Should we fret the back door...?

Browsing the web today, I came across a thought-provoking article bearing this title on the LeadershipJournal.net website. The author is a pastor who leads a thriving church in Leawood, Kansas. I think every shepherd can identify with his words when he writes,

I carry a fair amount of guilt about our back door. I think to myself, If I were a better pastor, they would still be here; or, If I had done a better job of discipling them, they would not have fallen away; or, If I hadn't preached on that controversial issue, they would not have left angry. Each one who departs leaves me with a distinct sense of failure.

He goes on to write something we pastors may not think about too
often,

This is an issue Jesus wrestled with. In John 6:66 we read, "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." We know that thousands came to hear Jesus preach, and to eat of the fish and the loaves, yet how few there were that actually pursued the life of discipleship.

Some who heard him were quite critical of Jesus' ministry, accusing him of operating by the power of the Devil! Even his disciples questioned what he was doing. And one of the Twelve became so disillusioned that he betrayed the Lord to his enemies.

Jesus, too, had a "revolving back door" in his ministry.

Many scholars believe that the Parable of the Sower and the Soils reflects Jesus' own self-assessment of his ministry.

He then concludes,

Here's the takeaway: you will never completely close the back door of your church. When people leave, it hurts. Learn all you can from those who leave. Listen to hear if there is something important God would say to you through them.

Reach out to them, apologizing when needed, offering clarification and love when this is what's called for. But remember that when Jesus, God's Word made flesh, preached the gospel on this earth, most of his hearers did not accept his message. Some accused him of having a demon. One of his key leaders even betrayed him.

Jesus knew that God's kingdom would not expand by "pleasing all of the people all of the time." Instead the Kingdom expands as the relative minority of people who hear the gospel, live it, and in turn, give it away. Our task is to keep scattering the seed.

That sounds like good advice to me...! What do you think?