“Where did everyone go?”
A business executive asked that question when she returned to her church after some extended international travels. In the four weeks she was out, the attendance at the church had declined from nearly 600 to under 400. The attendance had plummeted in that short time by 35 percent!
To be clear, such rapid declines are aberrations. Most declining churches go through incremental, not dramatic, reductions.
We consider a church to be in dramatic decline when the average worship attendance drops by 20 percent or more in three months or less. What causes such unusual declines? Here are seven common reasons:
- A scandal in the church. The two most common are sexual and financial scandals. Either of those can cause immediate erosion of trust and send members out the door.
- Sudden departure of a pastor or staff person. I am familiar with a church where the average attendance dropped from 1,250 to 850 in just a few weeks when a malevolent power group in the church forced the pastor out. The congregation never heard a reasonable reason for the departure because there was none. The church has not recovered.
- Closure or decline of a major employer. Some communities are highly dependent on one or a few employers. When any one of those employers close, people who are members of churches in the community will often depart rather quickly. I saw this reality transpire many times during the great recession and when several military bases closed.
- The church changes its position on a major biblical/moral issue. When a church makes a major doctrinal shift, many members often exit quickly. That exit is often exacerbated if the doctrinal change is related to a moral issue.
- A power group continues to wreak havoc in a church. The story is not uncommon. The same power group opposes any change again and again. Pastoral tenure declines due to the leaders’ frustration with this group. At some point a large group in the church declares, “enough,” and departs en masse.
- Another church moves close by. The new church or newly located church offers ministries and programs the affected church does not have. Often these ministries are particularly appealing to families who still have children at home. Those families move to the new church to try to keep their children interested and excited about church life.
- A highly contentious business meeting. These churches have typically experienced conflict for some time. The conflict comes to a boiling point in a business meeting. Large numbers leave due to anger, weariness, or both.
Admittedly, this level of decline is not common, but I am seeing it more frequently. It is my prayer that these seven reasons can also serve as seven warning signs.
It is incredibly difficult for any church to recover fully from such a massive exodus.
Posted on July 31, 2017
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
More from Thom
34 Comments
#9 would be Church ABUSE of members BY a pastor/staff….. “You’re demon-possessed if you’re epileptic”…. “You didn’t get healed/your parent died because YOU lacked faith”…. always singing a specific MEMBER out as “the problem” when the church has false doctrine it won’t confront. ONE church wouldn’t pray for my mother after she had three strokes because SHE WASN’T SAVED. What?! I was a member who made church for the adult Sunday school class for two years! They wouldn’t even pray for ME as my mother’s CAREGIVER!
Church abuse is WHY I left churches over and over! Most recently a pastor accused me of WORSHIPPING the man who led me to Jesus when I wasn’t—I was GRATEFUL the man cared enough to—and then the pastor went and gave a sermon GLORIFYING HIS regional boss for ten minutes from the pulpit. I walked away from there—ran actually—couldn’t leave FAST enough from the hypocrisy and condemnation! I have severe asthma and could NOT get a ride to and from church without someone feeling put out even though they drove right past my street? They didn’t care if I died on the way? Where is the love of Jesus in that?
There are days I would give almost ANYTHING for a REAL heartfelt hug. I am in a tight financial situation, yet NOBODY even ONCE offered to bring me $10 worth of groceries and when I asked them for PRAYER they LECTURED me instead. No—I’m NOT going back to a church that cannot care about ME as a WHOLE person and thinks CONTROL is spirituality. NO WAY! This is the state of many apostate churches today, and when I wrote them as to WHY I was leaving they wanted my mailing address ONLY then to write me a hate-filled letter when they didn’t care enough to get it to HELP me get to church with my medical issues and NO car?
I DON’T hate THEM….. I hate their ATTITUDE. May Jesus open their eyes and use what happened with me to do so. And if this sounds like YOUR church, realize that Jesus said, “They’ll know You’re my disciples by this: That you have love for one another.” Where that love is ABSENT, the Holy Spirit WILL NOT MOVE because it is through our love of one another AND Him that the Spirit falls.
Thank you for your love and prayers.
I understand your pain, but from a somewhat different perspective. One of the young couples from my church recently left us for a church that places heavy emphasis on faith healing. They believe healing is included in the atonement. I tried to explain to the man why I believe this sort of teaching is dangerous and erroneous, but he wouldn’t listen. I fear he and his family are heading for some of the same hurt you’ve experienced. All I can do is pray for them.
Ronald Enroth wrote two books on this subject that you might want to check out. One is “Churches That Abuse”, and the other is “Recovering From Churches That Abuse”. I don’t know if they’re still in print, but they might be available on Amazon.
As a lay person, I am interested in reading these comments to better understand what pastors are up against in the various scenarios described here and on previous posts. First, I recognize that anyone who becomes a pastor must have exceptional courage and deep spiritual commitment or they would never make it in this field. Having said that, I must admit that if I was a new Christian, I would question the value of getting too involved in any organized church, since a large percentage seem to experience such chaos, including my own, where I have been a member for 30+ years. I have remained an active member through significant turmoil but had I been new to the church I probably would have walked away and been very hesitant to get involved with any church. We call ourselves Christians but we can’t even get along in a church setting. Something is wrong!
The best advice I can give a young Christian in knowing when to not attend a particular church:
1) Multiple pastors in a short period of time.
2) Never ever sign a covenant. Covenants are for life. You get one with Christ and one with your spouse. You can take on more, but be ready keep your covenant.
3) Never sign anything that requires you to get permission from church leaders before taking action.
4) If the pastor thinks of himself as the “CEO of the church”
5) When you see 0 women teaching — even in the nursery or children, that’s a problem (saw a pastor once run the children’s director out because she was a woman).
6) If the pastors can’t laugh at seriously funny items.
Both issues in item #1 has hit our church. Even though we have taken the biblical road and did what was right by the victims in our church, we have lost many members because they stood with the ones that were in the wrong. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what the facts are, people will stand by their family/friends even when they are committing outright crimes. It’s pathetic. What makes it even worse is when a pastor search committee looks only at the numbers and wonders what kind of a lousy pastor my husband is because of the severe drop in attendance. This church may not recover from these scandals, and apparently, we personally may not either.
Shae,
I hear the pain in your post. So very sorry. God be with you as you walk the tough path ahead. I know that he will provide the grace you need at the right moment.
Been there. All is not lost.
Thank you, Bob. I appreciate the encouragement. This situation just shows how desperately the “Church” needs a Revival from God….
With regards to #2 it often doesn’t make any difference what causes a pastor to leave. A popular preacher will attract Christians in from other local churches or from further afield.. Often those people have no commitment to the church itself, their only commitment is to the preacher. When he leaves, they will too.
#8 on the list could be ‘the appointment of a new pastor’. People often build up great hopes of what a new pastor will be like and what he will do in the church, and when he arrives and fails to live up to their expectations they feel the future of the church looks bleak under his leadership and leave.
One local church (of which I am a former member) saw a rapid decline from around 175 to, last I attended, around 50.
The only local industry laid off nearly all their workers, and our town declined about 30%. Ouch. But at the same time the church theology made a major switch. It went from (as per my understanding as a town newby) dispensational/congregational governance to TULIP Calvinist/appointed elders to rule. We members were then offered a church covenant to sign to maintain membership. I could not in good conscience accept some of the clauses (not accepting a move or transfer without church approval?? good grief!!) Pastor also resigned and moved away from the area for excellent family reasons, nothing to do with the church situation.
Now add that those not in agreement had other choices, and some planted a new church, and musicians got mad and quit, and it was a very fast decline.
It has not closed. And those of us that went to other churches found good fits. But it sure was a wild ride for a time.
Wow. Several issues hit the church.
To go along with number 3, sometimes it is no one’s fault, just circumstances. Not sure if I have shared this here before, but in the very early 2000s I was involved in a church plant that was going VERY well. We were meeting in a local business, and numbers were great. The church planter said that very soon we would move from plant into organized church. Then 9/11/2001 happened. We were outside of a military base, and more than 50% of those attending were military. They all deployed, and the plant fizzled. Desert Storm/Shield took lots of people away from churches. It isn’t anyone’s fault, it just happens.
So true, Jon.
When a combination of these factors combine, the decline can become even more extreme. I’m watching this right now at a church that has gone from over 800 to 150 in about three years, the greatest decline coming all at once.
An interesting blog would be the listing of turnaround strategies addressing these issues! I suspect there are unique steps that can be taken to stop the hemorrhage and reverse the decline.
Great idea, Rick.
Our bible study just became non existent, no church dinner, 6 people in the choir, a young and old service, bugs on the outside of the church and the fact the pastor does not like any suggestions fm his parishioners, older folks luncheon cancelled. Membership wise: what a. Joke. Last but least we only have one church wide mtg a yr when there should be 2.
I hate bugs.
We lost 50% of our congregation over a church discipline issue last year.
Ouch. I am so sorry.
Mine was a combination of 2 and 5. I was recently forced to resign on a largely false premise and during a critical time in the life of the church. A closed meeting was held with the ones that would support the claims and the rest is history. After I was forced out, the church saw a 20% drop in attendance despite my attempts to preserve unity and leave on good terms. One member put it this way to me: I’m sick of the toxic atmosphere and backstabbing.
I’m with you, John, and I hurt for you.
So sorry for you, John. I had a similar experience a couple years ago. May God grant you healing in the days ahead. May he fill your life with infusions of grace when you need it. (He will!)
I feel for you. Praying for you today.
Grace and peace to you, brother.
We went through the Renew membership plan this year and lost about 5-6 families because of it. Rumors started flying around, promoted by one of the deacons, that this was a way to get rid of people in the church. This was even after I got the deacons buy in on the program.
Some church members will question every move a pastor makes no matter what it is. Our situation was obvious spiritual warfare. I thought at one point this particular deacon was going to physically come at me during the last meeting he was in. These families that left did a very good job at leaving a scorched earth on their way out the door.
One the up side, we are now in the midst of the Prayer Wall ministry and the Lord is at work in those who are here. This past year has reminded me of the benefits of what I call “blessed subractions.”
I anticipate great news from your church, John.
John and Thom, my old church lost about 1/2 it’s members when the senior pastor fired the worship pastor. This would have not been so bad, except that in order to receive severance the worship pastor had to pretend he was resigning, never talk about why he was fired, and lie to the congregation during service about resigning.
In the middle of this I got ahold of the severance papers and learned about the gag older. I was lied to about the gag order and told it didn’t exist until I said it was on page 6 paragraph 2 and then I was told “you aren’t supposed to have that document”
Finally, many meeting were held about the issue and all the truth came out. The elders stood in front of the congregation and apologized for being misunderstood.
The senior pastor eventually resigned too and now works as a principle over elementary school kinds. I think this fits his authoritarian style well, since the kids expect an authority figure.
I think you need to address other reasons that church lose members including major issues with the senior pastor.
Summer is a bummer. Thankfully it’s temporary.
We have a lot of school teachers in our church. Many of them are quite faithful and serve as they can in our various ministries. They help out with VBS and kids’ camps in June, but they have to be back at school in August. Thus, most of them take their vacations in July. That’s murder on our attendance. I might try a few things to boost attendance in the summer, but mostly I just grin and bear it. Like you said, it’s temporary!