Hello Christian leaders. Usually, any leader would want to build an organisation that flourishes and grows.
We expect so and yet many times we are baffled why people leave our churches. I dedicate this to every pastor you knows the hurt of people leaving his flock.
By Bishop Pride Sibiya
For starters let me say that according to church-growth patterns observed especially in the modern, highly mechanized and mobile world, many people go to as many as 12 different, urban churches before finally settling down! Worrying statistics indeed. It has also been noted that, people are constantly getting in through the front door of the church and others leaving via the back door. The secret of a growing church is this: THOSE THAT LEAVE MUST BE FEWER THAN THOSE THAT COME IN: we must minimize loss of souls by all means possible.
So why do people leave your church?
1. Lack of a clear vision (Proverbs 29:18).
People need a sense of direction and without vision people perish. The pastor must be a living picture of the vision he stands for in all ways.
Do you have a vision for the organisation?
Do you have a vision for the church?
Do you have personal assembly vision where you are taking the assembly, district or provinnce you lead? Or you are just going year-in, year-out without any direction?
"If you aim at NOTHING, you are sure to hit it!"
2. Omission of the practice of love (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Miracles and gifts gather people but only a godly character of love in both times of haves and needs keeps people around you. Rumors are in every church but when the leadership goes into that zone, people leave enmasse.
3. No sense of order (1 Corinthians 14:33)
These days Church is not just about going to heaven. It also has to do with personal order. People who are orderly find it hard to stay in churches where there is no order at all. A church that is said to start at 8 a.m finally starts at 11! Do you use the money for the reason you asked it for? Are you accountable or too holy to be asked?
Pastors should start to teach their churches on excellence and exceptionaity in everything they do. Always ask yourself, if the President/Prime Minister of this nation feels compelled to come to our church will he survive coming the whole year or he will surrender?
4. Leaders who do not improve themselves
When a leader keeps himself on number 5 on he leadership-ability scale of 1-10, does not improve themselves in leadership ability and sharpen their gifts he will lose anyone that comes their way who is from 6-10. People are looking for better leaders who can take them to the next level in life not just anointed people! Eish!
Start today to work yourself up the ladder of leadership ability, polish your gifts and re-brand yourself as a better leader. Check your preaching? Your visitations? your teachings? Your prophesying? Your dressing? Your social media? And so on!
5. Leaders who are not confident in their calling
Such leaders feel threatened by any gifting that is being brought up under them therefore their attitudes and words kill people's gifts. Usually, gifted people are naughty and when they feel their gift is a threat they run away from the church...and they leave with some of their fans. No church can flourish without gifted people.
To build a mega church you need many gifted people. Leaders must encourage and groom gifted people. Such people must be celebrated big time in their church and amplified.
6. Beating the sheep, not feeding them(Psalm 23:1-2)
Sheep are very cool animals who are very peaceful. Although,very dangerous and powerful, they, unlike goats, prefer "still" waters than "violent" ones. Churches that are full of hatred, politicking and where immature pastors think that "shouting at" and being "rough and tough" is tantamount to "preaching the truth" end up losing sheep and remain with hard-core goats. This is because your weekly message is shaping and making their lives slowly. Because of the "demeaning" messages you are preaching your congregation becomes lacking in confident and not positively-minded. You are grooming failures...when the wise see it, they leave!
Start teaching the pure Word and do not take personal issues against congregants to the pulpit. Sort out personal issues personally and do not beat people from the sacred pulpit
7. Some people leave because they were not yours (1 John 2:19).
You will try to do all good things but they will just find a small mistake and say you were weak in an area. do not worry about those, they may have been trying by all means to be a part of you but they do not see you as a leader that can lead them to their promised land.
Release them to go as soon as they ask. Never bow to the temptation of hating them or wishing them bad in their future life, release them to their preset destiny, we are still brothers and sisters in Christ. The fact that someone leaves you does not mean they are your enemy, it simply means they were not a part of that vision!
8. As those who were not yours leave, they take along others.
Some people leave because, as they were in church they got hooked to the wrong crowd that did not belong to us though they themselves belong to us. Church weaknesses they never were bothered by were forced down their throats by those who were not ours. They were told how it is better outside and how your church was going down and they followed because of immaturity.
These will continually have the witness of God that they are yours and will come back if you keep showing them God's love and Christian love not preaching against them or gossiping them and celebrating their failures. Keep praying for them, they are prodigal but are your children.
9. No sense of growth
People do not expect you to be a magician but they also expect to see some growth in the church or else they will leave. People want to discuss about the projects and growth levels that are happening spiritual, physically, financially, materially et.al with their friends, relatives, school and workmates. They want to share testimonies and the Word that is being shared in their church. They want to be part of a church that they can be proud of, in short. If people constantly hear good things from other churches, see those pastors visiting their counterparts etc they will leave yours and go there.
Pastor you really have to up the game and start pushing more prayer, fasting, many events, ministries, doing proper administration, planning, , more programs, more team-building, training, advertising, grooming and releasing many gifts.
10. Satan
Man and woman of God, always know that Satan hates the church because it is the agency of human salvation. Satan and his hosts of territorial spirits will fight the Church more than they fight U.N. Satanists hate servants of God passionately and are constantly looking for ways to frustrate your God-given vision. Never take Satan's power to try and build God's Kingdom, it won't work.
Fight spiritually, we are together in the fight.
Be strong servant of God, hold on to the vision: "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. (Habbakuk 2:3)..."Though your beginning was small yet your later end shall greatly increase"(Job 8:7).
Love you too much.
Bishop Pride Sibiya
Receive Jesus Christ today and go to church for spiritual fellowship.
Follow Apostle Pride Sibiya (Bishop: Glory Ministries) on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Periscope, WhatsApp, Google+, Instagram, Instaclips and all social media.
By Bishop Pride Sibiya
For starters let me say that according to church-growth patterns observed especially in the modern, highly mechanized and mobile world, many people go to as many as 12 different, urban churches before finally settling down! Worrying statistics indeed. It has also been noted that, people are constantly getting in through the front door of the church and others leaving via the back door. The secret of a growing church is this: THOSE THAT LEAVE MUST BE FEWER THAN THOSE THAT COME IN: we must minimize loss of souls by all means possible.
So why do people leave your church?
1. Lack of a clear vision (Proverbs 29:18).
People need a sense of direction and without vision people perish. The pastor must be a living picture of the vision he stands for in all ways.
Do you have a vision for the organisation?
Do you have a vision for the church?
Do you have personal assembly vision where you are taking the assembly, district or provinnce you lead? Or you are just going year-in, year-out without any direction?
"If you aim at NOTHING, you are sure to hit it!"
2. Omission of the practice of love (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Miracles and gifts gather people but only a godly character of love in both times of haves and needs keeps people around you. Rumors are in every church but when the leadership goes into that zone, people leave enmasse.
3. No sense of order (1 Corinthians 14:33)
These days Church is not just about going to heaven. It also has to do with personal order. People who are orderly find it hard to stay in churches where there is no order at all. A church that is said to start at 8 a.m finally starts at 11! Do you use the money for the reason you asked it for? Are you accountable or too holy to be asked?
Pastors should start to teach their churches on excellence and exceptionaity in everything they do. Always ask yourself, if the President/Prime Minister of this nation feels compelled to come to our church will he survive coming the whole year or he will surrender?
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| MUST READ: 10 Reasons Why People Leave Your Church And What To Do. |
4. Leaders who do not improve themselves
When a leader keeps himself on number 5 on he leadership-ability scale of 1-10, does not improve themselves in leadership ability and sharpen their gifts he will lose anyone that comes their way who is from 6-10. People are looking for better leaders who can take them to the next level in life not just anointed people! Eish!
Start today to work yourself up the ladder of leadership ability, polish your gifts and re-brand yourself as a better leader. Check your preaching? Your visitations? your teachings? Your prophesying? Your dressing? Your social media? And so on!
5. Leaders who are not confident in their calling
Such leaders feel threatened by any gifting that is being brought up under them therefore their attitudes and words kill people's gifts. Usually, gifted people are naughty and when they feel their gift is a threat they run away from the church...and they leave with some of their fans. No church can flourish without gifted people.
To build a mega church you need many gifted people. Leaders must encourage and groom gifted people. Such people must be celebrated big time in their church and amplified.
6. Beating the sheep, not feeding them(Psalm 23:1-2)
Sheep are very cool animals who are very peaceful. Although,very dangerous and powerful, they, unlike goats, prefer "still" waters than "violent" ones. Churches that are full of hatred, politicking and where immature pastors think that "shouting at" and being "rough and tough" is tantamount to "preaching the truth" end up losing sheep and remain with hard-core goats. This is because your weekly message is shaping and making their lives slowly. Because of the "demeaning" messages you are preaching your congregation becomes lacking in confident and not positively-minded. You are grooming failures...when the wise see it, they leave!
Start teaching the pure Word and do not take personal issues against congregants to the pulpit. Sort out personal issues personally and do not beat people from the sacred pulpit
7. Some people leave because they were not yours (1 John 2:19).
You will try to do all good things but they will just find a small mistake and say you were weak in an area. do not worry about those, they may have been trying by all means to be a part of you but they do not see you as a leader that can lead them to their promised land.
Release them to go as soon as they ask. Never bow to the temptation of hating them or wishing them bad in their future life, release them to their preset destiny, we are still brothers and sisters in Christ. The fact that someone leaves you does not mean they are your enemy, it simply means they were not a part of that vision!
8. As those who were not yours leave, they take along others.
Some people leave because, as they were in church they got hooked to the wrong crowd that did not belong to us though they themselves belong to us. Church weaknesses they never were bothered by were forced down their throats by those who were not ours. They were told how it is better outside and how your church was going down and they followed because of immaturity.
These will continually have the witness of God that they are yours and will come back if you keep showing them God's love and Christian love not preaching against them or gossiping them and celebrating their failures. Keep praying for them, they are prodigal but are your children.
9. No sense of growth
People do not expect you to be a magician but they also expect to see some growth in the church or else they will leave. People want to discuss about the projects and growth levels that are happening spiritual, physically, financially, materially et.al with their friends, relatives, school and workmates. They want to share testimonies and the Word that is being shared in their church. They want to be part of a church that they can be proud of, in short. If people constantly hear good things from other churches, see those pastors visiting their counterparts etc they will leave yours and go there.
Pastor you really have to up the game and start pushing more prayer, fasting, many events, ministries, doing proper administration, planning, , more programs, more team-building, training, advertising, grooming and releasing many gifts.
10. Satan
Man and woman of God, always know that Satan hates the church because it is the agency of human salvation. Satan and his hosts of territorial spirits will fight the Church more than they fight U.N. Satanists hate servants of God passionately and are constantly looking for ways to frustrate your God-given vision. Never take Satan's power to try and build God's Kingdom, it won't work.
Fight spiritually, we are together in the fight.
Be strong servant of God, hold on to the vision: "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. (Habbakuk 2:3)..."Though your beginning was small yet your later end shall greatly increase"(Job 8:7).
Love you too much.
Bishop Pride Sibiya
Receive Jesus Christ today and go to church for spiritual fellowship.
Follow Apostle Pride Sibiya (Bishop: Glory Ministries) on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Periscope, WhatsApp, Google+, Instagram, Instaclips and all social media.
