by Mike Riley<\/p>\n
The following are this writer’s observations over forty years as to why churches die. I’m certain that we can all relate to at least one of the categories listed below:<\/p>\n
When the church fights worldly influences such as sin and false doctrine – asking no quarter nor giving any – it prospers. In years past, while brethren bore scars and lost a spiritual battle now and then – they did not lose the war. A two-edged sword was in their hand, and on their side was a divine defense none could penetrate (Ephesians 6:10-17). However, compromise opened the gates and sheathed the sword of the Spirit. The appeal to “Let’s not dispute with people or hurt their feelings” caused many problems. That appeal is the cankerworm and caterpillar that devours any church – until it is at last dead, stripped of its courage and faith.<\/p>\n
All churches lose members through death or moving away. However, indifference or spiritual laziness revises the directory and waits only for move-ins and births. No effort is made to restore the fallen as Scripture demands (Galatians 6:1-2). No seed is sown (cf. Luke 8:5-15; I Corinthians 3:6-9). No one conducts home Bible studies (Acts 5:42). There is no zealous pursuit of souls (Matthew 28:19-20; Luke 15:4-7). That church will gradually, eventually, and ultimately die (Revelation 3:1-6).<\/p>\n
They adopt worldly religious ideals. They see the church as a social reform agency, a general benevolent society, or a recreational institution. Its spiritual mission is all but forgotten (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; II Timothy 2:1-2; 4:2). The harder they incorporate these worldly ideals, the more worldly the church becomes. Ultimately, it is a grotesque caricature of the Lord’s church as described in the New Testament.<\/p>\n
hey are content to open the doors three times a week, have a meeting once a year, and paint the building when it begins to peel. They go in circles, constantly wearing the ruts deeper and deeper. They press without a real goal, running on the treadmill until the church dies (Hebrews 3:6-12; Hebrews 6:4-6; cf. II Peter 2:1-2; I John 4:1).<\/p>\n
Is such a death, as described above, inevitable? Must the Lord’s work be wasted? No, not at all! The Lord has a spiritual prescription to prevent such a death:<\/p>\n
Brethren, may we have the faith, the zeal, and the backbone to take this spiritual prescription.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Mike Riley The following are this writer’s observations over forty years as to why churches die. I’m certain that we can all relate to at least one of the categories listed below: Churches Die at the Tables of Compromise When the church fights worldly influences such as sin and false doctrine – asking no…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[511,448,536,451],"class_list":["post-69101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-apathy","tag-church","tag-preaching","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":63658,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-can-kill-a-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":69101,"position":0},"title":"What Can Kill a Church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 28, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Revelation 3:1-6 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The certainty of life is that it will eventually be followed by death - Ecclesiastes 9:5 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And it is not just people who die, churches die as well. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Unlike people, churches don\u2019t have to die, but they do. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The church at Sardis\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57527,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-evangelism-dying\/","url_meta":{"origin":69101,"position":1},"title":"Is Evangelism Dying?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Lloyd Gale In a recent column of the Christian Science Monitor, Michael Spencer wrote; \"We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billion dollars we have spent on our youth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55631,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-the-churches-of-christ-suffer-from-amnesia\/","url_meta":{"origin":69101,"position":2},"title":"Do the Churches of Christ Suffer from Amnesia?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh Fulford In the October 2022 issue of the Christian Chronicle (identified as a subsidiary of Oklahoma Christian University), a book review is set forth under the headline, \"New book explores where Churches of Christ fit\" (p. 37). The name of the book reviewed is In the Great Stream:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8125,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-so-many-churches-of-christ-so-small\/","url_meta":{"origin":69101,"position":3},"title":"Why are so many churches of Christ so small?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why are so many churches of Christ so small? Why do so many of them seem to have so few young people? Why do so many of them have so many problems? Why are there so many churches? (denominations) Answer: What immediately strikes me is the focus of these\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28730,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-churches-seem-to-pick-and-choose-what-they-practice\/","url_meta":{"origin":69101,"position":4},"title":"Why do churches seem to pick and choose what they practice?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a married woman who has a general question regarding the Stone-Campbell Movement churches, of which I have been a part of (the 'fiddling' branch) since the day I was born.\u00a0I understand that \"where the Bible speaks, we speak,\" and that is the reason why we celebrate the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89963,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/seeker-friendly-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":69101,"position":5},"title":"Seeker-Friendly Churches","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall \"How can we get the unchurched to come to church?\" This important question was asked by a certain soon-to-be \"mega-church\" Pastor. His answer came from listening to the radio. Soon, his church was modeling its worship services after what the world liked in music. Their attendance grew.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}