In today’s world we are very careful, when the last activity of the day is over, that the doors are all locked. Yet one door remains unlocked and open in too many congregations. That’s the "back door to marginal membership!"

Is it easy for church members to slip away from active participation in the worship, fellowship and service life of your congregation? Who notices when persons begin to drift into casual participation? In our passion to make new disciples we should not neglect persons whose discipleship is "on hold," or as we United Methodists used to say, have "backslidden."

According to a Lily Foundation study on marginal Protestants this group makes up almost one-half the people on our church rolls. As with most people, "one size does not fit all" in this group. In other words, marginal members cannot be lumped together into one group of folk. Some (30.3 percent) have been "blocked out" of their church by illness, age, work schedule or marriage to an unbeliever. The smallest number (21.7 percent) have "soured out" because of concerns that have not been dealt with to their satisfaction. The largest number (48 percent) have simply "drifted out." In many cases they began to miss church, but were not missed. No one checked up on them. In Jesus’ parable of the Lost Sheep, the shepherd obviously noticed when one of his charges turned up missing. My guess is that he counted them.

Who’s counting in your congregation? What is your system for keeping track of people and contacting them when there is a change in their church activity? Sometimes people will do a "trial separation" by dropping out of Sunday school or church attendance for a few weeks to see if anyone notices. It would be tragic if the only time an inactive person gets any attention is when their names are removed from the church rolls at the annual church conference!