Every pastor faces it.

Most hate it.

You can't avoid it. ... people leaving your church

In my over 20 years as a senior pastor (and a another 10 as an associate), for various reasons I've probably seen hundreds of people leave the churches where I served. In one year over 100 people left the church I planted after I gave my infamous "Willow Creek" talk. I had just attended one of Willow's early conference and within two weeks I delivered a message about all the changes we planned to make. It didn't work. In my immaturity I had failed to wisely manage change.

Except for those blessed subtractions (those who leave who have hurt your church), unless you are an emotionless robot, when someone leaves it hurts.

Here's how I've tried to process my painful emotions when people leave.

1. I don't disparage them to others after they leave.
2. I reach out to those who had significant roles in the church. Often I will meet with them.
3. I NEVER burn bridges. I wish them well and pray for them in person if possible.
4. I don't try to hide their leaving from other leaders, and neither do I broadcast it.
5. Recently we've attempted informal exit interviews to discover why leavers left and if there's anything we can learn.
6. When I see them again, I reach out and show genuine interest in how they're doing.
7. I don't let myself become bitter. God has graciously given me short memories about hurtful church experiences. It's all His grace.
8. I remind myself that Jesus also faced those who left Him. From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. (John 6.66)

How do you process church leavers?

Related posts: When Pastors become Defensive...5 Things NOT to Do.

Recently I've been reading a lot about how to view problems in ministry and leadership through a different lens. A concept developed in the late 50's and 60's by a psychologist, Murray Bowen, has shed some brilliant light on the subject for me; so brilliant, in fact, that I wish I understood this concept 25 years ago. Had I learned it and applied it then, I could have saved myself a lot of grief as a pastor and as a father. The concept is called family systems. Don't let the title fool you, though. It's not all about your immediate family. This concept has profound implications for leadership in the church. I'm planning to write my next book using family systems as the backbone.

One of the best writers on the subject, Peter Steinke, a Christian psychologist, wrote the book How Your Church Family Works. It's a great primer on family systems that directly applies to churches.

At the core of family systems is understanding emotional process and specifically, how we manage our anxiety, a term used for any negative emotion. In one of Steinke's chapters he writes about those who criticize us. When I read his two paragraphs I paused and said to myself, "Wow. I've never heard it put that way before."

Read it below and tell me how it hits you.

Pursuit behavior is any behavior that overfocuses on another person....

By far the most difficult form of pursuit behavior to recognize is criticism. How can those who act adversarially be said to be in pursuit? We feel alienated, not close. But the criticism is characterized by overfocus. The "stinger" and the "stung" are emotionally connected. Whenever a gnawing critic gets inside our brain cells and we can't expunge him, we are connected, even if negatively. Whenever someone gets under our skin, we are infected with anxiety. If we are reactive to a pursuer, the pursuit behavior achieves its goal: connection. Strange as it sounds, the critic wants to be close. After all, if we can't be close through play, ecstasy, touch, and nurture, our only option to accomplish closeness is through angry outbursts, specious charges, or harsh accusations. People feel close to us when they know we are thinking about them. What we think is not as important as that we are thinking of them. We play into the hands of the criticizer when we react to their invasion rather than define ourselves to it. (p 88 of How your Church Family Works).

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Related posts:

10 Ways to Respond to the Church Critic

How to Deal with Criticism

In Judson Edwards book, The Leadership Labyrinth, he describes 21 paradoxes in ministry. He defines the 'relationship paradox' in this way: the people who like you most will be the ones you try least to please.

He writes that these three kinds of people fill every church.

1. The energizers-their very presence makes us feel better, buoy our spirits, and fill our tanks
2. The regular folks-they may not buoy our spirits, but they don't demoralize us either. They make up the largest group.
3. The drainers-they sap our joy and can ruin our day

The main difference between the energizers and the drainers are their expectations of us. The energizers don't place great expectations on us. The drainers do.

We don't measure up to the drainers expectations. Either our preaching or counseling or leading or availability is not enough. These subtle unmet expectations may not be overt, but when we are around these people, we feel their unspoken disapproval.

Edwards pens these profound words. "When our credo becomes 'I am as you desire me,' we have lost the very thing that will enable us to minister effectively: our authenticity."

Edwards rounds out his chapter with three insights into how Jesus responded to his drainers.

• First, Jesus retreated from this drainers to refresh himself and seek God. He regularly sought renewal.
• Second, Jesus balanced his drainers with his energizers.
• Third, Jesus didn't allow the drainers deter him from his plan and purpose.

Although Jesus practiced a rhythm of renewal and time away from his drainers, he never got rid of them. He still had to contend with them, just as we pastors must do in our churches.

Not everyone liked Jesus. Not everyone will like us. But God's grace gives us what we need to serve even the most draining drainers.