Recently, I received a message from one of our staff members informing me that a person in our church had decided to start visiting other churches. In a church our size this isn’t uncommon, people come and go all the time. A lot of the times we don’t even notice because the person never got connected, but this family was different.

This family had been with us for a couple of years, many of them were serving on volunteer teams, they had been a part of a small group, and they even tithed.

They did everything you want a church attender to do. They were connected in every possible way, and yet it still wasn’t enough to keep them.

To be honest, I never even replied back to the staff member’s text because I was so frustrated.

Do you ever have days like that in ministry?

There are so many times that I just stop and think, “Are we even making a difference?”

Because we’re giving everything we got, and people in our church are still leaving, they’re still getting divorced, they’re still getting drunk, they’re still getting arrested, they’re still not serving, they’re still not getting in groups, and they certainly aren’t tithing.

And like many other nights, I went to bed frustrated and stressed out.

Then I went to church the next Sunday, and we had a big crowd on a bad weather day, and we had a pretty good offering, and we saw six people take their next step with Jesus by getting baptized.

And this scripture came to my mind,

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14

Forgive me if I take Paul’s words out of context, but I believe God was trying to tell me and maybe you that you can’t concentrate on the ones who have left you, you have to focus on the ones who want to take the journey with you.

Stop looking at what you’ve lost, and start moving forward with what you have.

The band Little Texas said it this way,

I try not to think about what might have been

Cause that was then and

We have taken different roads

We can’t go back again

There’s no use giving in

And there’s no way to know

What might have been

If you can’t find an illustration in the scriptures, just consult your old school country catalog.

God has something great He wants to do in your church.

Don’t get caught wasting time, thinking about what might have been.

How do you handle people leaving your church? Does it still hurt, or have you got used to it? Let us know by leaving a comment, and make sure to subscribe to the blog to get tips on church growth, leadership, and more delivered to your inbox each week.