New Study Shows Christianity in America has an “Unresolved Middle” Disparity
For Immediate Release (Lincoln, NE) — According to Pew Research, for every one person who comes to faith in Jesus Christ, six walk away from Him. Not six who never heard the gospel. Six who did hear it — and left anyway. But according to the State of Non-Believers in America report from Back to the Bible, the spiritual quandary becomes a little clearer.
Back to the Bible’s SALT Index is a national spiritual formation survey measuring discipleship depth across the full spectrum of American spiritual life. The newly-released State of Non-Believers in America report draws on a filtered subgroup of respondents — every one of them defined not by atheism, but by a single answer: they chose something other than “I will experience heaven because I am saved by grace through faith in Jesus” on the afterlife question.
Arnie Cole, CEO of Back to the Bible, says the result is not a portrait of a “hardened secular America.” It is a portrait of an unresolved middle.
“Our data reveals something that should stop every prayer warrior cold,” says Cole. “The people you’ve been praying for already know the theology. The gap isn’t information. It’s something far harder to fix — and far more personal. The people in your life who still pray, still use Jesus-language, still hold fragments of Christian doctrine — still cannot bring themselves to stake eternity on grace through faith alone.”
Back to the Bible conducted companion subgroup analyses on two of the most important demographic slices in the data: men and women ages 45–54. Some of their findings showed:
“When someone we love drifts from faith, our instinct is to try harder with a better book, a more compelling sermon, the right apologetics podcast,” says Cole. “The implicit assumption is that the gap is intellectual, and the solution is content. But our SALT research points to a different diagnosis entirely. They agree with many of the core tenants of the Christian faith. They just haven’t made the claims their own in any durable, transforming way. The gap is not primarily cognitive. It is formational.”
The State of Non-Believers in America report shows that there are three central shortfalls in this population: thin Scripture engagement, weak community ties, and an unresolved disconnection between the moral life they are trying to live and the idea of grace which they never embrace.
The most important conceptual frame in Back to the Bible’s research is what the analysts describe as the unresolved middle. The midlife non-believers in this dataset are morally serious: 66.4% of men and 75.3% of women say they go out of their way to help others. More than half in each gender report forgiving someone because of Jesus’ teaching. Nearly half of women and more than 40% of men say they have experienced emotional healing through Jesus.
“These are not the testimonies of people who have rejected Jesus,” says Cole. “They are the testimonies of people who have received the benefits of proximity to Jesus without resting in the gospel of Jesus. The theological term for this gap is significant, but the pastoral description may be simpler: they have been warmed by the fire without sitting next to it. They are not in a place of hostility; instead, they are in a place of suspension.”
The research points to three converging deficits: almost no weekly Scripture exposure; almost no small group or mentoring relationships; and an afterlife framework built on moral effort and uncertainty rather than grace.
Cole says the report points to three remedies for this “unresolved middle.”
“They don’t need arguments or an information campaign,” Cole says. “The evidence points consistently toward three things that would be impactful: patient relational presence, clear and plain explanation of what grace actually means, and a low-barrier pathway into regular Scripture engagement. In a dataset where 63–70% of people in this age group have zero Bible engagement on a weekly basis, being someone who opens the text with them, without pressure or agenda, may be the most significant act of discipleship you perform this year.”
Cole says the people in Back to the Bible’s SALT dataset are not theologically illiterate.
“They know what Christians believe. They have felt the emotional warmth of Jesus’ teaching at close range. They affirm the resurrection. What they have not had, in most cases, is a sustained, grace-centered, relationally-anchored experience of what it means to follow Jesus in community, with Scripture, with someone who will walk with them past the point where it gets inconvenient. That description — that kind of presence — is not the job of a media campaign or a well-produced ministry resource alone. It is the job of every Christ-follower. Because the Gospel tells us the middle is exactly where Jesus goes searching.”
For more information on the research visit: https://bttb.org/savedbygrace.
Back to the Bible’s SALT Index is a national spiritual formation survey measuring discipleship depth across the full spectrum of American spiritual life. The newly-released State of Non-Believers in America report draws on a filtered subgroup of respondents — every one of them defined not by atheism, but by a single answer: they chose something other than “I will experience heaven because I am saved by grace through faith in Jesus” on the afterlife question.
Arnie Cole, CEO of Back to the Bible, says the result is not a portrait of a “hardened secular America.” It is a portrait of an unresolved middle.
“Our data reveals something that should stop every prayer warrior cold,” says Cole. “The people you’ve been praying for already know the theology. The gap isn’t information. It’s something far harder to fix — and far more personal. The people in your life who still pray, still use Jesus-language, still hold fragments of Christian doctrine — still cannot bring themselves to stake eternity on grace through faith alone.”
Back to the Bible conducted companion subgroup analyses on two of the most important demographic slices in the data: men and women ages 45–54. Some of their findings showed:
- 48.6% of men and 51.8% of women in this age group call themselves followers of Jesus Christ.
- 57.6% of men and 65.7% of women affirm that Jesus died for humanity’s sins.
- 51.0% of men and 60.2% of women affirm the resurrection of Jesus.
“When someone we love drifts from faith, our instinct is to try harder with a better book, a more compelling sermon, the right apologetics podcast,” says Cole. “The implicit assumption is that the gap is intellectual, and the solution is content. But our SALT research points to a different diagnosis entirely. They agree with many of the core tenants of the Christian faith. They just haven’t made the claims their own in any durable, transforming way. The gap is not primarily cognitive. It is formational.”
The State of Non-Believers in America report shows that there are three central shortfalls in this population: thin Scripture engagement, weak community ties, and an unresolved disconnection between the moral life they are trying to live and the idea of grace which they never embrace.
The most important conceptual frame in Back to the Bible’s research is what the analysts describe as the unresolved middle. The midlife non-believers in this dataset are morally serious: 66.4% of men and 75.3% of women say they go out of their way to help others. More than half in each gender report forgiving someone because of Jesus’ teaching. Nearly half of women and more than 40% of men say they have experienced emotional healing through Jesus.
“These are not the testimonies of people who have rejected Jesus,” says Cole. “They are the testimonies of people who have received the benefits of proximity to Jesus without resting in the gospel of Jesus. The theological term for this gap is significant, but the pastoral description may be simpler: they have been warmed by the fire without sitting next to it. They are not in a place of hostility; instead, they are in a place of suspension.”
The research points to three converging deficits: almost no weekly Scripture exposure; almost no small group or mentoring relationships; and an afterlife framework built on moral effort and uncertainty rather than grace.
Cole says the report points to three remedies for this “unresolved middle.”
“They don’t need arguments or an information campaign,” Cole says. “The evidence points consistently toward three things that would be impactful: patient relational presence, clear and plain explanation of what grace actually means, and a low-barrier pathway into regular Scripture engagement. In a dataset where 63–70% of people in this age group have zero Bible engagement on a weekly basis, being someone who opens the text with them, without pressure or agenda, may be the most significant act of discipleship you perform this year.”
Cole says the people in Back to the Bible’s SALT dataset are not theologically illiterate.
“They know what Christians believe. They have felt the emotional warmth of Jesus’ teaching at close range. They affirm the resurrection. What they have not had, in most cases, is a sustained, grace-centered, relationally-anchored experience of what it means to follow Jesus in community, with Scripture, with someone who will walk with them past the point where it gets inconvenient. That description — that kind of presence — is not the job of a media campaign or a well-produced ministry resource alone. It is the job of every Christ-follower. Because the Gospel tells us the middle is exactly where Jesus goes searching.”
For more information on the research visit: https://bttb.org/savedbygrace.
About Back to the Bible:
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Founded in 1939 as a radio ministry, Back to the Bible is now a global leader in digital discipleship. Their efforts have led people to engage with the Bible in over 180 countries. The SALT Index (Scripture Absorption and Life Transformation) is a research-based framework that measures spiritual growth across key dimensions such as Scripture engagement, obedience, Christlike character, and relational impact. Developed from decades of global Bible engagement research, it provides pastors and ministry leaders with a clear, data-informed picture of how their people are growing spiritually. For further information visit www.backtothebible.org. ### |
Arnie Cole, CEO of Back to the Bible
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