That Time I Sent Letters to the Townspeople Telling Them They’re Not Welcome at Church

They bend their tongue like a bow . . .

– Jeremiah 9:3

Well, that’s how some read it, anyway.

A woman relatively new to our church expressed concern because she had invited someone from our small town to church and they told her that they received a letter from me saying they weren’t welcome. She wanted to know why I would do that.

I wanted to know why I would do that too, since I hadn’t done it. But I knew what she was talking about.

After a two-year process of working with our deacons and new elder board through the very real problem of a bloated membership roll that did not accurately reflect active membership in the church, and after communicating with the congregation the purpose of this process, this is the text of a letter our church sent out to inactive members. (Not a single one of the recipients, by the way, had attended the church in the last 5 years, and many had not in 10 years or more.)

Dear friend,

My name is Jared Wilson, and I’m the pastor of Middletown Springs Community Church. One of the tasks before the church in my relatively new tenure is to organize our membership rolls to better reflect active participation in the church and in doing so to make contact with members we’ve lost touch with.

Our records indicate that you have been inactive in church attendance or related activities for six months or more, and therefore your name has been placed on the roll of inactive members. Membership is something dear to our church. Active membership and an accurate membership count are keys to our health as a body of believers. We want to be faithful to God in being faithful to each other in our gathering and service.

We would like to hear from you. If you’ve been unable to attend church due to having moved away or having found a new church home, please let us know. If other extenuating circumstances have prevented your attendance, we would like to know that as well. You may write to the address above, call me at _________, or email me at ____________. I would be happy to talk to you about this matter, in person if you prefer.

Should you respond to this letter within 3 months with renewed interest in maintaining your membership, I would love to speak with you about our renewed Statement of Faith and our new Membership Covenant, affirmations of which are required for continued membership in the church. According to church bylaws, should no response to this letter be made within 3 months’ time, your name will be removed from the membership rolls and your right to vote in church affairs will cease.

This action would not remove you from our prayers and concern. Any time you call we will seek to minister to you faithfully as the church has done in the past. If you are able, we would love to have you rejoin us for weekly worship every Sunday at 10 a.m. You are always welcome.

Blessings in the gospel always,

Jared Wilson, Pastor

You will notice a few things that are true about the letter:

1. It is not only not a letter telling people they’re not welcome, it’s not even a letter saying they’re being removed from membership. It is an invitation to talk things over, to see where someone’s at. (I did not send a letter to more recently inactive members but instead visited them personally.)

2. It acknowledges that some may have extenuating circumstances preventing active attendance.

3. It communicates that this process is not something I whipped up just to tick people off but is actually a stipulation of the church’s bylaws, which were drafted before I came and approved by membership vote. I was acting in conformity with the authority I’m under.

But none of this stopped some in the town, angered by the whole thing, from characterizing the letter to others as a declaration of “You’re Not Welcome in the Church.” And without benefit of actually reading it for themselves, some have assumed that characterization is accurate.

This kind of thing happens all the time, outside the church and in it. It is like the grown-up gossip’s version of the telephone game. “Well, I heard…” And what someone heard becomes what someone said, except they never said it. This is another form of crooked speech.

So you can understand, perhaps, why many of us take more cautious routes in response to outrageous claims and accusations.

The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.

– Proverbs 18:17