Lonnie Wilkey
Baptist churches typically always are eager to welcome any and all people who walk into their church on any given Sunday. Last year, Southern Baptist churches reported increased worship and small group attendance, with in-person worship attendance topping four million people for the first time in three years, according to the Annual Church Profile (ACP). That’s the good news.
The bad news is that the same ACP recorded that membership in Southern Baptist Convention churches declined for the 17th straight year and dropped below 13 million for the first time since the 1970s.
Lifeway Research conducted a comprehensive study on churchgoers in the United States, focusing on reasons people change congregations. The Church Switchers Study surveyed 1,001 Protestant or non-denominational adults who attend church at least twice a month and have switched churches as adults. (See story here).
The Lifeway study seems to confirm that while people are coming in the front door, others are going out the back door.
The recent study found slightly more than half of churchgoers switch churches at least once as an adult.
For some, a residential move caused them to leave the church, but others simply moved to a church across town.
The study showed, however, that 40 percent of people who switched churches did so because were dissatisfied or unhappy with their previous church.
Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, observed that the typical person who leaves a church does so for multiple reasons. The Lifeway study underscored that primary reasons people are not happy are change in the church (whether a new pastor or the music), unmet needs, or an issue with the pastor.
I have been a member of a Southern Baptist church all my life. There are all kinds of reasons given for leaving a church. Some are legitimate, but some can be petty.
If a church is preaching or teaching a message or doctrine that can’t be collaborated by Scripture, then that is a good reason for finding another church.
If you leave because “someone hurt your feelings” or you weren’t elected as a deacon or chair of the finance committee or you didn’t get the solo in the Christmas musical, then you might need to examine yourself and ask, “Why do I go to church?”
As I have observed churches over the years, some people go to church with the wrong attitude. They go with an “it’s all about me” mentality. News flash. Church is not about any one person or group within a church. If the church service is not all about Jesus, then everyone is wasting their time. Many times the people who go out the back door are the ones who aren’t in charge.
But there are also good people who, for one reason or another, slip through the cracks and exit the back door. They miss a Sunday, then another, then another and before you know it, they no longer attend, and sadly, no one has missed them, or if they did, they did not check to see why they weren’t coming. That is a sad, but true scenario.
So, how do we close the back door? First, we need to make everyone feel welcome and wanted. We need to show that we care about them. We also need to be the church that ministers to needs in the community so others will see that we truly care about people, not just the ones who walk through the doors. They need to see Jesus through our actions, not just our words.
If we do that, the back door will stay closed more than it is opened and Jesus will be glorified. B&R
