Craig Groeschel, Pastor of LifeChurch.tv just concluded this series of posts over at his SWERVE blog. I thought they were worth posting here!
Leave the Door Open!
For our ministries to grow, we have to have more people coming in the front than we have leaving through the back.
It is commonly taught, if we aren’t growing, we’re either:
(1) not reaching new people, or
(2) not retaining those we have.
Another possibility that’s rarely mentioned is
(3) we’re not allowing people to gracefully exit our ministries.
Many teach… “Close the back door!”I say… “Leave the back door cracked open!”
Occasionally, there are some church members who need to leave for the ministry to move forward.
These people might be miserable. Maybe they hate change. Perhaps they care more about their own needs than the needs of others.
If someone is directly opposed to the direction God is leading your church, we should do our best to lead them to embrace the vision. If you’ve tried and tried and continue to fail, you may need to gently, lovingly help them find another church.
Instead of closing the back door, leave it cracked open!
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