Pastoral hypocrisy and bad preaching are a turnoff to churchgoers - Lifeway Research
People aren’t leaving a church because they have a personal complaint against the pastor or his preaching, but some are.
Churchgoers change churches for various reasons, with residential moves and dissatisfaction with the church or pastor among common factors, according to Lifeway Research.
The research highlights the significant impact of residential moves on church changes, with 60% of churchgoers attributing their change to a residential move.
That’s the good news. However, churchgoers who changed churches for a reason other than a residential move are most likely to say they made this change because of changes at the church they did not like (29%) and the church was not fulfilling their needs or reasons for attending (29%).
Additionally, 1 in 4 (27%) say they changed churches because they became disenchanted with the pastor. Churchgoers who switched churches because they were disenchanted with their previous pastor commonly say the pastor seemed hypocritical, judgmental, and insincere.