Restoring Integrity to Membership: My Church’s Story

When I arrived at my church, I had a few surprises early in my tenure. Unfortunately, one thing did not surprise me – the membership roll and the active body were imbalanced. Such is the trend in too many churches today. In my own denomination, 16 million people are claimed as members, yet only 7 million attend church on any given Sunday. Somewhere along the way, we forgot that membership matters.

Our church is no different. In fact, we are one of the worst offenders. Our membership was inflated by a factor of 6 when compared with average attendance. We had 11 (yes, that’s eleven) categories of members, including the following: inactive possible, inactive likely, inactive unlikely, non-resident unknown, non-resident known. Don’t ask me what each of these categories mean. I honestly have no idea.

While God has provided growth to our church and the membership gap has closed some, the spread between “member” and “active churchgoer” remains large. Needless to say, we decided to do a little spring cleaning this year. We’re still working through the process, but I’ll share some tips that worked in my church in restoring integrity to membership.

1. Love the people: If you have an agenda to “purge the rolls,” then you’ve already missed the point. As a pastor, you must first love the people and gain their trust. If you have not built valuable and loving relationships with your church, your members are justified when they cry, “Who are you, pastor, to tell us who’s supposed to be a member!? You don’t even know us!”

2. Start a new members’ class: One of the best way to assimilate new members is to have a class that details the expectations, doctrines, and culture of the church. The first time I taught this class at our church, I intentionally asked the new folks how many people they thought were members of the church…

“Do you guys know how many members we have?” I asked.

One lady responded with a guess close to our average attendance.

She was obviously thinking way too healthy. “Nope,” I responded. “It’s about six times that number.”

I saw the look of disgust on her face, “THAT’S NOT RIGHT!” She exclaimed. “We’ve got to get them back. Do we have their addresses and contact numbers?”

“Of course we do. We’re Southern Baptists…and they’ve all got to get the monthly church newsletter.”

“Can we call them?” she asked.

“Sure.” A light bulb appeared above my head. “Would you like to contact all of them?”

Within two months this new member had written letters and called hundreds of inactive members. She returned the membership roll to me with detailed notes about each person and her conversation with them.

Amazingly, the process of cleaning up our rolls began with this woman in a new members’ class.

3. Follow-up is critical: The best outcome is for inactive members to return. So don’t start slashing and burning. Try and find out from people why they haven’t been attending. Perhaps your church has the ability to meet their needs. And sometimes all people need is a simple invitation to return.

4. Clean the rolls in stages: If the matriarch or patriarch of your church has six family members that haven’t attended since 1965, then you might want to avoid an attempt to scratch them from the membership. The cleaning of membership rolls does not have to be an all-or-nothing process (that’s how pastors lose their jobs). Consider cleaning the rolls in three stages:

Stage one: remove the people that nobody has a clue who they are, as well as those that moved out of the area.

Stage two: remove the people that have not been to church in years.

Stage three: remove those that are still close to other church members.

*Note: I wouldn’t attempt stage three unless you’ve been at a church for at least a decade.

5. Enlist key members in the church: Instead of personally marking through the rolls, I handed them to a few key members and asked them to verify independently those whom they do not know. Not only does this place distance between the pastor and the process of eliminating members, it gives pastors back-up and buy-in from the people the church trusts the most.

6. Challenge Sunday School/small groups/connect groups to help in the process: After one round of removing members, take the remaining inactive lists to Sunday Schools and small groups. Ask them to point out anyone they know. If they know someone, then make that class responsible for getting the person back into fellowship with the body of believers.

7. Take it slow: Without sounding redundant – TAKE IT SLOW! Pastoring a church is a marathon, not a sprint. Removing people from membership rolls is an ultra-marathon process.

8. Parallel an outwardly-focused missions strategy with the process of cleaning the rolls: If you are attempting to clean your rolls without also thinking outward as a church, your process will not go as well as it should. Only churches that are connecting with their communities and living incarnationally should attempt to clean their rolls. So if your church is not evangelistic, does not have a missions program, and does not do outreach, then do not even think about cleaning the rolls. Pour your pastoral energies into getting the church to obey the Great Commission first.

In about a month we’ll be finished with stage one. Our eleven categories of members will become two: inactive and active. And we’re expecting our rolls to decline by hundreds of members. Who ever thought that such a statement about a church would be healthy? Regardless, I’m proud of my church for being honest and having integrity.

Baching it for a Week

It’s 65° and the sun is shining! Spring break has come to Southern Indiana.

My wife, who is a teacher, decided to use her break to go with one of our mission teams down to New Orleans to continue with the rebuilding effort. In fact, our entire staff is down there, with the exception of me. So I’m all by myself [insert corny, sappy song here] this week at the church and at home.

Needless to say, it’s been a slow, weird week at the office. And I’ve avoided going home to an empty house. Eight years I spent as a bachelor, and I never want to go back. I thought I enjoyed having my space to myself, but I didn’t know what I was missing.

I’ve noticed that certain weeks in ministry tend to be much slower than others. Spring break week, July 4^th week, and the week after New Year’s Day tend to be lighter in terms of ministry. So, I’m playing catch-up this week with administrative stuff…fun times.

The nights at home have been odd as well. My resolute wife desired a cat. I’d never owned one, but I conceded. Abe is a good pet, but he’s quite suspicious of me (perhaps due to the tricks I play on him). He’s a smart fellow as well. Apparently somewhere along the way he’s learned to open the door in our garage by climbing the weight rack next to it and twisting the doorknob with his paws.

I fell asleep on the sofa last night watching the history channel but awoke to the sound of a creaking door. I turned the corner from our living room to see the door half open and a furry, dark reddish-brown creature flying through the air to attack my knee caps.

I’m glad no one was around to hear me scream like a little girl. And I think I’ll stop playing tricks on the cat.

Americans Say Sin is Relatively Bad

Ellison Research recently released a study on how Americans view sin. Lynn Grossman of USA Today writes an excellent report utilizing the research on the notion of sin. Below is one quote from her piece:

Topping the list are adultery (81%) and racism (74%). But other sins no longer draw majority condemnation. Premarital sex? Only 45% call it sin. Gambling? Just 30% say it’s sinful. “A lot of this is relative. We tend to view sin not as God views it, but how we view it,” says Ellison president Ron Sellers.

Other good discussions on this research and related subject matter can be found here and here.

Activity ≠ Active

Another snippet from my book, Essential Church?, and a conference I spoke at yesterday in Orlando:

If we create fun activities for students they will stay…right? Wrong! Many churches fall into the trap of thinking games and other activities will keep youth in the church. Indeed, these types of events may help attract students from the community who do not know Christ, but they do not help to assimilate the students who have been in the church for a period of time. Our research has revealed that the vast majority of students under 18 attended many activities in their local church prior to their departure. But by age 22, 70% of those who will drop out of church have already done so. In general, teens are highly active in their local church – 86% attend worship on a regular basis, 74% go to youth-specific activities, 66% attend some sort of small group, and over half go to Christian camp. But it’s not keeping them from dropping out of church.

Why? These students were engaging in many church activities, but they were not necessarily actively involved in growing more spiritually mature. While most students are participating in church activities, relatively few have actual responsibilities in their church. Only 37% of those under 18 have regular responsibilities in their church. And only 25% of teens held leadership positions in their group.

Going to Christian camps, attending youth functions, and being present for worship are important for teens in the church. They should be part of corporate worship and fellowshipping with others their age. If they do not take ownership of their church, however, then they are more inclined to leave when life begins to change drastically at age 18. They leave the church at one of the most critical life junctions, going to college and/or graduating high school.

Ministering to young adults is difficult. Assimilating them in the church proves even more complicated. Activity alone is not adequate. Participation, while a step forward, will not help keep college students in the church. This age group must be given responsibilities and leadership positions when they are ready. And most importantly, the church should be obedient about teaching them one of its essential functions: reaching outward into the community and the world through giving, service, and missions.

God Loves Clean Trucks

Although today was beautiful, the past few weeks have brought some brutal winter weather to Southern Indiana, including a 15-inch snowstorm. And yes, I just happened to be scheduled to fly the day of the storm, but I eventually got to where I needed to go.

Needless to say, my truck is desperate for a wash. It’s black, but right now it looks like a two-tone gray from all the salt leftovers.

Today, a church member thought they’d take advantage of my filthy truck for a practical joke. On the driver’s side door they wrote with their finger, “God Loves Clean Trucks.”

I drove around all day with the banner proudly displayed. Tomorrow brings rain and a wash.

The Foundation of Every Ministry

It amazes me how God continues to humble me as a pastor through the people of my church. I am supposed to be the spiritual leader, but many times the laity in my church blazes the path forward. For example, at our prayer meeting last night, a meek and humble woman made a passing comment that she did not intend for anyone to hear.

“This prayer list is getting long. I guess I’ll have to get up 20 minutes earlier to pray for all of them,” she whispered in a hushed tone.

I heard her. Then I thought: wow, she prays through the entire list every week like I do! I had to ask her about it.

“So you pray through the entire prayer newsletter every week?” I asked.

She stared at me as if she didn’t want to answer, but then I could tell that she felt obligated to give the pastor an answer.

“No, pastor Sam, I pray through the entire newsletter every morning.”

At that point, I realized I was putting on prayer shows. My actions didn’t show it, but my thoughts sure did.

God will humble spiritual leaders to keep them spiritual.

Then I realized that we give leaders too much credit. So much is written on leadership. Interviews are given to great leaders. The bulk of credit within the church goes to leadership. We honor leaders for their commitments and accomplishments.

But the real reason God works is because the meek and humble are praying. And they’re praying for the leaders – they’re praying that God will work through any means and any person. Their selfless prayers fuel revival. Their selfless prayers invigorate entire ministries.

In fact, their prayers are the foundation of every ministry in the church.

Thank you, prayer warriors. No one ever hears from you except God, and I know that’s just fine with you.

Eating the Elephant (or Gator) Too Fast

How do you eat an elephant (or a gator for that matter)? One bite at a time. With that being said, I simply cannot resist sharing this story from Miami with you.

By Times Staff Writer
Published October 6, 2005
MIAMI – Talk about biting off more than you can chew.

A 13-foot Burmese python tried to swallow a 6-foot alligator in Everglades National Park – and exploded.

Scientists stumbled on the gory remains last week after a helicopter pilot spotted the carcasses. The gator’s tail and hind legs were protruding from the python’s ruptured gut, the two bodies locked together so tightly that it was almost hard to make out which was which.

If the python got a good grip on the alligator before the alligator got a good grip on him, he could win,” said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor who is an expert on gators and other reptiles.

Mazzotti thinks that as the gator was being swallowed, it clawed at the python’s stomach, making the snake burst.

At the sake of being dispiriting (or sounding morbid), I do see several ministry parallels in this story. What looks like a grand idea from the onset can quickly choke a church. As pastor, I’ve made my mistakes in trying to take an established church to the next level too quickly. Even when people desire to change, which is the case at my church, too much too fast can shock the system.

But one of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in the ministry occurs after change. The change itself is many times not the greatest problem, but rather trying to move too quickly to the next item on the pastoral agenda. In other words, you’ve got to let the change settle into the church culture before moving on to something else.

We pastors think about the change, mull over the details, write up strategic plans, and go through a variety of “what if” analyses. The process can be a year in the making for the staff before the church even sees the plan. Once it’s implemented we’re ready to move on to the next great idea, but the church needs to “chew on it” for a little while before they buy in and accept the change into the culture of the church.

So take your time, have a long-term vision for your church. Plan on a long-term tenure. And eat the gator one bite at a time. The church will fight back if you move from one change to the next too fast. And trying to swallow the entire agenda in one bite will only explode in your face and cause a huge mess in the church (but hopefully not on the carpet, which needs to be replaced anyway…blue or green anyone?).