4 Ways to Keep People from "Quiet Quitting" Your Church
Let's remind ourselves that there is nothing new under the Sun. The circumstances and events that bubble up in culture and society have already existed before the latest buzzword that pushes them to the forefront. Take the newest discussion around the idea of "quiet quitting." According to Gallup, quiet quitting is when "people are not going above and beyond at work and just meeting their job descriptions." A few years ago, we would've called this a few things: "phoning it in, doing the bare minimum, or checking out." However, whatever you want to call it, this is a trend that isn't new; just the words that describe it are. However, this reemergence of an old idea in new terminology means that it's still an ongoing problem that needs addressing.
In reality, quiet quitting is not simply a problem in the secular world; it also occurs within the church's walls. As the ripples of COVID-19 carry into additional years, Barna completed a study that polled self-proclaimed Christians attending church pre-COVID. Only 61% of those people have stayed committed to attending the same church.
The answers were not definitive when asked why they stopped attending their place of worship in favor of another or stopping attendance at all. However, what is clear is that people are quietly quitting churches to either engage elsewhere or disengage from church altogether.
Listed below are 4 Ways to Keep People from Quiet Quitting Your Church:
Emphasize the Value of Every Person
Whether the person is a greeter in the hallway, a nursery worker, a first-time guest, a long-term member, or someone entirely outside the church's four walls, we must emphasize the value of every person. If the church's culture verbally celebrated the unique value of every individual inside and outside the building, that's a place people want to stay. If people are made to feel like they are a means to an end or obligated to be there because "it's what is done," then it won't be long until people begin checking out mentally and then physically. They will look for ways to avoid showing up to a place that undervalues them because, if we're all honest, we don't want to go places where we don't feel wanted.
This sense of worth and value is then transferred to how people talk about their church to their community at large. The "guilt-driven" email, phone call, or visit may keep people showing up for a while, but it won't keep them engaged.
Earnestly Maintain the Strength of the Leadership Trust
Suppose people in the secular world are willing to quiet quit because they see the hypocrisy in their places of business where they are getting paid to show up. In that case, inevitably, people will not maintain their involvement with a non-profit religious organization that behaves similarly.
When an individual begins to distrust the church's leadership, it won't be long before they stop attending. For this reason, it is essential that the church's leadership guard the gate well at who steps into the role of leader and upholds the biblical standards of what it means to be a faithful follower of Christ. To do anything else is to question the credibility of those in a leadership position. There are already far too many examples of bad leadership or messed up leadership in the church world; let's stop adding to it.
Develop the Individual Catalytic Everyday Mission a Congregation can Contextualize
While that may sound like just a bunch of words that I've casually thrown together in a messy sentence, it's one of the most important things you can do as a church leader. Each person who steps into your church needs to understand how they can utilize their originality daily under the umbrella of God's unique disciple-making mission for your church. People who understand their worth and value as a person rightly grasp that they were made in the image and likeness of the creator God to participate in a kingdom-building work that bursts forth from their uniqueness.
You are tying them into something bigger than their story by providing people an understanding of what it would look like to live like Jesus would live if he had their job, their kids, their parents, their bills, and their boss. You're connecting them to God's story.
Cultivate a Shared Vision of the Future
It may seem like this last way to keep people from quiet quitting is a different way of stating the fourth way, but it's not. There is a difference between a church's everyday mission and the church's vision. Church leaders and pastors, the mission is what you do every day in obedience to God's commands, in content and context. The vision is the future story God is pulling you into through the everyday mission. We arrive at the vision of where God is leading by living daily in obedience to the mission.
Think about it this way, the mission is the direction you walk, while the vision is the future into which you are walking. The mission is the GPS, while the vision is the brochure that describes where you're going.
When, as a leader, you're able to help people embrace a shared vision of the future, they're less likely to quiet quit because of the belief in the better destination God has planned for tomorrow.
At The Reinolds Group, we're all about helping strengthen congregations to dream a future worth of the God they serve and reduce the likelihood of quiet quitting in their congregational context. To start a conversation, visit us at www.thePrismProcess.com/church
Our dream is to see churches empowered on a congregational journey that is both spiritual and strategic in nature. Our process pulls the congregation out of the urgent of today and allows them an opportunity to focus on imagining the future of tomorrow. We have designed this process specifically with congregations in mind, and now we desire to certify associations and state conventions in the process so that churches are strengthened for the future into which God is pulling them.
Please Note: We will only be able to initially accept the first three Associations or State Conventions to walk through the certification process. We're also offering 43% off for those first three Associations. For more information, click the button below, and then let's set up a time for a conversation: https://www.theprismprocess.com/contact-us
