Why People Fall Away

Re-reading all these old journals, thinking about how many people from Missoula no longer identify as followers of Jesus or have any connection with church.

We had 30+ converts... but over half have since fallen away? We had a ton of Christians re-enter church as well... but I'd estimate at least half of them have fallen away too. What do we make of this?

• Both Jesus and Paul seem to think this is going to happen, by the way.
• When you look at people who do fall away – most will point to the failure of the church, or leaders, or Christians.
• But when you look at people who didn't fall away – it's not, Oh, I had great church / leaders / Christian examples...
• Instead, they started reading, praying, and hearing God's voice for themselves. They started responding. That's the single biggest factor...

Churches come and go, too – they have a lifespan. No church lives forever. The church in Missoula is on its last legs (16 years?). Most house churches make it less than 2 years.

• It is not necessarily a bad thing when a church shutters (after all, no church lives forever). Still, if you visited a society where kids only lived 2 - 16 years, you'd probably say, "Hey, we have an infant mortality problem..."
• Single biggest factor in a church's spiritual health – do ordinary people pick up the DNA of the leaders / founders? That's what's going on here – Paul's writing to Timothy, but he intends for this letter to be read to the church, because he wants for them to adopt the things he's telling Timothy...