Why Churches Die
Drive across the countryside and you will find long-ago abandoned church buildings, now dilapidated and boarded-up. What happened to those churches meeting in those places? The skeleton buildings serve as testimony that life left the body. But how does that happen? Churches close for any number of reasons.
• Some died socially. The population moves away from the meeting place and the younger people now attend another church.
• Some churches died of complacency. Leaders and members just no longer cared whether the church survived. Some members prided themselves on their “smallness” as the numbers dwindled year by year. “We like our church to be small,” they bragged. But it was the kiss of death. “They know we are here, they will come if they want to,” was used as an excuse for not reaching out, not advertising, not extending themselves into their community. We have never known of a thriving congregation with that sort of attitude.
• Some died from negativity. The church became known more for what it was “against,” than what it was “for.” Thriving churches rally around leaders who are moving forward, finding new enthusiasm for the same Gospel as always. Declining churches are composed of complainers who constantly second-guess their leaders over silly, incidental matters. They allow the future of the church to be minimized by critics who throw fits to get their way.
• Some churches decline due to personal agendas. Whenever someone promotes any idea not according to the Gospel of Christ, he is seeking his own agenda. Agendas can come from the right or the left. An agenda is someone’s personal mission, pitting one side of a congregation against another. Disunity is the aim of such agendas (I Cor. 1:10-17). Are there preventatives for church deaths? Certainly so!
• There is love. A lack of it will kill a church. Love for the Lord and one another is an essential (Matt. 22:37-40). An increase in love usually results in an increase in membership.
• Then, there is prayer. A growing church is a praying church. A church not praying together will soon wonder where all the members went (Phil. 4:6). Every congregation should emphasize prayer together. Prayer should be made for the weak and for the strong. Prayer should invoke the will of the Lord being done (I Jn. 5:14). Never cease in expressing love and thanksgiving to God (I Thess. 5:17).
• Beyond this, there is Bible study. Congregations slide toward extinction when they drift away from serious Scripture study. Stale, man-made philosophy substituted for the bread of life being broken results in a church starving to death. Never underestimate the life-giving, power of the Word (Heb. 4:12). These three preventatives, taken together, will keep churches from dying.
