Our Churches Are Losing Members; Why?

The present and sad reality of many of us Gospel ministers is that things are not the same anymore when it comes to church attendance. There seems to be an increase in the number of people going out the back doors of our churches than they are coming in the front. Even worse, after the recent Covid pandemic we have seen more churches close never to open again. Why is this so?

Well, I wouldn’t waste my time consulting the so-called “modern thinkers” because they would tell me that people have evolved to a “better consciousness” and “self-awareness” – they are now smart and independent, hence they have grown out of the primitive church going. We know that this is but a lie because the Gospel is not dependent upon the wisdom of the world, but it is always relevant and powerful regardless of the time and culture it finds itself in.

But still, why are people losing interest in something as important as the house of the Lord? Some are convinced that the reason for this is that the Church is not helping people enough in the way discipleship and other means – it’s letting them down in the challenges they face hence they leave to seek help somewhere else. While others might argue that the behavior of church leaders is chasing people away. They feel like ministers are no longer genuinely shepherding the sheep but are now beating them to submission, hence they would prefer to sit at home than to be part of such toxic environments. Still, some would pin the matter on the challenges of life themselves. The idea goes that people are facing more unemployment, poverty, depression and a regular busyness with the issues of life such that they no longer have the strength or time to be in church anymore.

Let me now argue against all these reasons by beginning with the issue of the church not helping people enough. I am very sure the church has and still tries to help people as much as it can. For a start, it is unrealistic to say the church can solve every problem of every member. Even more, it is unfair to load all the responsibility of the problems of the society on the shoulders of the Church. That has always been the responsibility of the government, while the Church’s job is to give people a spiritual solution in the way of the Gospel, then it can help with the physical relief where it can. Hence I do not buy that as a legitimate reason for the membership decline in our churches.

Now on the story of the ministers treating people badly, well, certainly, ever since the rise of the “success” false prophets, with their conquer and dominate attitude towards church leadership, many people have been hurt in many ways. However, I argue that being hurt by the Church is not being hurt by Jesus, hence true believers will always come out of a bad church and go on to join a healthy one right next door. They do not quit church fellowship altogether because their faith is not based on individual church leaders but on Christ himself. Those who make the mistake of not trusting on Christ but rely on human beings, and attach themselves to their leaders for life and death are the ones that get disappointed, hurt and in the end, leave the Church never to come back.

Finally, how about the issue that people are going through various trials such that it’s too much for them to then attend church? To me this is another embarrassing excuse because throughout history humans have always been going through all kinds of difficulties on earth, have they not? In the book Acts alone, we see a terrible persecution rising up against the faithful, yet none of them used that as an excuse for leaving the faith. In fact, we read something like “they left the presence of the council rejoicing because they have been counted worthy to be shamed for the Name” (Act 5:41). All of us, Christian and non-Christian face all kinds of pain and suffering in the way of natural disasters, diseases, wars, and tribal tensions – as long as we are here on earth. Yet the Christian faith has been going strong against all these odds because true believers have no time for silly excuses as we hear today.

Conclusion. I suppose we have observed that the reason for a loss of interest in the house of the Lord is none of the above. The ones who are connected to the saving grace of our Lord cannot be easily disconnected by the changing times, church problems and even the daily hardships of life. If anything, these predicaments work the best out of God’s people by teaching them to cling more on Christ the ultimate comfort of His people. There must be a real reason (there is) why church attendance seems to have left its best days behind. But what is it? Well, unfortunately, time is too jealous to allow us to detail that today. Make a date with us next time as we have a part ll of this matter. Adios.

Sinothi Ncube

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