A family left the church recently because they didn't like one of the changes in worship. The pastor had been confronted by the board chair who demanded the pastor "Go after them and bring them back." The pastor kept his cool and gently sidestepped the confrontation, but gave me (his coach) a call the next day.

"The family that left had five children. Two were active in our youth program and two were fairly regular in our kids' worship. But here's what I couldn't really say to the board chair. First, over the past two years, they had given exactly zero dollars to the church. Second, they came to church, sat in a pew, and did nothing else, other than their children went to their respective age-stage programming. And third, the parents are very needy. There's always some crisis they're dealing with and they want the church to intervene. To my knowledge, they've never asked for money, but they drip drama wherever they go. I understand the chair's desire to have them back because our 'numbers' just dropped, but I'm not real motivated to chase them down."

It seems to be that there are three classes of "church members." There are the Idle, the Faithful Consumers, and the Disciples of Jesus Christ.