- ing, bridging and assimilation can be classified according to the relationship the individual outsider had with evangelicals prior to the processes. Utilizing this criterion for classification, 32% were either married of engaged to evangelicals, while another 13% had evangelical siblings, children, grandparents; in-laws, etc. Clearly, through such family ties it is conceivable that the contact was made, the bridge provided, and even a basis for subcultural commonality became available.
Friends. Another 29% (38) of the outsiders were brought into the groups through friends. In at least 19 of these cases, the evangelical seemed to have played a conscious role in the process. For example, a nurse was said to have been instrumental in the conversion ofa patient; a couple brought three neighborhood children a great distance to a Baptist Sunday School. In many of the remaining 19 cases, the linking role of the evangelical was probably less conscious. Most, for example, seemed to have been adolescents, brought spontaneously by friends to Sunday School and youth groups. 13 The importance of the young contacting the young is suggested in Table 3, where predominantly young evangelicals appear to have provided the instrumental link with the churches for 24 of the 27 non-family outsiders between the ages of 10 and 19.
laThe data are not precise with respect to how the young people got to the youth activities. Among c h u r c h m e n it is a " taken-for-granted" that they (i) come with friends and to a lesser extent (ii) are sent by nominally involved parents who themselves have a history of religious participation. Given these logical possibilities, we would concur. Concern ing the second point, half of these 19 young people for whom information was available were said to have come f rom non-evangelical church backgrounds.
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Marginal Outsiders. An additional 16% (21) of the outsiders were people who were said to have essentially "come on their own." With regard to our contact- bridging-assimilation thesis, it appears that people in this category may have come on their own (although not necessarily alone) primarily because they were already familiar with church life. Perhaps the contact began through an impersonal mechanism such as the mass media. More specifically, nine of these individuals had been involved previously with other evangelical congregations, but had never before "professed faith." That is, there had been earlier contacting and bridging without complete assimilation. The other twelve people in this category all had histories of religious involvement with Catholic and more liberal Protestant groups; indeed, six were church members upon their arrival in evangelical churches. These 21 people seemed to be part of the Christian community and as such were, relative to the evangelicals, only marginal outsiders. Sociologically, many of them were simply "switchers." Given their relative "proximity" to the evangelicals, then perhaps bridging mechansims were notas necessary for many of them.
Others. A further 6% (8) of the 132 proselytes had been converted at city-wide crusades and were referred to specific evangelical churches by crusade personnel. So contacted and in part at least bridged by fulfilling the first rite of passage, such outsiders presented themselves to congregations for mutual appraisal. Another 4% (6) of the proselytes were initially contacted through specific clerical visits to home and hospital.
It is thus clear from the findings that evangelism among these 20 churches took place primarily through existent ties with family and friends, a finding consistent with that of Gerlach and Hine (1968). By far the majority of new members were evangelicals and their relatives.
Discussion
It is our conclusion that the major reason for the relatively low number of proselytes is that the evangelistic programs of the 20 churches largely failed to provide adequate mechanisms for making contact with outsiders and providing a
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bridge between the outsiders and the religious groups. As noted, where proselytes did become members, such mechanisms were evident. Significantly, such a find- ing suggests that regardless of the social characteristics and psychological disposi- tion of the potential members, many were not "brought in" because of problems with the shepherds. Critics might argue that the problem may not have been with the evangelicals but with the outsiders-- they may simply have been unresponsive to "faithful overtures." In other words, the problem may have been one of receptivity ra ther than invitation. However from our investigation, we would conclude that this is not the case.
Further, we certainly ate not trying to maintain t hat contact, bridging, and assimilation will have proselytism as the inevitable result. Obviously some people will not be responsive to membership even when one, two, or even all three conditions ate met. Rather, we are asserting that insofar as outsiders have become members of the churches, the conditions of contact, bridging, and acceptance have been fulfilled. In short, we suggest these n o t a s sufficient but rather as necessary conditions for the occurrence of proselyte membership.
To move to a second point, given that the evangelistic programs o f these proselyte-minded churches appear to be poorly designed for the assimilation of outsiders, one cannot help but ask the obvious question: why? If the goal is not actually being realized, why do such congregations continue year after year to use their particular means of outreach? Why, for example, do churches continue to hold weekly evangelistic-type services in their buildings when few if any outsiders are ever present?
One obvious explanation is that on the surface, such evangelistic programs do "work." Many family members, including relatives, are responding to the evangelistic appeals and are being "converted." Until such time as someone does some counting--as has been at tempted in this study--i t is easy to believe that evangelistic programs are being "successful." But if"success" is being measured in terms of reaching out to people beyond one's kin, these conservative churches are enjoying limited "success."
Part of the explanation for this "failure" to reach outsiders may well lie in a number o f impor tan t latent functions which evangelistic programs appear to have within the evangelical community. Although the current mechanisms do not reach the intended objective, they tend to persist and not be replaced because they do tend to serve important organizational functions. For one thing, holding evangelistic services even when the audience is predominantly Christian gives a church the appearance o f"p reach ing the gospel to the lost," allowing a member to feel that he belongs to an "evangelistic church."
Secondly, some aspects of evangelistic programs may well serve an entertain- ment function. Some evangelicals have indicated that on Sunday nights they go to what they regard as "the best services in town." It is hard to escape the conclusion that while evangelistic services are manifestly held a s a means of converting "sinners," latently they perform an impor tant enter tainment function for many. TM
Finally, evangelistic programs in the churches do, among other possibilities, serve
14Mann (1962) has suggested that for many earlier evangelical groups in Alberta who stressed personal holiness and separation from "worldly" forms of recreation, evangelistic services functioned as an important entertainment outlet.
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to perpetuate the evangelical subculture. Even though few outsiders may be present, opportunities exist for the relatives and friends of the members to experience an important "rite of passage." It may thus well be that such religious groups are organizationally defective with respect to the explicit goal of pro- selytism, precisely because, with respect to latent functions, it is advantageous to be so.
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