Here’s a depressing topic all pastors struggle with: churn rate. A church’s churn rate is the percentage of people who leave the church over a given amount of time. If it’s any consolation, Jesus himself had a churn rate. In fact, at one time it was almost 100%.
“Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. (John 6:64-67)
The Apostle Paul had a churn rate too.
At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. (2 Timothy 4:16)
Even John, the beloved disciple, had a churn rate.
They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. (1 John 2:19)
So when people leave your church, pastor, you’re in good company. You can commiserate with none other than Jesus, Paul and John.
Maybe at this point it might be good to review some of the reasons why people do leave their church. Here are six of them (in the grand pastoral tradition of alliteration):
- Disagreement – My childhood pastor loved to quote Job 5:7 – “Man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.” Unfortunately, believers don’t leave their disagreements at the church door when they worship together and often they invent more after they walk through it.
- Division – I’m fascinated at how disagreements in a church lead to “team building” in the worst sense. Suddenly people start looking for others who see things their way faster than volunteers in a phone bank during a presidential election.
- Divorce – Here’s one motivation for leaving a church that doesn’t come to mind often. But it’s more common than we think. Sadly, many couples, even in churches, divorce. When they do, at least one of the spouses always leaves the church, and often both do.
- Drift – People may simply gradually stop attending. First it’s one Sunday every now and then. Then it’s one or two Sundays a month. And finally they’re CEO’s: Christmas and Easter only,maybe.
- Dislocation – People move away, usually after asking other people in the church to break their backs helping them load their truck.
- Death – Of course, death is the ultimate form of leaving a church. If the church isn’t replacing its elderly population with younger members, then eventually the church will die too.
It’s really tough when we see people go. But it’s also wonderful when we see people go…to heaven. And in the – quite literal – end, that’s what it’s all about, pastor.
Isn’t it?
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
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