“Pastor,” we heard the conference speaker say, “your front door is the most important, but you can’t forget to pay attention to the back door.” That sounds like good advice, doesn’t it? Growth comes through the front door, but growth is retained by means of the back door. The voice of wisdom might be understood to say that depth of discipleship is best attained by keeping the back door closely guarded. (In case these terms are unfamiliar, the front door refers to people coming to your church for the first time while the back door refers to people quitting your church).
Scripture names two main purposes for the church. In Matthew 28 they are known as “go” and “make disciples,” in James 1 they are stated a little differently as “look after widows and orphans” and “keep from being polluted by the world.” In 2Peter 3 they are “speed his coming” and “live holy and godly lives.” Regardless of how it’s stated throughout the Word, it always boils down to what we might call “outward” and “inward.” And while both of these main purposes of the church are crucial, one is always primary and the other is always secondary. The thing holding the Bridegroom back is not the readiness of the Bride (Revelation 19.7-8) but the number of the lost (2Peter 3.7-9, Matthew 24.14). Outward has priority over inward, though both are important. So then, was the conference speaker right?
In Forgotten Ways, Alan Hirsch uses the analogy from the vast interior ranches of Australia which contain their cattle, not with an impossible length of fences around a ridiculous expanse of acreage, but with a strong, centrally-located well of refreshing water. In the open, arid landscape, the well contains the ranch’s cattle far more effectively, and expediently, than steely barbwire ever could. See, if we have something with a super powerful draw, we no longer need to worry about containment.
Imagine for a moment, pastor or church leader, what your life and daily work would be like if you had no reason to worry much at all over your back door. You wouldn’t have that constant, nagging, back-of-the-brain fear that if you don’t work hard enough to meet everyone’s needs and expectations, key people will exit the back door and your church will fall apart. You would no longer feel very vulnerable to un-Christ-like power plays or “big giver” ploys. You’d feel much freer to appropriate the gobs of time required each week to executive-level praying, planning, dreaming, team-building, communicating, and networking. What a rewarding, invigorating delight that is … for the pastor who chooses to focus almost exclusively on the front door.
The front door is where it’s at. The front door is the “outward,” the priority of the church. A determined, intentionally myopic focus on the front door keeps your people excited and in the game, because there’s nothing even remotely so motivating and magnetic as a white hot mission like the one to which Jesus is calling his Bride-to-be to reach the perishing and dying. Ironically, (especially if you are reading this post and arguing that inward should have priority over outward), it turns out that the most effective, organic, and genuine method of making mature disciples is by doing “outward.” In other words, a secondary inward focus is best achieved in the pursuit of the primary outward focus.
If your internal church culture and psyche is fixated on and obsessed with reaching the truly far-from-God and hard-to-get in your zip code and is brainstorming and experimenting like crazy and prayerfully risking it all and doing whatever it takes to build patient relational bridges with them, you have no need to watch your back door. Yes, some will go out through it. You’ll contribute to transfer growth (church-hopping) yet you won’t be a recipient of any transfer growth yourself. But those who stay will be aligned and on fire.
Want to get there? The place to start is with a clarified mission. We’d love to come beside you as a guide. Can’t wait to meet you.
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