I was their church consultant in 2003. The church’s peak attendance was 750 in 1975. By the time I got there the attendance had fallen to an average of 83. The large sanctuary seemed to swallow the relatively small crowd on Sunday morning.
The reality was that most of the members did not want me there. They were not about to pay a consultant to tell them what was wrong with their church. Only when a benevolent member offered to foot my entire bill did the congregation grudgingly agree to retain me.
I worked with the church for three weeks. The problems were obvious; the solutions were difficult.
On my last day, the benefactor walked me to my rental car. “What do you think, Thom?” he asked. He could see the uncertainty in my expression, so he clarified. “How long can our church survive?” I paused for a moment, and then offered the bad news. “I believe the church will close its doors in five years.”
I was wrong. The church closed just a few weeks ago. Like many dying churches, it held on to life tenaciously. This church lasted ten years after my terminal diagnosis.
My friend from the church called to tell me the news. I took no pleasure in discovering that not only was my diagnosis correct, I had mostly gotten right all the signs of the impending death of the church. Together my friend and I reviewed the past ten years. I think we were able to piece together a fairly accurate autopsy. Here are eleven things I learned.
- The church refused to look like the community. The community began a transition toward a lower socioeconomic class thirty years ago, but the church members had no desire to reach the new residents. The congregation thus became an island of middle-class members in a sea of lower-class residents.
- The church had no community-focused ministries. This part of the autopsy may seem to be stating the obvious, but I wanted to be certain. My friend affirmed my suspicions. There was no attempt to reach the community.
- Members became more focused on memorials. Do not hear my statement as a criticism of memorials. Indeed, I recently funded a memorial in memory of my late grandson. The memorials at the church were chairs, tables, rooms, and other places where a neat plaque could be placed. The point is that the memorials became an obsession at the church. More and more emphasis was placed on the past.
- The percentage of the budget for members’ needs kept increasing. At the church’s death, the percentage was over 98 percent.
- There were no evangelistic emphases. When a church loses its passion to reach the lost, the congregation begins to die.
- The members had more and more arguments about what they wanted. As the church continued to decline toward death, the inward focus of the members turned caustic. Arguments were more frequent; business meetings became more acrimonious.
- With few exceptions, pastoral tenure grew shorter and shorter. The church had seven pastors in its final ten years. The last three pastors were bi-vocational. All of the seven pastors left discouraged.
- The church rarely prayed together. In its last eight years, the only time of corporate prayer was a three-minute period in the Sunday worship service. Prayers were always limited to members, their friends and families, and their physical needs.
- The church had no clarity as to why it existed. There was no vision, no mission, and no purpose.
- The members idolized another era. All of the active members were over the age of 67 the last six years of the church. And they all remembered fondly, to the point of idolatry, was the era of the 1970s. They saw their future to be returning to the past.
- The facilities continued to deteriorate. It wasn’t really a financial issue. Instead, the members failed to see the continuous deterioration of the church building. Simple stated, they no longer had “outsider eyes.”
Though this story is bleak and discouraging, we must learn from such examples. As many as 100,000 churches in America could be dying. Their time is short, perhaps less than ten years.
What do you think of the autopsy on this church? What can we do to reverse these trends?
Posted on April 24, 2013
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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473 Comments
I’m not a pastor, however, I have been a pastor’s secretary, church secretary, church treasurer, and church cllerk. I believe a church dies when the people lose their vision to the needs of the people in the community. Years ago, the Lord allowed me and gave me the words to write a poem titled, “The Beautiful Church and the Stranger”. It is long 18 verses. Growing up in country churches, everybody loved everyone, where is the love now ? This is so sad to say, I am a Christian, yet, going into some of the churches today, I feel so “not there”. It is sad to say that I am more comfortable and God is speaking to me and I am learning more by my faithful attendance to watching Dr. Charles Stanley on Sunday mornings.
It is sad that almost every day we hear of churches that find themselves in this type of situation. Many have become a group of people without a biblical purpose and vision. They will have many members that believe all that is needed within the church is to have a pastor preaching on Sunday, available to preach funeral and weddings, and visit them when they are in the hospital. You will never hear concern or even hear anything mentioned about the few in number of salvations or baptisms that are taking place. There will be some controlling members that would rather hold on to traditions and get their way than see the Great Commission fulfilled, which will eventually result in a church closing its doors for good.
Mike
Thank you Thom for this article. What you said here is both important and very enlightening.
Eight years ago, my wife and I visited a church in the neighborhood where we had just moved. We enjoyed the fellowship, but sensed that the church was in a sharp decline. They had two pastors. One had to leave because of kidney problems, and the other left, I believe, because he was discouraged with how things were going there. The services were mostly small, with lots of empty seats. This was a congregation of mostly older (50+ years) Caucasian congregants.
When we started going there (but were not members at the time), we’d heard talk that they were considering, as a church body, the idea of merging with another local church (both of them Baptist churches). The other church was a growing Filipino church, that was looking for a building to grow in. My wife and I were still looking for a church home at this time, and did not end up settling in at this particular church at that time, but we heard and saw later on how things went.
As things happened, the two churches did in fact merge into one congregation. At the same time, many of those who were still attending the church that was already in the building before the merge stopped attending, because they apparently were not comfortable with the idea of meeting with cultural Filipinos as part of the same church body. At the same time, as far as I know, many of the members of the Filipino church body also did not ‘make the jump’, but moved on to other churches (I assume that they moved on to other, culturally Filipino churches).
We saw the result of the merge about 2 1/2 years ago, when the Lord gave me a burden to move to a local church, that would be closer to where we live. I mention this because in the intervening years between when we first visited this particular church, and when we again visited it, we had been fellowshiping at another church, in another town, as my wife liked the pastor there.
When we came back to this local, little baptist church, we noticed that perhaps ten or so of the members of the original church were still there, along with several members of the former Filipino church that had merged with them, along with a couple of handfuls of newer members. So it was a small congregation, with about a 50 – 50 mix of Filipino and non Filipino congregants.
We’ve been fellowshiping there ever since, and have watched the congregation grow from not much more than maybe 20 or so people on a Sunday morning, to probably about double to triple that number now. It’s still a small congregation, but it is a very dynamic one.
I mention these things, because much of what I see happening there is what you mentioned on the list in your article. I think that 8 years ago, we briefly witnessed a church that was becoming sick, and was quickly declining. God brought them through a valley, and brought in a new pastor who has a powerful burden and vision for outreach to the lost, and that is probably the biggest part of the focus at this particular church now. We have found a strong and real church family, where there is a lot of outreach and ministry to the local community. When we first visited, I honestly did not expect that the doors would still be open these 8 years later. So, much to my surprise and rejoicing, they (we) are still there, and God is using this little, but growing church in a big way.
Thank you again for what you wrote. I will be sharing your article with my pastor. I think it will encourage him that we are on the right path.
Al
Great story Al. Thanks for sharing.
Thom, I currently pastor a church that used to look very much like the church you describe. I described it when I got there as 40 old white folks driving in from out of town, into a neighborhood that was transitioning to a racially and financially diverse community. We intentionally began to cast vision for what it would look like if we really loved our neighbors like Jesus told us to and stopped worrying about how to get the people in the building and started focusing on how to get the people in the building out into the neighborhood serving our neighbors. Over the past 4 years the church grew from 40 to 400 with over 200 (50%) of those attendees being African-Americans from the neighborhood. We have engaged in sustained and intentional mission focus that has reclaimed a firehouse as a community center, developed a community garden, started a halfway/recovery house, and built 25 new homes for low income families within 5 blocks of our church. A year ago, this church actually launched a new church start in a neighboring town and is continuing to multiply. I write all this not to brag but to give hope. If there is a leader who is willing to really lead and a core of people who are willing to do whatever it takes to be the hands and feet of Jesus, miracles happen. Thanks for your work.
Dave –
What an incredible story! I may want to get more information from you. Thanks for your words of hope and encouragement.
connect with me any time Thom – I’d be happy to share our story with you.
Dave, I’d like some information on how your church went about establishing the community garden, and the low-income housing. Thank you.
Iris, feel free to email me with some specific questions at [email protected] and I’d be happy to share our story with you.
Dave,
It sounds like your parish had something that Thom’s example lacked: that core of people willing and ready to do anything necessary for Jesus’s work. A parish which has that can find or make the leader they need, but the question is: can any leader develop that core when it wasn’t there before? If so, how soon do they need to come into the picture before it’s too late?
~Warren
It’s nice to hear some are turning things around. I’m dismayed at the way thijgs went at our Church considering I heard everyone agree to blend with other races but then as soon as some non white races attended they made derogatory comments, or ignorant comments about them within hearing distance. I’m sure that had a negative influence on their experience causing them not to desire to return. I don’t understand why they were ignorant to speak that way besides that they apparently never had the knowledge that they are still speaking about other humans, who are intelligent enough to recognize racism in any form. That’s one reason for a lack of growth in the Churches, I’m sure.
I wonder if the following will lead to the deaths of churches…Last week I had discussions with two older men, one from Kentucky, another from Tennessee. Within the last three years, both churches hired new, younger pastors and other staff members. And with them comes an attitude of complete disregard for the needs of senior adults. Everything is focused on the needs of people that are the same ages as the staff members. Both of my friends feel as if they do not matter, even though they’ve given their all to these churches for decades. With this type of stubborness, these young leaders will continue to focus on their own needs…and one day when they age, they’ll be focused solely on the needs of seniors, and more churches will die.
Chet — This is a common problem, I think, because of the way demographics have changed for the local church. However, I’ve seen it play out differently. It’s a real challenge to value the senior saints while also pressing for the changes necessary to bring in younger members. http://www.philippianjailer.com/2009/06/old-time-religion-aging-local-church.html
Chet, this is all too common. One symptom is what some have called “The Worship Wars” in which the younger folk take over the “worship service” and make a 100% change over to “contemporary” music. Older folks ask that their needs also be met and are met with contempt or indifference. So they pack up and leave. We saw one particular church do this and they chased off the older folks who were the ones who financed most of the budget with their tithes. The younger folk were glad to have the “contemporary music” but didn’t have the funds to finance the various programs in the church. We’ve been watching this develop over the years and the one church has spun off at least three in the past 18 years or so. The current pastor seems to be holding steady in the course he’s chosen, perhaps he will be able to rebuild with new converts over time. In the meantime at least one of the spinoffs is forming into the type of congregation referenced in the subject of the article above.
One of the greatest issues is in the matter of seeking one’s own desires and preferences and not being willing to attend to others. The “Me Generation” has a lot to learn from He Who gave up all so that we might reach the Father through Him. Church should never be about “me” but rather about stirring each other up to love and good works so that God will be glorified through our lives. We are, after all, to be known by our love – and that characteristic can often be found lacking in the situations such as you outline.
Those worship wars that were so prevalent in the ’90’s and early 2000’s were a symptom of this inward focus problem that Dr. Rainer is talking about. Both sides are saying, “Here are my tastes, and I can’t be happy unless they are met.” The attitude was taught to the younger ones by the older ones, so now the church pays the price. In a church on mission, the people say, ‘What music, worship order, decor, etc will help us reach this community the best?” 99% of the time if that’s where the conversation starts the music team will be able to come up with something that everybody can live with.
VERY well stated Paul.
The focus on style more than content is lamentable. In I Corinthians 14 we read that everything that takes place in the weekly meeting should be ‘for the edification of the church’. As we try to compete with the entertainment culture around us we tend to lose sight of that.
The whole thing boils down to who owns the Church. Jesus says “I will build my Church. (Matthew 16:18). He owns it entirely. He does all the building. He doesn’t say I might build the Church. He says he will. 10% of the Churches in America close every year and a lot of Churches start up brand new every year. I know a Church at one time had hundreds pf members but now has 75. Why God was building His Church with believers who wanted a different translation than the King James Version and wanted not just Hymns but a blend with contemporary Worship style music. The original 75 members decided the Church which Christ owned and was building belonged to them and they caused 4 Church splits driving away hundreds of new members. People just couldn’t stand all the fighting. The Church hasn’t reached out to the lost community in years. They just sit there singing their favorite hymns and enjoying their KJV. Hymns and the KJV are my favorite as well but I don’t own the Church. Jesus bought it all with His blood. If He builds it with believers who like a translation which isn’t my favorite or sing some new worship music it is ok because it is all His . Praise God!!! God made 400 types of sharks. 50 million species of land animals. 1 million types of plants 28 thousand types of fish. People who say God only likes one Bible translation and only hymns has failed to realize that God can like a lot of things. Remember in the creation account in Genesis He called it all good. By the way only 4 and a half % of the people in the world speak English. Jesus died for all the Billions of people who speak every language. If the KJV is the only translation from the Greek and Hebrew God wants people to use then 95 and a half % of the world will never see it. If we truly believe that the Church belongs to Jesus and He does all the building them we should let Him do it. Christian in the middle east are being crucified ,covered in gasoline & set on fire, beheaded. Women are made to be sex slaves and in America we fight about what Bible translation to use and what the worship style is. Every county in the country has seen a drop in Church attendance. We should be ashamed. Every continent in the world has seen an increase in the number of Christians but ours and it is our own fault.
I am not saying Christians do not help each other but there is a danger when the focus of Churches is meeting each others needs. A Church can get man centered and not God centered. We often complain when some believe and teach like God is a vending machine. They say God wants you healthy and wealthy and His goal is to make you happy every day of your life. God does meet our needs and we are to help each other but there are too many churches that die because they spend all their time in making the existing body comfortable. Historically and in many parts if the world today being a Christian may cost you the loss of friends, your job, your freedom and your life. If a lot of Churches today would take the focus off what they see as their needs and spend more of their energies on reaching out to the lost an explosion of growth would occur. The early Church was often fleeing for it’s life yet reached out boldly to the lost. The often theme in the early Church was the Resurrection of Christ. They new this life was hard but knew the next life a certainty with Jesus. If in America we experience persecution like that of other times and places and our focus is on ourselves and not God then a lot of Churches will die.
Thom – a word of caution to those who have said they plan to share your post with a committee or body of deacons in their dying church. A dying church knows how to do one thing very well — shoot the messenger!
Thanks Clif. I already have several bullet wounds!
Sadly, I am a member of a dying church. Our church was vibrant and doing well then the pastor had his own agenda. The church split last year and has split again this year. The preacher says he wants to reach the community but he has failed to reach the congregation he was given by God to pastor. He has been asked to leave but he won’t do it. He would rather see the church die completely and lose any hope of reaching the community. It is frustrating to see a man who says he was called by God be so arrogant. If he were to leave, there would be some hope left.
Thom – thank you for this honest and challenging post. As an associational leader, I see this reality unfolding in far too many places. I just told a group of church leaders yesterday that in five to ten years, a number of our churches will most likely not be around any more. Is it acceptable to use this post as an article to our association’s leaders, with credit given to you, of course? If so, we’ll use it widely. Thanks for your ministry with us!
Happy for you to use it Bob. Please give attribution to me and ThomRainer.com.
A very good article. Now, here is my question as a deacon in the church I serve. What do we/I do if we can check off several of these boxes. Our pastor has just left, and we are doing church the same way it was done 30 or 40 years ago. Can we snap out? What steps do we need to take? I am actually considered leaving this church because I am not sure we can over come the issues mentioned above. I am looking for advice. I want to serve The Lord. Thanks!
Stephen –
I often disappoint readers when I respond to their questions, but I simply don’t have enough information or sufficient context to give you a good answer. My prayers for you.
Hi Stephen, If I may offer some advise… Start by looking for a “pastorpreneur”, that is, a pastor that was in business in the world. Business owners know the importance of change, keeping up, advertising and most important, they know that leading means making difficult and unpopular decisions. When searching for a pastor let him/her know the shape that the church is in and what they would be up against. Ask them the difficult questions: If we hire you what would your plan be? How would you turn this ship around? Ask the candidate for some of their “success” stories. It’s all about leadership…
Let me add that I would LOVE to hear a podcast on this post. 🙂
Your wish is my command Tom. Give it a few weeks.