Dying Churches

Dying Churches

I drive through a lot of towns when I go out to take barn pictures. I love driving through the country, just looking at the scenery. Recently, I found some nice barns but the real prize came when I stumbled across an old Episcopal church that was built in 1833. It’s empty now, but it used to be an active church in the center of a growing town.

It makes me stop to think, what happened to all of those old churches that I find in these towns? It seems like a lot of towns around me have vacant historic churches.

I think the truth lies in the reality that God is not interested in churches that aren’t living out His mission. When a church turns its back on God it cuts off its true source of life. When a church pushes God aside to make room for its own agenda it is telling God that He is no longer the focus there.

When God is no longer welcome, He takes His blessing away. That blessing is what keeps the church alive. You can’t keep a church’s doors open with money and your own agenda, no matter how good your agenda is. Churches are not like businesses. A church needs the blessing of God and the active participation of His Holy Spirit. This is why denominations that are agenda-driven have lost more than half of their flocks.

The lifeblood of the church is its commitment to the Word of God and a congregation that puts God and His glory first. In Revelation 2, Jesus said this to a church that had forgotten its purpose:

Revelation 2:5

“Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.”

Is your church dying? That’s question we all should ask from time to time. Would you like to know why? Revelation 2 is a good place to start looking. It’s probably time to put God back into the center of things.