8 Causes of Concern for Bible Belt Churches

Podcast Episode #279

When I look at what is happening in the Bible Belt, there are causes for concern as well as opportunities for growth. Today we look at why there is concern and how you can overcome those concerns.

Some highlights from today’s episode include:

Culture and people have changed over time, but many churches have not.
Many churches refuse to admit that the world around them is changing.
Cultural Christianity no longer exists—even in the Bible Belt.
Sometimes a church’s habits become “the only way something can be done.”
Some people are more obedient to the traditions of a church than they are to the Bible.
If you want to find out what a church’s idols are, start changing the bylaws.
How do you change the culture in an established church? Slowly.

The eight causes of concern for Bible Belt churches we discuss are:

They don’t recognize the decline in cultural Christianity.
They have many “church rules.”
They have leaders who have never led in a highly unchurched mission field.
They confuse traditions with truth.
They do outreach the way they’ve always done it.
They have significant conflict due to frustration.
They are very slow to respond.
They have significant facility challenges.

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