When is it time for a church to call it quits?
Have you ever lived through the death of a church?
Since posting about photos of abandoned churches last week, “church death” has been on my mind. By chance, I came across a post at Mere Comments about church growth and church death:
To abbreviate a long and painful story, I joined the line of unsuccessful pastors, both liberal and conservative, who were not able to grow the church on the terms its traditions laid down—and at the end of the road it faced dissolution. [...]
I was reminded of this by a letter from someone sorrowfully anticipating the dissolution of her own congregation—a more “natural” death than mine died, for hers is not mortally diseased as mine was. I think it’s just exhausted. As a former pastor of a dying church, I feel quite strongly that such congregations should be allowed to die—that they, just like human beings, when they see the signs of impending death, need to take reasonable steps to dissolve in an orderly and peaceful way. None should be assumed to last forever, and it may also be assumed that if God wanted them to keep going, he could easily and quickly supply the necessary resources, just as he could give any of us, if he chose, a greatly extended life span. But as a rule he does not—in fact, he endorses happenings that lead us to death. He expects us, when we are able, to make our preparations, and die well.
Does that resonate with you?
The default Christian advice to those facing adversity—whether in your personal spiritual life or in your church’s life—is to buckle down, keep the faith, and faithfully plug away in the hope that God will reward your persistence in the end. But is there a time in a church’s life when its failure to overcome the obstacles arrayed against it should be taken as a sign that it’s time to close it down and move on with our lives?
A friend of mine who is the pastor at a small local church recently went through a long and intense experience debating this question with his church. The church had, through a series of largely unavoidable spots of bad luck, experienced a major drop in membership and was faced with the question of whether or not it was worth continuing on with a greatly diminished community. After much prayer and debate, they decided not to call it quits just yet—but reaching that conclusion wasn’t simple or easy.
What about you? Have you experienced a church shutdown, and if so, was it graceful and prayerful… or was it characterized by denial? How do you tell the difference between obstacles that the church can and should work to overcome, and signs that it’s time to close down the church?
I think in a Christian community, if there’s a problem like this, the Christian community will try to extend their help to the church and somehow the problem will somehow be solved.
My church is facing these questions now. Like your friend, we have decided to continue for now “with a greatly diminished community.” I get sad and a little angry and confused about those that have left. I wonder what we could have done or could be doing differently. We’re not perfect, by far, but how much of this is God’s will and how much is due to some kind of negligence on our part? We also want to provide for our pastor and his family, who have served so faithfully all of these years. We’re non-denominational, so the support he might have gotten from a larger body is just not there. For my part, I have never belonged to any other church, since I became a Christian 12.5 years ago, and the phrase “church shopping” sickens me.
A church that my in-laws had pastored experienced this choice as well. The awesome result is that the church chose to dissolve and turn their property and other funds over to another church that was looking to plant a multi-site campus in the area. The way I see it, the decision to stop anything can sometimes mean an open door for the decision to start something better. The kingdom of God is bigger than any one church and as believers we should keep this perspective without shirking our commitment to our local congregation.
Here in Mexico, we dont have notices of evangelical christian churches
who have to close their doors for any reason. I had lived in the United States some years ago. And I remember a lot of baptist churches with
just old members. The youth and children runed away to another more modern temples, with different kind of liturgy, with young pastors,with
modern music instruments.So they just left, I understand that our culture and american culture are different, but we had never think in
left back our elder brothers. I really believe that God not like this
american christian costume. We have to show love to every think that we are thinking to put away, and I talking about temples, furniture, our
elders, our old pastors, and our parents, our old parents. Can you imagine they singin alone Victory in Jesus?What victory we cheer with
out our loveones? My fellow american brother in Christ, you have to think about this…
My husband and I pastor a small fellowship with about 50 members. We do church very differently and have for almost 20 years. We are a church that is comprised of small groups which meet weekly and also corporately every few months for worship services. when we first got started the vision of our church was Evangelism, community and unity among churches in the town we live. This was very successful for many years. Then about 8 years ago, during a time of prayer the Lord warned me that a time was coming when the churches biggest enemy would be busyness. That time is now upon us. Over the years we have seen many families choose to fill their lives so full with activities outside of the church that they are no longer building community, evangelising their neighbors and we have noticed a decline in spiritual vitality because of it. My husband and I have faithfully tried to model the vision, keep teaching and preaching it to no avail. This has caused great sadness in my heart and often frustration to the point of depression. We are seriously thinking of shutting things down. We ask ourselves…why are we putting so much energy into something that appears to be going no where….into trying to build a vision with people who have no passion or desire for it.
I am trying not to allow other peoples choices to be a reflection of me as a leader, but deep down i can’t help but feel like we failed. So much of the world judges others on how successful they are.
One person I ran into said to me that perhaps the vision we have for our church is outdated and God wants to give us a different one….this type of thinking boggles my mind….when has God’s desire for community, evangelism and unity among believers stopped being His heart for the church? At the moment we are just trying to wait and hear God’s heart…who knows, perhaps he has something different for us………
I remember when I was a child in the 1960’s the husband (head of the household) would bring their wife and child(ren) to Sunday school, Morning and Evening services at church and weekly evening bible studies and other church gatherings. They taught holiness, obstinance and Godly principles to follow. Today people are not excited about dying to self and living a life of denying to flesh to run amok. True compassion for the elderly, widows and fatherless was genuine. Many pastors or preachers go to colleges and seminaries to make big bucks in a easy way and prey on people who don’t discern Godliness from schemes. If a church alows people to be as worldly as they want and promise them prosperity most of these are mega churches. But who will have to answer for all of the souls they have led astray with erroneous teaching? If I were facing a church closer decision I would go on a fast,pray for God’s direction and take heed of the answer he provides. Sometimes God will broaden your ministry in a new direction or re-vamp what you already have.
Stay strong in the LORD. God bless all Christians everywhere and do not let your prayers and servatide die. These are the times where there is a great falling away of belivers who don’t desire sound doctrine. They are operatinging in the flesh and not in the Holy Spirit of God.
Have a very Blessed weekend.
Sincerely,
Angela F. Day
Well, several reasons churches are closing in today’s generation.