Bill Bright's Contrived Statistic

Over and over again, I've seen this statistic: Only 2% of Christians share their faith on a regular basis. And yet, I never have seen the actual data for such a statistic. Every website and book that makes that statistic refers to it being made by Dr. Bill Bright. But even then, most websites don't give any citation to where Dr. Bright said that. Although, I did find a book that did give a citation. It cites The Coming Revival for the support of this statistic. In that book, Dr. Bright made this statement on page 65:

"According to numerous surveys, 50 percent of the hundred million who attend church each Sunday have no assurance of their salvation. And 95 percent are not familiar with the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. Only two percent of believers in America regularly share their faith in Christ with others." (emphasis added).

This is the origin of this commonly cited statistic. Yet, in the book, absolutely no footnotes or citations are given to back up any of these statements. Dr. Bright either made them up on the spot, or simply repeated rumors that he heard.

So what is the truth on this matter? The number of professing Christians who share their faith on a regular basis is more like 14%, not 2%, according to a LifeWay Poll. This is still, no doubt, a very low number of Christians who share their faith on a regular basis. But the contrived statistic by Dr. Bill Bright, and parroted by nearly everybody is simply flat out wrong with nothing to back it up.