Every church probably knows where its believers come from, but it may not know where the believers have gone. When we are concerned about the lost church members, we need to focus on where they go as well as what the church should do to prevent them from going away.
According to the recent situation, the loss of believers is basically due to three reasons.
Some leave the church because they no longer believe in Jesus, and they will not go to other churches to gather. There could be many reasons why they no longer gather, but in the end it may be because they are self-centered rather than God-centered. For example, they may leave when they feel that God is neither listening to their prayers nor healing them.
The second situation is that some believers are co-opted by heresy. They are very pitiful as they have fallen into idolatry without knowing it, for they have left the church and the true God. These people have left the church, which does not mean that they no longer gather, nor that they have given up their faith. They just no longer worship the true God. In fact, they still participate frequently in gatherings, and their faith is even more godly and confident than before.
The others move to a better and more satisfactory church to gather or establish a church themselves or with others, becoming a church leader. Only a small part of them may no longer participate in any gatherings, and most of them continue to gather.
The above are three situations of lost believers. They may be pulled away by the heresy, or not believe in Jesus anymore, or move to other gathering places.
Facing this situation, the church at least must work on the following four aspects to effectively reduce the loss of believers or bring them back.
The first is to take care of believers. The Lord Jesus entrusted Peter with the responsibility of shepherding the flock three times at the seaside of Tiberias, with different keywords each time. What does this mean? This shows that the Lord Jesus asked Peter to shepherd each flock according to the actual conditions of them, that is, shepherding believers in a refined manner. This is also the same for the pastoral care of today's churches. Only adequate shepherding and personal care can effectively avoid the loss of believers and win them back.
The second is to teach the complete truth which churches today lack; this does not imply that churches lack truth. This is not only because of the pastor’s limited level, but also the tendency to choose. If the teaching falls short in a particular aspect, believers will be unable to receive the truth of that aspect, so the growth of the believer's life will not be sound enough. Once they encounter a jackal or various temptations related to that aspect, they will not be able to distinguish it, resulting in them falling for it and leaving the church.
The third is to live righteously. The church must maintain a good image embodying the functions of light and salt. This is a good testimony both internally and externally to gather people’s hearts. So church staff should live a holy life to attract and retain the newcomers.
The fourth is to teach as well as to evangelize. The Lord Jesus gave believers two great commissions in the world. One of the great commissions is to spread the gospel, requiring His children to spread the gospel in the whole world. In fact, there is another requirement in this commission not often mentioned by people, which is to teach the new disciples to obey everything He commands. We sometimes pay too much attention to evangelization, neglecting training. In fact, the two are complementary and cannot be separated.
(The original article is published by Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Abigail Wu
