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Grow Your Church By Asking People to Leave
Craig Groeschel at LifeChurch.tv has an interesting series of blog posts on getting people to leave your church. It seems completely counter-intuitive, but it makes sense. If people aren't moving your church forward, they're dead weight (which is kind of scary--am I dead weight?). And it's not just about helping your church, it's also about helping those people find the church for them.
Craig gives an example where he preached on the church's vision trying to get everybody on board. If people weren't on board with the vision, he asked them to find another church. He even offered brochures from 10 other churches he knew and recommended. It was a serious challenge and 500 people ended up leaving. Most people would freak out at that thought. Not Craig:
The next week, we had about 500 new seats for people who could get excited about the vision. Within a short period of time, God filled those seats with passionate people. Many of those who left our church found great, biblical churches where they could worship and use their gifts.
Everybody won!
That's why I sometimes say, "You can grow your church by asking people to leave."
Craig focuses on making leaving a church a graceful option and a positive thing and not the bitter experience it often is.
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This small article is fascinating to me.
JTullock and I attended the "grand opening" of a LifeChurch.tv satellite campus. It was a new and very different experience. I liked the marketing and pre-opening buildup their marketing department did, via billboards, newspapers and the internet. (Not sure if they used tv ads or not - I don't have a tv.)
I like the thought pattern here, though it completely goes against traditional UPC thought . . . which is hold on to people at any cost. I can definitely see the benefits for both the church and the "dead-weight" saint.
I think if more Pastors utilized this train of thought, there would be healthier churches, more growth and less-stressed ministers who are currently strained and weary from dealing with unhappy, dead-weight saints who take too much of the Pastors valuable time and don't contribute to the work of the church ministry.
Along the same line of thought . . . perhaps the UPC should support and help expedite the move of conservatives out of the organization. It's clear conservatives don't like the course they feel the UPC is taking . . . so why force them or try to beg them to stay when they'll only be unhappy and will do little to help the organization as a whole. (As noted before, many of those leaving haven't really been a part of the organization the past few years anyway.)
What say you?
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