And of course there are people who simply don’t feel they’re getting what they need from their current church. Some may have outgrown the church. Others may have left because they *didn’t* want to grow. Growth is hard and often painful. Often scary. Safer to move on to a church that may be a bit less nourishing.

But I can understand how a pastor may question whether s/he’s doing the right thing, or whether there’s been some serious lack in the efforts.

This was the best advice I ever received when I started in the ministry (I’m an associate pastor/church planter). It is not our job to try to “keep” people in our church – we are share the Love of God and teach/peach the things He has told us to teach/preach. It is God’s job to bring people to the church and keep them.

Someone else once said that locking the backdoor is like damming a river. You trap all the trash, logs, and bad apples in one place instead of letting the debris flow on down the river leaving the pure, clean water.

This doesn’t mean you only “keep” the people who look nice and who are “cleaned” up – it means that you let those people who don’t belong in your church leave. Focus on the ones God brought you and let Him worry about the rest.

Is this hard? Yes. I have had people leave the church after disagreeing with a sermon I preached. But, looking back, I am glad they left because it allowed the Spirit to take the rest of the church in direction He couldn’t have if those folks were still there.

Open the front door and love all who enter – but keep the backdoor open wider for all those whom God leads away.

(Note: Alexander Venter is a South African Vineyard pastor who worked under John Wimber for a few years. His book “Doing Church” is an amazing look at how to do church. Well worth the read.) =D