What makes people drop out of church

# 3 What makes People Drop out of Church


I heard a humorous story that has significance as to why people drop out of church. “Bob, why don’t you play golf with John anymore?” asked a friend. “Would you play golf with a guy who moved the ball with his foot when you weren’t watching?” Bob asked.
“Well, no“, admitted the friend. “Neither will John” , replied Bob.


Why do people drop out of church usually is because of “People”. People will not speak, do something to cause a lack of sincere gratitude, people will forget someones accomplishment. But most of the time people will leave church because of another person. They may be hypocritical, or probably the reason people affect others leaving the most is their lack of genuine spirituality. People think they can spot a phony (even they may not be) and they will use that as their reason for leaving the church. People use email and get a wrong picture of what someone said and they leave the church. I can tell you as a Pastor the most troubling thing is when people leave the church or go to another church and the reasons are frivolous. A Pastor worth a grain of salt will not just take that casually sitting down. It hurts, it stings, it makes you feel all of the worthless feelings there are out there. You know what would be wonderful, but I know it will never happen, is for all the people who leave their primary church for some reason all of a sudden say - "You know what?! I am going back to my church. I was wrong to feel that way", and return. Never happened in 30 years of my ministry and the reason is “Pride”. Pride will not let us go back.


Not only people, but problems make people drop out of church. There are more Baptists sitting on a couch on Sunday mornings than there are in church. Of the 15 million unchurched, there must be half of them Baptists. I can say that because I am one. No church is perfect . But neither is your marriage, neither are your kids , neither is your job , neither are your health care professionals. None of us are perfect. Slowing down and taking a deep breath and saying, before I judge the other guy I am going to take care of my own back yard.



Lastly, the reason people leave churches is a Personal lack of Accountability. We are going to be in eternity one day and face the judgment of God and getting ill and out of sorts with the church and not taking personal responsibility, will cause a huge embarrassment one day when we face the Lord. We should do “all we do to glorify God”. It is about Him, not People, or problems, but Him. When we get our eyes on Him we function as a healthy church.