Seven Sins of Dying Churches #1

Why are so many people leaving the church?

As a pastor and church planter, I have a heart to reach the "dones".  This group of 35 million people grew up in the church or came into the church at some point in their life, but now they have nothing to do with the church.  Many still profess faith in Christ, they just think the church is not essential for their life and their spirituality.

I truly love these folks.  At this stage of my life, I can also identify with them.  While I know in my head and I have seen glimpses with my eyes that the church is the radiant bride of Christ, so often the church is concerned about things that appear to run counter to the gospel.  Even worse, though people recognize this fact, nothing appears to be done about it in 95% of the churches.

Yuck.

I get it.  I have lived and seen the ugly underbelly of fallen churches.  I have seen the hurt to individuals and families by the ungodly and uncaring attitudes of church people.  I have experienced churches and entire denominations that aren't really concerned with reaching a new generation with the gospel.

Yet, I love the Church.  I love Jesus, and He loves the Church.  I am compelled to try to make the local church reflective of the beauty of the universal Church.  When the church functions well, it is the most beautiful redemptive force in the universe.  Through the Church, the Holy Spirit flows and works.

So why do we see the beauty of the church so rarely?

Because the church is a fallen entity composed of fallen people.  If we are not constantly renewed by the Holy Spirit and the True Truth of the gospel, we fall into predictable patterns of sin.  What are these patterns?

Today I want to share a perspective written by Thom and Sam Rainer in their book Essential Church: reclaiming a generation of dropouts (2008).  As someone who has worked to help the church reclaim what is essential, I find myself in almost complete agreement with the conclusions of this book.  I share their observations for comment and consideration.

The following seven posts will include what the Rainers categorized as some of the more common transgressions that dying church commit.  I know I have seen them.

Sin 1.  Doctrine Dilution

Certain absolutes found within Scripture are so crucial that a Christian should be willing to sacrifice his or her life for them.  Cardinal truths such as the exclusivity of Christ must be followed if the American church is to survive this evangelistic crisis.  Watering down Scripture is not the answer to reaching a younger generation for Christ.  They do not want to be mollycoddled with tough doctrinal truths.  Teaching anything less than the absolute truths of Scripture will make the younger generation feel betrayed when they learn that a large gap exists between what the Bible really says and what they were taught in church.  Diluting the truth to cater to eighteen- to twenty-two-year-olds may work for a time, but low-dose Christianity stings the church much worse in the long run.

Essential Church, 16-17.