When a Church Ceases to Want to be a Church

Church today is very different from the days of the past. The “glory days,” so to speak, of when the church was on fire for Christ, evangelistic crusades were common, and the hearts and souls of the world were at the forefront of the church’s collective mind. Salvation was the most important thing to the church; salvation, that is, of the lost, the weary, and the heavy laden. Ah, but times have changed, and not for the better. Church in America has fallen from the fiery hearts of compassion for the lost to the comfort and complacency that is unfortunately plaguing the nation.

I recently asked my congregation how many of them had received a knock on the door by a Jehovah’s Witness or a Mormon. The answer, unsurprisingly, was 100%. Everyone had had that knock on the door that so many dread. Then the question came of how many received a knock on the door by a Christian (evangelical or other), and the answer was an astounding zero. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Not a single person in the church had ever had a Christian knock on their door. Those with the wrong message, one of works to get to heaven and not of the true God, had managed to canvas the entire area. And why shouldn’t they? No one else was going to. Yet, every Christian who has read through the end of Matthew knows that we have a commission; a Great Commission from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. That is to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I [Jesus] have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20, HCSB)

But Jesus didn’t stop there. Knowing that we would be hesitant to put our reputations in jeopardy for Him, despite His sacrifice for us; He re-emphasized the message for us. “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8, HCSB) Evangelism, then, becomes a large component of our mission on earth. Had we not had a duty, a job, a divine calling of some sort, the moment we were saved; poof, God would have taken us up to heaven right then and there. But He did not. He chose to give us the privilege of serving Him; of doing or continuing the work that He started many years ago. Don't get me wrong, door to door evangelism is not the only means that I am talking about, just one method. Go to a grocery store and talk to people, to the mall, anywhere; the point is, spread the message!

The apostle Paul gives great warning as to why we should continue this work and ground ourselves in the faith. In II Timothy 4, Paul writes,

Before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and he dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, I solemnly charge you: proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will accumulate teachers for themselves because the have and itch to hear something new. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. (II Timothy 4:1-4, HCSB)

The time will come when the wolves in sheep’s clothing will try to distort, reword, or simply remove the mission that has been set forth since the dawn of creation. That message is to share the Gospel with all who have ears.

So when does a church cease to want to be a church? It is when the time that Paul has warned comes upon that church. The time when the Sunday morning “Christian” fulfills their so-called duty to be in the church building once a week (remember, the church is the people not the building); and having fulfilled their weekly obligation to God, they go about living their lives as if Christ is not important. It is when the church is more focused on their social standing and non-Christ focused activities in the community than they are about heeding the message of Jesus Himself, and the entire message of the Bible as a whole, to spread the name of the one and true God. It is when the focus of the church is no longer Christ, but rather that Christ has become a nuisance to the direction of the will of that church. It is when the children of the church are considered a hindrance more than a help. When the future generations are looked down upon rather than lifted up. It is at this point when a church no longer wants to be a church.

It is in this desperate time of the church when the parable the talents rings ever so true (Matthew 25:13-40). God will give the talents, and the church that chooses to burry those talents in the ground rather than to spread them to those around them for the glory of God; it is that church that God will one day remove the talent and place them with another church. When a church ceases to desire to function as a place where God is King and Jesus is the center of every activity; it is at this time that the talent has been buried, and only a matter of time until God will take the talent back and redistribute it.

This is a sad commentary on the life of many churches across this nation, but also a warning. A church is not dead until the last ounce of the will to serve has been drained. Until that point, a church can become a church once more. How to do it? Start with prayer that leads to action. Become the laborer that you have been praying for. Develop an action plan that has not only the verbal support of the congregation (that is easy), but the bodies to back it up. Go out and make the Great Commission living and active. “But as for you, keep a clear head about everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (II Timothy 4:5, HCSB) It is at this time, when the church works towards its mission to fulfill the Great Commission, that God will one day look you eye to eye and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” (Matthew 25:23, NKJV)

Don’t let your church fall into the Devil’s snare by becoming ineffective and unconcerned. Be the church that God has called you to be; a church that will spread the Gospel of Jesus despite the praise of man. God bless you.