It You’ve Got Leaving On Your Mind

 The Changing Church Culture

The late, great Patsy Cline recorded a song entitled: “If You’ve Got Leaving On Your Mind.” The lyrics continue: “….tell me now, get it over, hurt me now, get it over…if you’ve got leaving on your mind.”

Every church has experienced it this past year and a half, and despite the spiritual language pastors use to cushion the blow, it just hurts! The culture of “church going” is changing folks…it has changed. The needle is continuing to move and none of us know exactly where it will settle. Sermons and articles are being crafted to expound the importance of coming back to fill the large, sophisticated buildings that are half full, or less. Messages on “forsake not the assembling of yourselves," are rampant. The machine must be fed, and it is a BIG machine in many, many cases. Therefore, we need a teaching (a theology, if you will) that supports the need to pay for the machinery we’ve constructed. The tail is wagging the dog, to some extent.

I am not speaking against big churches, big buildings, multi-million dollar operations, etc. I am just saying, “the times, they are a changing.” Pastors, of both large and small congregations, are hurting. It hurts when people leave us, no matter how it is nuanced. "….you can't hide those lyin’ eyes, and your smile is a thin disguise…” No criticism here…I hurt for you. I am retired from the day to day, keep the church alive effort, so it is easier for me to speak about it.

Where is it all headed? Hang on…the many changes we are seeing are not over yet. Millions will be choosing to “do church” differently than in the past. Many church people have “leaving on their mind.”