\n
In general, the majority of Americans had no problem with any of these denominations, except for Pentecostals, with 51% saying that this particular strain of Christianity is \u201cnot for me.\u201d\u00a0 The highest acceptability scores were for \u201cnondenominational,\u201d with only 33% ruling those churches out, followed by \u201cBaptist,\u201d with 43% ruling them out.<\/p>\n
But a significant percentage of Americans do exclude certain churches because of their denominational affiliation.\u00a0 And that information is especially interesting when broken down demographically.<\/p>\n
You can go to the links above to find the results for each tradition.\u00a0 I\u2019m a Lutheran, as are quite a few of you subscribers, so I will report on what the study found about our reputation.<\/p>\n
According to the study, 47% of respondents said that \u201ca church with Lutheran in the name is not for them.\u201d\u00a0 That is about the same as for the other denominations, except for Pentecostals, Baptists, and non-denominationals, as noted.\u00a0 Fifteen percent were \u201cunsure\u201d about Lutherans.<\/p>\n
Conversely, a bare majority, 51%, have a \u201cfavorable impression of Lutheran churches.\u201d\u00a0 Over a quarter of Americans, 26%, say they are \u201cunfamiliar\u201d with them.<\/p>\n
Young adults tend not to like us much.\u00a0 Of respondents aged 18-34, 50% said that a Lutheran church would not be \u201cfor me\u201d and 35% said that they have an \u201cunfavorable\u201d impression of us.\u00a0 But older adults, 25-49, like us even less, with 52% saying \u201cnot for me.\u201d\u00a0 Old people 65 and up tend to like us OK, with only 40% saying \u201cnot for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among Hispanics, 52% say Lutherans are \u201cnot for me,\u201d with 37% saying they have an \u201cunfavorable\u201d impression.\u00a0 African Americans, though, are relatively open to Lutherans, with only 40% saying \u201cnot for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Respondents with evangelical beliefs don\u2019t like us, with 55% saying \u201cnot for me,\u201d while only only 45% of non-evangelicals do.<\/p>\n
The well-educated don\u2019t want to be Lutheran, and yet they like us.\u00a0 The majority of respondents with a Bachelor\u2019s degree (51%) or a Graduate Degree (53%) say Lutheranism is \u201cnot for me.\u201d\u00a0 And yet 57% of those with a bachelor\u2019s degree and 59% of those with a graduate degree have a \u201cfavorable\u201d impression of Lutherans.<\/p>\n
Midwesterners, where Lutherans mostly congregate, do like us, at 57% saying they have a \u201cfavorable\u201d impression.\u00a0 Southerners, however, not so much, with only 47% being \u201cfavorable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Non-Christians dislike Lutherans more than they do most of the other categories. Among Non-Christians, 65%\u00a0 consider Lutheranism \u201cnot for me,\u201d second only to \u201cSouthern Baptists\u201d (66%).\u00a0 Among the religiously unaffiliated, 33% have an \u201cunfavorable\u201d impression.<\/p>\n
There is one demographic, though, that seems to be the most open to Lutheranism.\u00a0 Among \u201cChristians who attend a worship service less than once a month,\u201d only 37% say Lutheranism is \u201cnot for me.\u201d\u00a0 And only a miniscule 15% say they have an \u201cunfavorable\u201d impression.\u00a0 However, 27% of this group is \u201cunfamiliar\u201d with Lutheranism.<\/p>\n
In fact, for these professing but mostly unchurched Christians, of all the other denominational labels, Lutherans were in the top three for the smallest percentage of \u201cnot for me\u2019s\u201d:\u00a0 \u00a037%, with Presbyterians at 36% and nondenominationals at 22%.\u00a0 And Lutherans with 15% were second only to the nondenominationals with 10% in the smallest number of \u201cunfavorable\u201d impressions with this group.<\/p>\n
What do you make of all of this?\u00a0 How do you account for both the \u201clikes\u201d and the \u201cdislikes\u201d?\u00a0 What might the church learn from this information, both to address the negatives and to take advantage of the positives?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Image by\u00a0Vadim_P<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0Pixabay<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Southern Baptist resource provider Lifeway has done a survey of how the general public perceives the various denominational labels. What they found about the reputation of Lutherans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":60843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,42,47],"tags":[8170,484,488,660,2620],"class_list":["post-60824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church","category-social-science","category-theology","tag-christianity-in-america","tag-church-demographics","tag-church-growth","tag-denominations","tag-lutherans"],"yoast_head":"\n
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