STATISTICAL SHELL GAME

Friday, August 17, 2007

Christianity Today magazine printed an excellent article this week about bloated membership rolls in churches. For years I have complained about congregations that refuse to ever remove anybody from their membership rolls. Even when members die, move to other countries or tell the church that they hate them, the church retains their membership. Why? For the simple reason that it allows them to brag about how large their church is. Never mind that on any given Sunday the FBI couldn’t find half of the membership.

It would be wrong to rush in and remove a member from the roll just because he wasn’t attending for awhile. But let’s face it, friends, if he hasn’t been around for a year or longer he is no longer a member—at least not an active member! No, you can’t remove him from the church or cancel his salvation. I’m talking about membership in a local congregation. The truth is, he either is a member or he isn’t. And my strong feeling is that if he doesn’t ever come around—he isn’t a member. If you have a mate that leaves and doesn’t come home for a year or two I suspect that you consider him “gone” and not a part of the family until he takes steps to correct the situation.

What’s the harm in keeping people on the rolls who do not attend? It’s a matter of integrity. It’s not honest.