There are only three reasons people leave a church.

That doesn’t count someone who says, “I took a job in another city, so I had to move.” But if they stay in the same area and leave the church, it really comes down to three reasons.

A lot of it goes back to why they came in the first place. People become part of your church because they believe you value what they value. At the core, people vote on value, and they vote with their feet. When your values line up, they’re engaged: their giving goes up and their participation goes up. But when your values drift apart, things start to change.

So what are those three reasons?

Number one: misaligned values. People see changes in the church that make them believe what the church values doesn’t match what they value anymore. Maybe it’s something being said from the pulpit. Maybe we don’t have a strong youth minister anymore, and I have a teenager. Guess what? I value my teenager. If you haven’t put a strong person in that role, what you’re telling me is that your values don’t match mine.

It might be something they think has changed in doctrine. It might be a change in what the church is investing in this season compared with the last one. Either way, it shows up in what the church does. People may not even know how to put it into words, but they feel it: “My church is changing. Its values don’t line up with mine anymore.”

Number two: they feel devalued. They reached out and said, “Hey, I want to get involved.” They were excited to engage, and no one called them back. They felt devalued. Or they called and said, “I’m having a hard time with my teenager, and I really need to talk to someone.” No one called. They felt devalued.

Number three: they feel undervalued. “I missed a whole month because I was really sick, and I don’t think anyone noticed. No one called me. I don’t think it matters whether I’m there.”

Misaligned values. Devalued. Undervalued. Those are the three reasons people leave a church.

Whenever we go through a season where people are showing a gap between what we value as a church and what they value in their daily lives, those are clues. They show us where we’re losing touch with people and which areas of ministry we may need to shore up. That way we can bring our values back into line, and people feel highly engaged and invested in the life of the church.

Thank you for what you do for the King and the kingdom. We’re eternally grateful for the way you invest your lives in others.