I don’t know if you had heard the news. Some of you may be shocked because you are hearing this for the first time. The church is dead. I am as shocked as you! I was not aware of this myself, I thought that the church was still under God’s hand and He would take care of her until her mission was completed. Apparently not! The church has reached the end. She is dead. Where did I get my information from? I heard the tragic news from some of her members. They were going on and on about it and finally I asked them what they were talking about. That’s when they told me – the church is dead. I was confused and asked them how they knew this – that’s when they began to tell me what they knew.
Here is a rundown of what they told me concerning the death of the church.
1. Membership had been in decline for some time and finally had reached a point where no one was joining the church. No one was being baptized. Who was to blame for the decline? I suppose you could point your finger in a number of directions. The preacher, the deacons, the Sunday school teachers. The bottom line was – no new members had helped kill the church. Of course the other members had nothing to do with this. Their lack of attendance, their refusal to serve, their unwillingness to love others had no bearing on the decline. The fact that they were not inviting others to worship with them or they would not share the gospel with family and friends had no effect on this at all.
2. The money ran out. We are broke became the word of the day down at the church. We can’t do ministry was the first, middle and final thought resulting in no ministry being done. Where did the money go? Bad stewardship is what some said. Leadership spent and spent and spent still others lamented. Of course no one was willing to talk about whether or not they were faithful tithers. Oh – they talked about what they gave to the church, but was it a tithe? I don’t know. Some were quick to say they did tithe and then go on to tell me exactly how much they gave and how it was misspent. No one seemed willing to consider that what they gave was the Lord’s anyway and that maybe they should trust Him with it. Strange…
3. Prayer quit working. That’s what they said. Who said that??? Well – to be fair no one actually came right out and said it – but the more they talked about the death of the church the more you got the feeling that prayer had quit working. Now, again to be fair we still heard talk about prayer. People would say we need to pray for… and then some request would be made. For example: “We need to pray about our church finances!” That was popular since the money ran out. Of course no one seemed to understand that just saying that would not mean prayers were actually prayed. In fact maybe they should have considered that praying for “church finances” wasn’t even the right prayer to pray. Maybe, if they had asked they would have found out that the prayer should have been, “Lord, bring unity to Your church.” Anyway, when God quit answering their prayers it all seemed pointless.
4. God stopped caring. I don’t know how they figured this out, but they did and when they did they decided they would take charge of ”running” the church in His absence. In their pride they determined they could do a better job than He could. Sure He died for the church, but they were there every week trying to make it all work. Where was He? It was doubtful that He was there at church very often in their opinion. Of course, no one was willing to admit that perhaps they had pushed God away and had taken His place without His permission. It was easier to think He simply quit caring.
So…the church is dead. Sad. She had so much potential. But, if no one is coming, and there is no money, and God’s not answering prayer, AND He doesn’t care… it was inevitable that it would collapse. To be honest I’m surprised she made it this long.
I hope you will pass this on. Others should hear the news. Print a copy and share it so that we can spread the word. Oh – and check back here tomorrow I have another story to share with you! Tomorrow I want to tell you the truth about the church!
Preach it Bro. J!!!! Cannot wait unitl tomorrow to see how the story continues.
Me too!
Hey Jeffery:
I can’t wait to hear your follow up response about how the Church is not necessarily dead after all!! Any plans to preach on the “Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot”? When I found it in the Library, I thought this is fabulous, I get to hear from the betrayer himself how he gave up his Lord and Savior for chump change. I know, it turns out to be a Gnostic book and you and I haven’t discussed the Gnostics yet. I can’t wait to hear your interpretation of the Plemora, the Aeons and and that Christ Jesus was nothing more than an arua with the secrets of heaven he told only to Judas, the hero of the Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot. Guess you didn’t see this comment coming…did you? Yea, I actually do read books. Hey, I was stunned when I read the book. I guess I’m just an old fashion Christian after all. Have you ever delivered a sermon on not believing everything you read in books, especially Gnostic inspired garbage. We need to sit down and talk about this one.
Love you,
Uncle Don
Thanks! I have heard of the book but have not read it – I will read it – we need to get together! I love you too.
Well you asked for it…….
The church is dead because we forgot how to worship. The church is a social club. The doors are open and we come in like cattle expecting to be fed. We get our ear scratched and our belly full and we feel good because we think we have worshipped. When in reality we have died to the world a little more.
If we don’t get FED then we just won’t go back to THAT church because it doesn’t meet our spiritual needs. That is why there is a church on every corner because one didn’t meet the need so they started another one. If we don’t get our way we quit going.
Money, oh no not the money thing. If we give more money then we can’t go out to dinner after church or buy that new outfit. We might have to give up something and then what would the neighbors think! I can’t trust the government with my money, how can you expect me to trust God and the church with my hard earned dollar. I heard that Dave Ramsey guy is a NUT. We can discuss this again with the next class starts in the summer.
Our prayer lists are like Christmas lists with gossip not concerns. We ask God but never listen to His response. He says to GO!!! That means ME. There are no legs on those prayers. We expect the preacher to take care of those prayer needs by reaching out in their spare time, after all that is what they get paid for. Right?
Is God listening to me…. Or will I just not quit talking to hear His response. He wrote me 66 books of Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. You mean He left me Instructions… What an awesome concept maybe if we read the instructions we can get life on earth right and truly become the church we are suppose to be.
Is the church dead… say it aint’ so….. Not flat lined, please give it a jump start. There has to be a pulse there somewhere.
Hey dad really good love u