diff --git a/spring-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/kafka/listener/ContainerProperties.java b/spring-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/kafka/listener/ContainerProperties.java
index 923248d7..33663396 100644
--- a/spring-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/kafka/listener/ContainerProperties.java
+++ b/spring-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/kafka/listener/ContainerProperties.java
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ public class ContainerProperties extends ConsumerProperties {
 
 	private boolean logContainerConfig;
 
-	private boolean missingTopicsFatal = true;
+	private boolean missingTopicsFatal = false;
 
 	private long idleBetweenPolls;
 
@@ -482,7 +482,7 @@ public class ContainerProperties extends ConsumerProperties {
 
 	/**
 	 * If true, the container won't start if any of the configured topics are not present
-	 * on the broker. Does not apply when topic patterns are configured. Default true;
+	 * on the broker. Does not apply when topic patterns are configured. Default false.
 	 * @return the missingTopicsFatal.
 	 * @since 2.2
 	 */
diff --git a/spring-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/kafka/listener/KafkaMessageListenerContainerTests.java b/spring-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/kafka/listener/KafkaMessageListenerContainerTests.java
index 451d4507..5deba67f 100644
--- a/spring-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/kafka/listener/KafkaMessageListenerContainerTests.java
+++ b/spring-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/kafka/listener/KafkaMessageListenerContainerTests.java
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ import static org.mockito.Mockito.never;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
-import static org.mockito.Mockito.withSettings;
 
 import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
@@ -2269,7 +2268,7 @@ public class KafkaMessageListenerContainerTests {
 	@Test
 	public void testPauseResumeAndConsumerSeekAware() throws Exception {
 		ConsumerFactory<Integer, String> cf = mock(ConsumerFactory.class);
-		Consumer<Integer, String> consumer = mock(Consumer.class, withSettings().verboseLogging());
+		Consumer<Integer, String> consumer = mock(Consumer.class);
 		given(cf.createConsumer(eq("grp"), eq("clientId"), isNull(), any())).willReturn(consumer);
 		Map<String, Object> cfProps = new LinkedHashMap<>();
 		cfProps.put(ConsumerConfig.DEFAULT_API_TIMEOUT_MS_CONFIG, 45000);
@@ -2294,11 +2293,11 @@ public class KafkaMessageListenerContainerTests {
 			}
 			return first.getAndSet(false) ? consumerRecords : emptyRecords;
 		});
-		final CountDownLatch commitLatch = new CountDownLatch(5); // assignment + 4
+		final CountDownLatch seekLatch = new CountDownLatch(7);
 		willAnswer(i -> {
-			commitLatch.countDown();
+			seekLatch.countDown();
 			return null;
-		}).given(consumer).commitSync(anyMap(), any());
+		}).given(consumer).seekToEnd(any());
 		given(consumer.assignment()).willReturn(records.keySet());
 		final CountDownLatch pauseLatch1 = new CountDownLatch(2); // consumer, event publisher
 		final CountDownLatch pauseLatch2 = new CountDownLatch(2); // consumer, consumer
@@ -2371,7 +2370,7 @@ public class KafkaMessageListenerContainerTests {
 			}
 		});
 		container.start();
-		assertThat(commitLatch.await(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS)).isTrue();
+		assertThat(seekLatch.await(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS)).isTrue();
 		InOrder inOrder = inOrder(consumer);
 		inOrder.verify(consumer).commitSync(anyMap(), eq(Duration.ofSeconds(41)));
 
diff --git a/spring-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/kafka/listener/MissingTopicsTests.java b/spring-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/kafka/listener/MissingTopicsTests.java
index 67796800..264cf30a 100644
--- a/spring-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/kafka/listener/MissingTopicsTests.java
+++ b/spring-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/kafka/listener/MissingTopicsTests.java
@@ -51,9 +51,11 @@ public class MissingTopicsTests {
 		DefaultKafkaConsumerFactory<Integer, String> cf = new DefaultKafkaConsumerFactory<>(props);
 		ContainerProperties containerProps = new ContainerProperties("notexisting");
 		containerProps.setMessageListener((MessageListener<Integer, String>) message -> { });
+		containerProps.setMissingTopicsFatal(true);
 		ConcurrentMessageListenerContainer<Integer, String> container =
 				new ConcurrentMessageListenerContainer<>(cf, containerProps);
 		container.setBeanName("testMissing1");
+
 		try {
 			container.start();
 			fail("Expected exception");
@@ -69,6 +71,7 @@ public class MissingTopicsTests {
 		DefaultKafkaConsumerFactory<Integer, String> cf = new DefaultKafkaConsumerFactory<>(props);
 		ContainerProperties containerProps = new ContainerProperties("notexisting");
 		containerProps.setMessageListener((MessageListener<Integer, String>) message -> { });
+		containerProps.setMissingTopicsFatal(true);
 		KafkaMessageListenerContainer<Integer, String> container =
 				new KafkaMessageListenerContainer<>(cf, containerProps);
 		container.setBeanName("testMissing2");
diff --git a/src/reference/asciidoc/whats-new.adoc b/src/reference/asciidoc/whats-new.adoc
index a428bd93..c796f1cf 100644
--- a/src/reference/asciidoc/whats-new.adoc
+++ b/src/reference/asciidoc/whats-new.adoc
@@ -18,6 +18,11 @@ This version requires the 2.3.0 `kafka-clients` or higher.
 
 `TopicPartitionInitialOffset` is deprecated in favor of `TopicPartitionOffset`.
 
+==== Configuration Changes
+
+Starting with version 2.3.4, the `missingTopicsFatal` container property is false by default.
+When this is true, the application fails to start if the broker is down; many users were affected by this change; given that Kafka is a high-availability platform, we did not anticipate that starting an application with no active brokers would be a common use case.
+
 ==== Producer and Consumer Factory Changes
 
 The `DefaultKafkaProducerFactory` can now be configured to create a producer per thread.