At the Red Brick Church we’re working hard on a shared vision for meaningful membership. A recent article by Thom Rainer helps explain why.
Thom Rainer:
Numbers of gifted persons and organizations have studied the phenomenon of the church “back door,” the metaphorical way we describe people leaving the church. And there will always be the anticipated themes of relocation or personal crises. We should recognize those issues, though we can respond to the latter more than the former.
But all the research studies of which I am aware, including my own, return to one major theme to explain the exodus of church members: . . .
Read the rest here.
This is a MUST read article in my opinion. I sent this on to my pastors and my husband who is an elder has a copy to read. Well written. Thank you for sharing this Chris. It is much needed in our day and age. I agree that the church is filled with people who have an entitlement mentality. We need to be constructive and find ways to deal with this. Blessings Brother!
It’s a good article and I think it’s true that people leave because their sense of entitlement isn’t met. Yes, everyone should have a servant attitude but if you look underneath that sense of entitlement what you find, rightly or wrongly, is, “I’m not important.”
JDM, some real wisdom on your part. Perhaps, if people understood more of who truly valuable they are to the body of Christ (Romans 12:5), and how much we are part of one another, and how we are diminished without one another, they would be less reluctant to leave.