What does Ryan Burge’s research on religious nones reveal about the Americans sitting just outside your church doors? In part two of this two-part conversation, Dwight and Alicia continue their discussion with Dr. Ryan Burge, data scientist and author of The Vanishing Church, diving into what the data actually shows about faith, formation, and the roughly seven out of ten Americans who are neither fully in nor fully out of religious life. The picture is more nuanced, and more hopeful, than most church leaders expect.
Ryan walks through what the numbers say about the much-discussed religious revival, why theological formation has always been harder than pastors assume, and what it would actually take to reach a generation starting with zero religious background. He also makes a compelling case for what churches uniquely provide that nothing else in American life can: genuine contact across difference, the kind that makes it hard to hate the person next to you. If your congregation is wondering who’s really out there and how to reach them, this conversation is a grounded and honest place to start.
