Another interesting observation from the Reveal survey was that new Christians seemed very satisfied with their church, but the longer a person attended their church, the more dissatisfied they became with the church.  Why would that be?

Perhaps its because when a new Christian starts attending the church, everything is new and challenging for them.  There are new things to learn and new activities and people to meet and try out.  Spiritual growth happens rapidly in the first years.  A person learns that the pastor will always feed them every time they come to church.  Someone will always meet a need in their lives.  But as they mature, people are not taught to feed themselves spiritually or seek God to find answers for themselves.  They keep expecting the church to do it all for them.  Thus, they soon become disillusioned with the pastor and the church.

Perhaps we should challenge new Christians with what they should expect from the church and not let them get this unrealistic expectation up front.  The church should be providing ministry opportunities, but it is the individual Christian’s responsibility to feed themselves and get into small groups even if they create their own.

Tags: pastors, satisfaction, unrealistic expectations