Church Members Aren’t Attending as Often – Are They Trying to Tell Us Something?

Church attendance is down in the western world.

Why?

Because church members don’t attend as consistently as they used to.

That’s not the only reason church attendance is down, of course. It’s not even the main reason. But it’s definitely a trend I have seen as a pastor. And it needs to be addressed. But how?

Thom Rainer wrote about this trend a while ago in his much-debated post, The Number One Reason for the Decline in Church Attendance and Five Ways to Address It. Rainer is a very good blogger who regularly offers very helpful ideas and resources.

He offers five steps from his book that he believes will help turn this trend around:

1. Raise the expectations of membership
2. Require an entry class for membership
3. Encourage ministry involvement
4. Offer more options for worship times
5. Monitor attendance of each member

Rainer’s ideas made sense to me when I read them. I even considered implementing them in my church. But the more I pondered his list, and similar lists from other church leaders, the more I felt that something was missing.

Take a look back at that list. Do you see what’s missing? It’s OK if you don’t see it. It took me a while, too. Read more