Where are the No-Shows?

As with yesterday, today's post deals with a disturbing statistic. It is taken from the writing of Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Here are Dever's own words:

"American evangelicals are in pretty desperate need of rethinking and reconsidering this topic (membership), especially in our own fellowship of churches in the Southern Baptist Convention. According to one Southern Baptist study a few years ago, the typical Southern Baptist church has 233 members with 70 present at the Sunday morning worship service. My question is this: where are the other 163 members? Are they all at home sick, in a rest home, at college, or on vacation, or in the military? Maybe some are, but all 163 of them? What does this convey about Christianity to the world around us? What do we understand this to mean about the importance of Christianity in our lives? And what is the spiritual state of these people, if they've not been at church for months, or even longer? Is their non-attendance really any of our business?"

First of all, this is not just an issue for the SBC. As a non-denominational pastor that has frequent conversations with other pastors, this is truly a universal problem within the church today. Next, let me stave off the entire slate of "But-going-to-church-doesn't-make-you-a-Christian" objections. I agree-going to church doesn't make you a Christian! I have preached that message repeatedly, often to jeers and frowns. And I am not assuming that all of the missing members are genuine believers. The reality is that some aren't. These things being said, I have several questions:

*Valid reasons for continual missing aside (employment obligations, health issues, pressing family responsibilities), why would someone born again not have a desire to regularly gather with God's people?

*Why do some churches allow those that haven't darkened the door in years, for no valid reason, to participate in matters of church business such as budget approval or voting for/against the calling of a pastor? Without referencing denominational procedure and guidelines, how can such activity be biblically allowed? Would Paul have approved such a notion? Absolutely not!

*Have we made church membership an inconsequential matter? Are we failing to convey the true meaning of membership to prospective and current members? Do they understand the ministry of membership?

*Are we carrying the "rugged individualism" of American thinking into our ideas of membership? In other words, are we dealing with a people that don't want expectations placed on their behavior and refuse to submit to any personal accountability to the corporate good?

This is in no way an exhaustive list of inquiries concerning the no-shows among our memberships, but hopefully it's a start. I welcome your comments and further questions. Be watching for more about membership in the coming days. Thanks in advance for your time.