How Pastors Feel When Church Members Leave

Episode #247
August 2, 2016
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Podcast Episode #247


Pastors go through several emotions when church members leave. Today, we cover five reasons why.

Some highlights from today’s episode include:

  • Even when someone has a good reason for leaving a church, it still feels very personal when they leave.
  • It’s not just pastors who hurt when church members leave. Staff, members and leaders do as well.
  • Almost every community has a “hot church” that some church members chase after.
  • New members classes allow churches to discuss and deter serial church hopping.
  • It’s normal for pastors to hurt when church members leave.
  • There is a grief process for pastors when a church member leaves.
  • Pastors, if you ever get to a point where a church member leaving doesn’t hurt, you’ve got a problem.

The five reasons it hurts when a church members leaves are:

  1. It feels like personal rejection.
  2. Relationships have developed.
  3. There has been much time invested.
  4. There is concern for the overall morale of the church.
  5. There is a fear others will follow.

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Resources Mentioned in Today’s Podcast