How far are people willing to drive to "go to church"?

[James Nored]

In his new book, The Nuts and Bolts of Church Planting, Aubrey Malphurs summarizes research by Win Arn on average drive times of those "going to church" (attending a worship service). The average drive times are:

- Less than 5 minutes - 20%
- 5 to 15 minutes - 40%
15 to 25 minutes - 23%
25 minutes or more - 17%

This research shows that 60% drive 15 minutes or less, and 83% drive 25 minutes or less. Only 17% were willing to drive more than 25 minutes. In other words, there is a definite association between drive time and church worship attendance. The longer someone had to drive, apparently, the less likely they were to attend a particular church. Conversely, the geographic proximity of a congregation (not looking at other factors) does help people attend a weekly worship service.

Of course, since the majority of church goers are church goers (I know, this is brilliant analysis), this study would indicate the affect that drive time had upon Christians. What about non-Christians and drive time?

While I am not aware of a study which tries to capture this number, the intuitive, obvious answer is that the unchurched are even less likely to attend a worship service that is far away and causes them to drive 25 minutes or more.

So if a church is drawing people that are 25 minutes away, they definitely ought to consider planting a new church or in that far away area. (They ought to church plant for other reasons too, and could plant a church across the street and get a whole different group of people. This is just an additional reason.) In fact, in speaking recently with Rick Atchley, he indicated that this was the reason they were opening up a new satellite. They had a number of people driving an hour or so to come to one of their worship services. Rick said that they were not starting a satellite for the convenience for their own members, but so that their members would be able to invite their unchurched friends to a worship service that they might actually go to because of its closer proximity.

In a normal situation, how far would you want to drive to a worship assembly (what is the upper limit)? How about your unchurched family, friends and neighbors?

[James Nored]

Sherri, I'm so glad that your family was impacted and that you received this love and support. We love you guys! I know that when I lose one of my parents, it will be very, very difficult. I know that I'll depend upon God and our church family to get through these times.

Thank you for sharing this, Sherri. Clearly, the relational and spiritual ties have caused you to be willing to drive a bit longer than many people, and you give us a good example of why.

[Sherri Veach]

My husband and I drive 25 minutes to get to our church. We started going there because that is where his dad went. After his dad passed away in February of 2010 we thought about changing to a church closer to our house. Because of all of the love and support we received from members of that church and how much we really liked the way the Preacher delivered the message we stayed put.

[James Nored]

Not every relationship is as close as others, Terry. Distance does play a factor. Some of my greatest friends in the world are back in KC. But because we see each other infrequently, we cannot be as close as when we were meeting multiple times together a week in all kinds of settings. If it does not make a distance, try living apart from your spouse for years.

[James Nored]

Joe, you are pointing out the difficulty of being truly part of something without living in the area. Drive-by evangelism, they call it. Hey, God can use this too. Look at Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Both of them were brought together on the road by the Spirit of God. Paul converted a lot of people in his travels. But there are many people that we will only reach by being incarnational and living where they live, understanding their struggles, etc. and truly being part of their community.

[James Nored]

Terry, that is what I am asking you about. Forget the service thing. Sociologists who study community indicate that proximity and geographic closeness play a role in community formation. Community involves both smaller, one-on-one times together, as well as social gatherings and times the whole town/community (or church) comes together. You obviously value relational closeness. What role does geographic distance or proximity play in community formation and continuity?

[James Nored]

Terry, notice I put "go to church" in quotes. Distance has "a lot to do with it"--whether a worship assembly, a fellowship, a Bible study, a service outreach, etc. Both the missional movement and the organic movement emphasizes the importance of proximity in reaching people. If you reject the language (which I understand), the question remains--how far away is too far away for an unchurched person (or a church person for that matter) to feel and be a part of a Christian community?

[Joe Diaz]

That's exactly the reason why we have to evangelize the area in which we live.  It's easier to motivate someone to attend a service that is minutes away instead of driving half an hour away. 

 

I use to live in one city and drive 20 something miles to another to attend a service.  I realize now that it is difficult to be a part of a community when you are not actually in it.  Fortunely, now I live and worship in the same city and area and we are doing more work  for the Lord than I ever have before.

 

But I haven't figured out these new satallite campuses yet.  Why not just plant another church and let them be independent?