For pastors and Christians interested in connecting with those outside the Church, non-Christians with some degree of spiritual openness might present fertile ground. It’s important to understand their backstories, their current spirituality and the hurdles that keep them from claiming the Christian faith as their own.

In this field guide from our Spiritually Open series, we’re drawing from the article “What to Know About Spiritually Open Non-Christians” to explore what the Church might have to offer spiritually open non-Christians. We’ll dive into three areas—communication, conversation and congregation—to help equip you to reach this group. But as pastor Ger Jones of Vintage Church L.A. says, this effort is about “reaching the lapsed, not the lost.” Spiritually open non-Christians are not unfamiliar with faith in general or Christianity in particular. Rather, they are sorting out the place of faith in their lives. They continue to look for a deep spiritual experience—and they look for it in a variety of places.