Debunking the Dropout Myth
Timothy Paul Jones, Professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
The Bigger Lie
A 90 percent dropout rate isn't the only mistruth that we've
accepted. I suggest an even bigger lie, one far more insidious than
false statistics. The bigger lie is that the effectiveness of your
ministry depends on how many people you attract and retain.
I'm not suggesting that church involvement and retention don't
matter. Jesus loves the church and he gave his life to "present the
church to himself in splendor" (Ephesians 5:25-27). But numeric
retention can never constitute a sufficient standard for assessing
ministry effectiveness.
When a ministry's faithful to Jesus, the results often include
numeric gains and stellar retention rates. But at other times,
faithful ministry produces negligible results as far as the human
eye can see. The same Word of God that yields manifold fruit in one
heart may be rejected as repulsive in another. Spiritual growth
often unfolds less like a series of figures on a ledger sheet and
more like seeds sprouting inside the earth or like yeast seeping
through a lump of dough. That's why the standard for ministry
effectiveness isn't, "How many participants have we retained?" but
"Who's glimpsed the truth of Jesus and the gospel in what we're
doing?"
Walk away from the bigger lie that the value of your ministry
depends on how many people you retain. If retention rates define
ministry effectiveness, Jesus of Nazareth was an abysmal failure.
At one point, a crowd of over 5,000 was so wild about Jesus that
they pursued him all around the Sea of Galilee (John 6). Then,
after one difficult teaching session, attendance took a nose dive
from several thousand to a single dozen-an attrition rate of well
over 99 percent! Later, on a Passover eve amid the olive trees,
those dozen deserted him, and his dropout rate veered close to 100
percent.
Yet, in all of this, Jesus remained the beloved one in whom God
delighted-and, inasmuch as you trust Jesus, so do you. So be
faithful in proclaiming the gospel. Create a context where those
who've strayed can freely repent and return. Most of all, rest in
the goodness of God, not in the strength of your retention
rates.
Timothy Paul Jones is a Sunday school teacher and
Associate Professor of Leadership and Family Ministry at The
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also Editor of The
Journal of Family Ministry. His latest book is The Family
Ministry Field Guide (Wesleyan).
