The Unhealthy Church Problem

How does a church once averaging a healthy number in the Sunday service, drop to half in the relatively short space of a couple of decades? I think the answer may be in confrontation, or to be more accurate, the lack of confrontation. Most of us say that we would rather know what’s going on than guess, so leaders will say, please come and tell us your problems, issues, or those things you don’t fully agree with and we will talk it through and maybe find a solution because we don’t want to lose you.

The other more likely possibility is that some folks will leave without saying why, or making a fuss, or raising an issue, and before we know it we have let them go. Maybe we are not surprised they went, and possibly we even expected it. Perhaps we even secretly thought that we would be better off without them? I certainly hope not! The bottom line is that no one followed through to ask them. Why would this be?

Let’s go back to confrontation. No one likes it, no matter what they say in public to make themselves sound caring. So, when a person or family decide to move to another church, we let them go. Normally, we comfort ourselves with the thought that at least they are not lost to the Kingdom, because another church assembly has benefitted from our loss. But what if that same process keeps being repeated? Worse still, what if they decide not to go to any church? Are we bold enough to learn, and change?

We know that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, will leave the ninety-nine in safety to search for the one lost sheep, but what about us? How does that translate to your church, or to mine for that matter?