"The main reason people leave a church is because they have an entitlement mentality rather than a servant mentality"

My view … not so easy to generalize

These reasons given:

  • “The worship leader refused to listen to me about the songs and music I wanted.”
  • “The pastor did not feed me.”
  • “No one from my church visited me.”
  • “I was not about to support the building program they wanted.”
  • “I was out two weeks and no one called me.”
  • “They moved the times of the worship services and it messed up my schedule.”
  • “I told my pastor to go visit my cousin and he never did.”

These reasons given indeed to demonstrate what the author calls an entitlement mentality! About “Pastor did not feed me” - response: Feed thyself! What I’ve seen in my limited sphere of Baptist churches (on why people leave).

  • Constitution bypassed (could be a valid reason to leave)
  • Gross financial irregularities (probably a valid reason to leave)
  • Doctrinal drift (would be a valid reason if a major doctrine)
  • Weird teaching that is not in the church’s doctrinal statement / by-laws
  • Dictatorial pastors (eg Faith Baptist of Hammond … flee! (but with the new guy coming wait and see))

This is an interesting article and correct in many ways. There are scriptural reasons to leave a church, but many are church hoppers and leave for “greener pastures” elsewhere.

Michelle Shuman

Why can’t they simply use the same reason that pastors use for leaving a church…”The Lord is calling me elsewhere”

Someone once told me there are always three reasons why people leave a church.

1) The reason they tell the pastor.

2) The reason they tell to other people.

3) The real reason.

Thankfully, I have seen many noble exceptions to this, but I have also seen quite a few examples.

G. N. Barkman