Focus on the Core

One of the biggest hurts a pastor can experience is when someone leaves their church. It is hard to not take it personally.

Over the past year we have had people come and go from our church. A couple that was involved in ministry at our church, have just recently left and are attending another church.

I was a little bummed about this, until I talked to another leader. He told me to not worry about it - this will happen - people will leave and people will be inconsistent.

But - in every church there will be a core of believers who will be heavily involved, who will give of their talents, time and resources towards the missions of the church. These are the people that pastors need to focus on.

There are a lot of people in our church that are sort of on the fringes - they are not very consistent in their attendance, they are not in home groups, they are not very involved and they probably don't tithe.

Now - these are good people, and are most likely followers of Christ, and would call our church their home church.

For a long time I was stressed about how to get these people more involved and more committed - what could I do to make church more desirable for them? I finally realized that I don't need to worry about that - I simply need to be consistent in my work, provide opportunities for people to plug in - but it will ultimately be up to them, wether they make any moves towards commitment and consistency.

In the mean time, I have an incredible core of believers in our church - many of whom are becoming very close friends to Felicia and I. It is towards this group, I need to devote as much time as I can, encouraging them, praying for them, helping them develop their gifts for the expansion of the Kingdom.

This discovery has been very liberating for me.

I should add that the other group pastors should be devoting a lot of time to are those friends that they have that are outside of the faith - this is a bit harder, as it is very difficult to develop friendships outside of the church. And it is here that pastors need to be very intentional. Things I have done are volunteering at the Vancouver Film Festival, joining a running club, and right now I volunteer at a local thrift store that raises money for programs for the poor in Port Moody.

So, that's another thing I have learned in this past year of ministry out here.