Leading a church is not only about organizing programs, preaching, teaching and doing other pastoral duties as the spiritual leader. Church has become complex and the neglect of other sensitive areas become recipe for disaster. The church has to be in equilibrium and meet the various needs of her members. When you are done reading, kindly tell us your views by commenting on ways to know your church will soon collapse or on how church leaders might be destroying the church of God.
21 Ways to Know Your Church Will Soon Collapse
- When the Spirit of God Departs
When the Spirit of God leaves any church, you will realize that everything has just become a formality, methodology, trickery and use of psychology just to psyche people as if God is still at work. There are many pastors who have turned into motivational speakers just to keep the interest of the members alive. The church becomes a social club when the Spirit of God leaves. It is a dangerous thing to be in such a church. “Many pastors and false prophets now fake the presence of God but they cannot fake the impact on the lives of the members”, Ernest K. Akorli.
- Concentrates Only on Receiving from Members
Churches are run on offerings and donations given by both members and non-members but the church must not always be at the receiving side all the time. It has become a norm in most churches where members are compelled to give whether they understand the reason for which they have to give or not. Giving has to be done with understanding, according to scripture and one’s will. Too much financial demand from the church members will definitely lead some of the members to exit the church.
Recommended For You: 20 Ways Christians Block or Miss Their Blessings
- When Project Funds are Misappropriated
One of the mistakes pastors and church leaders make is diverting project funds for other things. This destroys the trust and respect members have for the leadership of the church. This situation is typical of churches whose founders handle most aspects of the church’s activities including being the sole signatory to the church’s account. When leaders become unfaithful in managing church funds, members will not be faithful and willing to give for other projects and this opens the backdoor of the church for irate members to look for better churches to attend.
- Shallow Teaching/Preaching
The quality of the message you give your members as a pastor or church leader is more important than the mega auditorium structure you built. Having a big auditorium and fully furnished with modern equipment is not enough. Highly learned and educated members have an expectation from church leaders. The church leader whose sermons are always shallow and full of basic information is likely to lose the highly educated and well informed class of membership.
- Neglect of Members Welfare
Welfare of church members should be a priority to every pastor and church leader. When members are comfortable and well off in life, they bless their leaders willingly without request. Events such as weddings, funerals, naming ceremonies, time of sickness, loss of jobs and properties and other challenges members go through should be taken serious with proper welfare policies. The church is the immediate family to members whose family members are far away and if members cannot take solace in the church then that church is likely to lose members.
- Neglect Educational needs
Education in Africa began through missionaries who started schools in castles and forts during the time of slave trade. The church with good educational and other scholarship funds for needy but brilliant student membership is likely to attract people from even other churches. The church should be able to sponsor some brilliant but needy students. The good news is that students who are assisted financially become a bigger blessing to the church and the society in general.
- Neglect Occupational Needs
Church and ministry have become very dynamic and complex. These days, some churches have established credit facilities to assist entrepreneurs, sponsor members to learn a trade and assist a lot of their members without any formal education to establish their own petty trade without charging money. Other churches are also assisting prostitutes to learn a trade instead of engaging in such evil businesses. Know that your members will leave your church if a nearby church gives members these occupational opportunities which are lacking in your church.
- Neglect Technological Way of Advancing the Gospel
Compare these two churches. Church ‘A’ uses modern technology to propagate and promote the gospel.
- Absentee members are easily tracked and followed using church management and database software.
- Absentee members are able to access sermons and teachings live on the internet, videos and audios can be watched and download on YouTube.
- LCD and LED screens are fixed in church auditorium to assist members sitting afar and those at the overflow.
- Members receive daily devotional messages from church leaders through church apps and other means.
- Church ‘B’ on the other hand is the direct opposite of ‘A’. Unfortunately, most church leaders are found wanting in Category B. Know that a nearby church that has embraced the power of technology is likely to attract your members.
- When visitation is missing: “Church is only church when in church”
Church members expect their leaders to also visit them at home and if possible, in the work places just as pastors expect members to visit them in the mission houses. Members expect leaders to visit them when they are sick and bereaved and pray for them. In James 5:13-14, the Bible entreats elders or leadership of the church to pray for the sick members. It is the duty of leaders to visit members, counsel them, pray with them and advise them. Failure to do these things causes the aggrieved members to look for other churches where they could find their comfort.
- Compromised morality and holiness.
These days, there has been news around about sex on the pulpit and pews. Pastors and church leaders are fornicating with members and members are also doing same. Any church that compromises its moral values is heading towards destruction and division. The church is not any mere social organization.
The church belongs to Christ, and Jesus established the church on holiness and power. News about sexual immorality in any church demoralizes members, tarnishes the name of the church and couples and parents will be compelled to force their partners and children to stop attending such churches for fear of being the next victim. Issues bothering on loose moral values are one of the ways of collapsing a church.
- Untapped talents of the youth
Any church leader that does not take the youth ministry serious is not serious about the future of his church. The youth normally constitute the larger number of church membership. It is rather unfortunate that in most churches, it is always the founders who preach and do most of the activities in church leaving the talents in the youth lying dormant. Your church has no future if you do not develop the potentials in the youth, hence the reason for many breakaway ministries when people feel their potentials are being underutilized.
Don’t Miss the Part 2 Click here to read the continuing part of the article
