Americans’ Most Important Relationship
In July 2007, The Barna Group asked American adults to identify their most important relationships and most significant groups. Here is what they discovered:
Most Important Relationship
- 70% said family or specific family members
>> 33% said their entire nuclear family
>> 22% said their spouse
>> 17% said their children
>> 3% said their parents - 19% said God, Jesus Christ, Allah, or the Trinity
- 2% said a specific friend
Most Significant Group
- 29% said their church
- 18% said the people they affiliate with at work
- 14% said loose associations of friends that regularly gather together
- 12% said a hobby club or social group
- 7% said interaction with people in the neighborhood
These results are not surprising. But it is interesting to see the correlation between the perceived importance and influence of each relationship. In Surprising Insights from the Unchurched, Thom Rainer asks the previously unchurched, “What person was the greatest influence in your coming to church?”
Greatest Influence in Coming to Church
- 42% said a family member
>> 35% said their wife
>> 18% said their child
>> 16% said other
>> 9% said parents
>> 3% said siblings
>> 2% said parents-in-law
>> Husbands had a minimal influence. They ranked below wives, children, and parents. - 25% said no one
- 17% said other
- 8% said coworker
- 6% said neighbor
- 2% said merchant
This research reiterates the importance of the church being active in the community. Your greatest church marketing tool is not billboards or a website but your congregation. And a congregation that pursues living and loving as Jesus did is sure to influence their families, coworkers, neighbors, and community.
