New Blog From the ACELC Website

[D. Engebretson]

Lay people have a much, much louder voice than that. They exercise it by using their feet. For every lay person who waits for a convention to be able to speak up through a delegate, there are dozens who "speak up" by simply changing which church they attend.....

I get the impression that most clergy of most denominations in most faith traditions don't like to acknowledge the fact that for every member they have who'll speak up against events and practices they disagree with, there are a lot more who'll simply leave without a word and go elsewhere.

It is a painful reality, but true.  I've seen it work both ways even in my own parish.  Lay people voting with "their feet" are not much different than the reality in the retail world.  Many people never speak up and voice a complaint.  They just quietly take their business elsewhere.  Sometimes I suspect clergy often find it less painful to let them go and not ask the reasons for their departure rather than work through the issues at hand.  We also sometimes misread the departures and fail to realize the real reason people are leaving.