Some perspective on the back door.
Some encouraging words (I hope) for all those who are concerned about their church’s “back door”:
I carry a fair amount of guilt about our back door. I think to myself, If I were a better pastor, they would still be here; or, If I had done a better job of discipling them, they would not have fallen away; or, If I hadn’t preached on that controversial issue, they would not have left angry. Each one who departs leaves me with a distinct sense of failure.
This is an issue Jesus wrestled with. In John 6:66 we read, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” ...You will never completely close the back door of your church. When people leave, it hurts. Learn all you can from those who leave. Listen to hear if there is something important God would say to you through them.
Reach out to them, apologizing when needed, offering clarification and love when this is what’s called for. But remember that when Jesus, God’s Word made flesh, preached the gospel on this earth, most of his hearers did not accept his message.
Jesus knew that God’s kingdom would not expand by “pleasing all of the people all of the time.” Instead, the Kingdom expands as the relative minority of people who hear the gospel, live it and in turn, give it away. Our task is to keep scattering the seed.
Excerpted from an article by Adam Hamilton, senior minister of Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. (They have a pretty nice website, too.) Read the full story on christianitytoday.com.
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