Missing Members                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                Vol. XV, No. 2, February 2002

Surveys and statistics indicate that approximately 38% of SBC church members are nonresident. Another 20% live in the area, but are inactive in the church. That means more than half of those on the rolls of our churches might as well not be. To report these people as members is not only inaccurate, it is actually dishonest. Our statistics pretend to a strength which is simply not there. The only real value in keeping those names on the roll is for Ego purposes – face-saving. Every church ought to have in its constitution and by-laws a provision to remove those who over a period of time show their complete disinterest, and in any case, should remove the voting rights of such inactives. It ought to be a matter of honor to keep the church roll as truthful as it can be.

[Reprinted from The Watchman, Vol. 2, No. 4, 15 August 2001, M. O. Owens, editor, P.O. Box 2066, Gastonia, NC 28053.]