The Four Types of People in Your Church
This is a series of five posts based on Pastor Daniel Im’s book, The Discipleship Opportunity: Leading a Great-Commission Church in a Post-Everything World. In this first post, Daniel explains each of the four types of people in your church. In each consecutive post, Daniel equips you to help disciple and preach a relevant message to people where they’re at.
Two foundational assumptions that began in the 1950s continue to affect church practice today. One of them is the assumption “of course, church,” which assumes that everyone is generally interested in the church. If this were still true, then there would be only two types of people in our communities, and both would be interested in spiritual things:
Interested Christians. These are the disciples—the Christians who are committed followers of Jesus and consistent churchgoers.
But as we’ve seen over the last few years, this paradigm no longer holds up! We can’t assume that every non-Christian is interested in or curious about the church anymore. And we can’t assume that every Christian is interested in the church either. Many people have no interest at all.
Uninterested non-Christians. These are the sleepers—the people who aren’t interested in faith or spirituality or church. Sometimes we see uninterested non-Christians in our churches, though it’s rare. If they make it into the building, often they have external motivations, like wanting to appease a parent, meet a significant other, or expand their network. When churches went exclusively online during the pandemic, there was less of a reason for non-Christians to “go to church,” especially if they weren’t interested in Jesus. Today, many non-Christians haven’t returned—and don’t see a need to—if they aren’t interested in faith or spirituality. Biblically speaking, they are spiritually asleep. Sleeping and awakening is a common metaphor in the Scriptures for salvation. When Paul says, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Ephesians 5:14, NLT), he is explaining that salvation is about waking up from our spiritual slumber.
Uninterested Christians. These are the consumers—the Christians who “go to church” but are uninterested in becoming disciples. These uninterested Christians are the people who appreciated the pandemic quarantine restrictions because they could stream your service, then their favorite celebrity pastor’s service, and then another, and another. But eventually, they realized that no one would notice if they didn’t attend in person regularly post-pandemic. After all, they could just watch “your” church service later when it’s more convenient, right? The pandemic revealed what has been true for a while—that there’s a whole category of Christians who “go to church” but are uninterested in the church. In fact, for them, it doesn’t matter if they’re streaming your service from the living room or sitting in your pews. They are watching the church instead of being the church.
While it would certainly be nice if there were just one way to reach, disciple, and speak to all people, there isn’t. That’s why Jesus talked about different types of soil in His parable of the sower. He knew that the people gathering to hear Him weren’t all the same.
With that in mind, let’s further define each quadrant in this matrix as it relates to the parable of the sower.
Daniel Im is a pastor, Bible teacher, writer, and podcast host with a passion for the local church. He is the lead pastor of Beulah Alliance Church and the author of No Silver Bullets,Planning Missional Churches, and You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta with his wife Christina and their three children. For more information, visit danielim.com and connect with him on social media @danielsangi.
Want to share this with members of your church? The Disciplemaker blog from NavPress has published a series of articles from Daniel Im, written for your church members. Read Do You Know the Four Types of People in Your Church? now.
Two foundational assumptions that began in the 1950s continue to affect church practice today. One of them is the assumption “of course, church,” which assumes that everyone is generally interested in the church. If this were still true, then there would be only two types of people in our communities, and both would be interested in spiritual things:
THE INTERESTED
Interested non-Christians. These are the seekers—the non-Christians who are curious about faith, church, and spirituality. They occasionally attend church but have not made a commitment to following Jesus.Interested Christians. These are the disciples—the Christians who are committed followers of Jesus and consistent churchgoers.
But as we’ve seen over the last few years, this paradigm no longer holds up! We can’t assume that every non-Christian is interested in or curious about the church anymore. And we can’t assume that every Christian is interested in the church either. Many people have no interest at all.
THE UNINTERESTED
Now let’s talk about the uninterested. As with the interested, there are two subcategories of people uninterested in spiritual matters:Uninterested non-Christians. These are the sleepers—the people who aren’t interested in faith or spirituality or church. Sometimes we see uninterested non-Christians in our churches, though it’s rare. If they make it into the building, often they have external motivations, like wanting to appease a parent, meet a significant other, or expand their network. When churches went exclusively online during the pandemic, there was less of a reason for non-Christians to “go to church,” especially if they weren’t interested in Jesus. Today, many non-Christians haven’t returned—and don’t see a need to—if they aren’t interested in faith or spirituality. Biblically speaking, they are spiritually asleep. Sleeping and awakening is a common metaphor in the Scriptures for salvation. When Paul says, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Ephesians 5:14, NLT), he is explaining that salvation is about waking up from our spiritual slumber.
Uninterested Christians. These are the consumers—the Christians who “go to church” but are uninterested in becoming disciples. These uninterested Christians are the people who appreciated the pandemic quarantine restrictions because they could stream your service, then their favorite celebrity pastor’s service, and then another, and another. But eventually, they realized that no one would notice if they didn’t attend in person regularly post-pandemic. After all, they could just watch “your” church service later when it’s more convenient, right? The pandemic revealed what has been true for a while—that there’s a whole category of Christians who “go to church” but are uninterested in the church. In fact, for them, it doesn’t matter if they’re streaming your service from the living room or sitting in your pews. They are watching the church instead of being the church.
THE INTERESTED/UNINTERESTED MATRIX
Just like our communities and churches have people everywhere along the non-Christian to Christian scale, the same is true with the uninterested and the interested—it’s also a scale. When you put both scales together, you get the Interested/Uninterested Matrix.While it would certainly be nice if there were just one way to reach, disciple, and speak to all people, there isn’t. That’s why Jesus talked about different types of soil in His parable of the sower. He knew that the people gathering to hear Him weren’t all the same.
As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, he said in a parable, “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it. Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture. Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it. Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”Jesus’ explanation of this parable highlights the difference between our responsibility and God’s.
LUKE 8:4-8
“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing. As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit. But the seed in the good ground—these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.”Isn’t it intriguing how Jesus doesn’t then go on to tell His disciples the “secret” to sowing seeds so that they only fall on good ground? He doesn’t because that’s not our responsibility—that’s His! Our responsibility is to sow seeds and water them—not to grow them.
LUKE 8:11-15
With that in mind, let’s further define each quadrant in this matrix as it relates to the parable of the sower.
- Sleepers are spiritually asleep. They’re non-Christian and uninterested in both Jesus and the church. They are like the seeds that fell along the path, got trampled on, and then were devoured by birds. At one point in their lives, sleepers might have attended a Christmas Eve or Easter service and heard the gospel, or a friend or neighbor might have talked to them about Jesus, but none of it took root. They are like “those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved” (Luke 8:12). For our work to be effective, the Holy Spirit must loosen the soil of their hearts and open their minds to the things of God.
- Seekers are beginning to wake up. They haven’t yet decided to surrender their lives to Jesus, but they’re interested in Jesus and the church. They engage in spiritual conversations with you. They come when you invite them to church—and sometimes on their own. And they occasionally pray. The spiritual seeds that you’ve planted and watered are beginning to sprout, but we don’t yet know what soil they landed on. Seekers could be like the seeds that fell on the path, on the rock, among the thorns, or on good ground.
- Consumers are Christian. At some point in their lives, they decided to follow Jesus, but for one reason or another, they’re not that interested in Jesus or the church anymore. They are like the seeds that fell on the rock and grew up, but later withered away because they lacked moisture. They are like “those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing” (Luke 8:13). Alternatively, consumers are like the seeds that fell among the thorns and grew, but got choked by the “worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit” (Luke 8:14).
- Disciples are also Christian, but unlike consumers, they are actively growing in their relationship with Jesus because they are interested in Jesus and the church. They are like the seeds that fell on good ground and grew up—so much so that they are now producing fruit a hundred times what was sown. They recognize that every disciple is called to be a disciplemaker, so they are intentionally walking with others. They are “the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit” (Luke 8:15).
Daniel Im is a pastor, Bible teacher, writer, and podcast host with a passion for the local church. He is the lead pastor of Beulah Alliance Church and the author of No Silver Bullets,Planning Missional Churches, and You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta with his wife Christina and their three children. For more information, visit danielim.com and connect with him on social media @danielsangi.
Want to share this with members of your church? The Disciplemaker blog from NavPress has published a series of articles from Daniel Im, written for your church members. Read Do You Know the Four Types of People in Your Church? now.
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