Sardis: How to Kill a Church

It doesn't take the gift of discernment to see that churches have struggled that last several decades. Churches have closed their doors. Ed Stetzer in "Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age" records that 3,500-4,000 U.S. churches close each year. What is more alarming is that half of all churches did not even add one new member through conversion last year. One report indicated only 2.2% of church are growing through conversion! Another statistic was that - churches in America are losing 2,765,000 people a year. These are the ones that fall between the cracks and are gone. One last note, it has been reported that 1,500 ministers leave the ministry every month. (This is due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.)

Sunday we will study the church in Sardis again. This time we will learn how a church dies. Last week was the solution this week will be a diagnosis of what went wrong. Today when I see churches and their supreme goal is survival I know that we have lost our way. The tragedy is not that churches are dying but that churches have lost their reason to live! They forgot about life and they fell asleep. What is interesting to me - the decline usually begins when things are going well.

In nature we have one of the most inspiring examples of sacrifice. The salmon works its way upstream for the sole purpose of spawning a new generation. I would add even at the cost of their own life. In death we have the birth of new life. Jesus reminds us that unless the seed dies it can not produce life. This is opposite of the church growth message of finding a church that meets your needs. It is conversion not comfort that builds God's church. It is sacrifice and not selfishness that preserves a church. Maybe we need to learn to die before we die! See you Sunday.

July 21, 2010