The young shepherd boy, David, went to battle against the giant enemy. David took charge of the battle and did not wait for the generals to sound the charge.
When Christians begin looking around it appears that Satan, our enemy, is winning the war. He has certainly won many of the battles.
Why does it look like the enemy is winning on many fronts? Doesn't the Bible declare the Church victorious? Why has the church reached a plateau and started to decline?
To be fair, not all churches are declining, however, most of the churches that are growing are getting bigger at the expense of other churches--transfer growth is not growth. When we begin to realize this, we will all be more motivated to do something about it. Many pastor's whose churches start syphoning off others members use the excuse, "Its not my fault that they prefer go to my church than their old one." I have heard pastor's us the phrase unchurched or under-churched to describe people that may attend a church, but are not fully engaged into the body and mission of the church. The truth is, it is just easier to attract Christians to church than non-Christians. If non-Christians were easy to reach, then all churches would be growing.
Psychologists have a term for when a person has conflicting values and try to reconcile them--cognitive dissidence. The conflict that pastor's have is that in their heart they do not like the notion that they are stealing members from other churches, but they also want to grow a church and more members means more resources. They are seduced by the thought that they are preferred to the others. It plays into their pride. They say to themselves that when my church grows large enough, then I will have the resources we need to evangelize.
Back to my question--why are churches declining?
I want to make several observations from my experience, from what the Christian leadership literature says, and from personal discussions with pastors and church members.
1. Churches decline because they have lost their ability to impact their community.
Many churches are not impacting their community and don't seem to know how to make a difference in the lives of the community. This is a leadership problem. In my opinion, one of the problems is that most of our churches are led by men whose primary gift is pastor. If a church is led by a man whose primary gift is pastor, they should surround themselves with men with other gifts. Pastors whose churches are growing have done this either on purpose or by accident. We need church leaders with strategic insight that can target and impact their communities, many pastors lack this strategic ability or are too busy shepherding the flock. The lead person (usually called pastor) must put together a team of gifted individuals to lead the church.
2. Churches decline because we are not training leaders that can impact their communities within their areas of gifting.
For all of the literature and discussion on Ephesians 4:11-13, it seems few churches are actually good at it. The current teaching says that the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher are given to the church to train workers to build up the body of Christ. If this teaching is correct, I know of only a handful of churches in my community that does it well. If those with the gift of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher cannot impact their community, how then can we expect those that they train to do much better?
Am I saying that we should never change churches?
Glad you asked...that is NOT what I am saying.
Assuming that the doctrine of the church you are attending is acceptable to you and there are not obvious signs of heresy, discord, or immorality, then you should stay and make a difference. "I am not being fed," is the most common excuse that I hear for a Christian to change churches. When I hear that, I really hear, "I am not satisfied at this church and this is the only excuse that puts the blame on the church and not my dissatisfaction."
The only good excuse for changing churches is for an opportunity to use your gifts for the glory of God. Some churches have enough people with your gift that you may not have a place to be used. If that is the case, there are many churches that need mature Christians that know what their gifts are and how to use them--go there, they would love to have you.
What is the Lord saying now?
Don't wait for the generals (church leaders) to lead you into battle. Be like David and take the fight to the giant.
2. Churches decline because we are not training leaders that can impact their communities within their areas of gifting.
For all of the literature and discussion on Ephesians 4:11-13, it seems few churches are actually good at it. The current teaching says that the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher are given to the church to train workers to build up the body of Christ. If this teaching is correct, I know of only a handful of churches in my community that does it well. If those with the gift of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher cannot impact their community, how then can we expect those that they train to do much better?
Am I saying that we should never change churches?
Glad you asked...that is NOT what I am saying.
Assuming that the doctrine of the church you are attending is acceptable to you and there are not obvious signs of heresy, discord, or immorality, then you should stay and make a difference. "I am not being fed," is the most common excuse that I hear for a Christian to change churches. When I hear that, I really hear, "I am not satisfied at this church and this is the only excuse that puts the blame on the church and not my dissatisfaction."
The only good excuse for changing churches is for an opportunity to use your gifts for the glory of God. Some churches have enough people with your gift that you may not have a place to be used. If that is the case, there are many churches that need mature Christians that know what their gifts are and how to use them--go there, they would love to have you.
What is the Lord saying now?
Don't wait for the generals (church leaders) to lead you into battle. Be like David and take the fight to the giant.
