Most clergy and some laity have the first ingredient. However, very few clergy ever spend enough time with the unchurched to form relationships with them. Our administrative duties at church keep us cloistered within the walls. Laity on the other hand have close working relationships with the unchurched but have not been trained to use that relationship for evangelism when the time is right. Nor do they have the biblical knowledge.
Laity can make the leap from the world of organized faith to searching faith better than clergy.
This is the reason I have come to believe that one of the most important issues not being addressed in the church is how to equip and mobilize the laity to infiltrate the unchurched world with the Gospel. This is another and much larger issue that always begins with forming a relationship based on friendship not evangelism. Hope this helps. The following is a collection of ways to connect with the unchurched public that came through one of our forums. The key to reaching out the unchurched is to connect your story with people for whom you have affinity with because of your story, i.e. your experiences before you began the Christian journey.