Church Relevance has blogged about the Top Reasons for Church Attendance:

My favorite resource on the topic is Thom S. Ranier’s book Surprising Insights from the Unchurched. It discusses the following three surveys.

Top 13 Reasons that Unchurched People Choose a Church
(research conducted by Ranier)

1. 90% – Pastor/Preaching
2. 88% – Doctrines
3. 49% – Friendliness of Members
4. 42% – Other Issues
5. 41% – Someone Church Witnessed to Me
6. 38% – Family Member
7. 37% – Sensed God’s Presence/Atmosphere of Church
8. 25% – Relationship Other than Family Member
9. 25% – Sunday School Class
10. 25% – Children’s/Youth Ministry
11. 12% – Other Groups/Ministries
12. 11% – Worship Style/Music
13. 7% – Location

Top 9 Reasons that Church-Attenders Choose a Church
(research conducted by the Barna Group in 1999)

1. 58% – Doctrine/Theology
2. 53% – People Caring for Each Other
3. 52% – Preaching
4. 45% – Friendliness
5. 45% – Children’s Programs
6. 43% – Helping the Poor
7. 36% – Denomination
8. 35% – Like the Pastor
9. 26% – Sunday School

Top 6 Things that Keep the Formerly Unchurched Active in the Church
(research conducted by Ranier)

1. 62% – Ministry Involvement
2. 55% – Sunday School
3. 54% – Obedience to God
4. 49% – Fellowship of Members
5. 38% – Pastor/Preaching
6. 14% – Worship Services

The statistics speak for themselves. Overall, doctrine, the pastor and his preaching, and the friendliness and fellowship of the congregation are the most influential qualities.