It may seem an odd question. It may seem irreverent. But it is a valid question. Do churches die?
On one hand we know that the Scripture teaches clearly that death itself cannot stop the church. Jesus said:
...on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. (Matt 16:18)
The gates of Hades refers to death itself and Jesus' point of course is that death cannot stop the church - neither His death, or the death of any of His followers. We can and will die physically and that does nothing to hinder the work of the gospel and the growth of the church.
But can a church as a Body of believers die?
There are examples from Scripture and even threats from Christ Himself regarding removing the life of a church because of sin. In Revelation 2:5 Jesus says clearly to the church at Ephesus:
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
To remove the lampstand is to stamp out the life of the church. Even our confession of faith confirms this truth, that once vibrant local churches can slip into sin and false teaching and before long cease to be a church, existing instead as "synagogues of Satan."
Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, 1689 Chapter 26.3 - The Church
The purest churches under Heaven are subject to mixture and error, and some have degenerated so much that they have ceased to be churches of Christ and have become synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless Christ always has had, and always will (to the end of time) have a kingdom in this world, made up of those who believe in Him, and make profession of His name.
So we see that sin can kill a church if the people allow false doctrine and ungodly living to rule. In the Old Testament this is represented by the glory of God leaving the Temple and the word Ichabod being stated about the people. Ichabod means literally "no glory". The evidence of the presence of God, the glory that surrounded the Temple when He was there, departed.
Another reason of course can be simply the fact that God is finished with a particular people and a particular Body, and the church dies. Whether we think of it as God allowing or causing it really does not matter, for the truth is He is sovereign over His church, Christ is the Head of the Church, and if He wills it a church cannot continue to exist.
Some would think that the death of church in this circumstance - where there is not a particular sin or false teaching, but just a ceasing of God's work there - would mean failure. Then again, the church today has a real problem understanding how to gauge success and failure in Biblical terms. Beside all that, God never called us to succeed - He called us to be faithful.
So what do we do when God wills it and a church dies? Where people have been faithful and God has blessed but the work is finished?
I ask this question because this is the question I now face. Let me share with you what has happened.
In 1997 my wife and I answered a call to pastor a church in Round Rock, Texas. Long story short, that pastorate lasted 8 weeks. Upon my arrival it was discovered that while the church had been without a pastor several people in the church had been stealing money given for missions and instead of sending the money to the missionaries they had been lining their pockets. For 3 years. Thousands of dollars.
As the church tried to deal with this they soon split and then as a church ceased to exist! Here is an example of a church dying as a direct result of harboring and excusing sin. There was no confrontation, no consequences, and no repayment of the stolen funds. And God left. Thankfully, I was considered to be too new and so was "fired" on the spot, released to go my own way as quickly as possible.
So here we were, having moved across the State for this church, now left high and dry. What were we to do? Well God answered our prayers because starting the very week after my dismissal there was a group gathered for worship in our living room. From that start one Sunday in April we worked with another church and constituted Maranatha Community Church on October 19, 1997. Later we adopted the First and Second London Baptist Confessions of Faith and declared openly that we were a Reformed Baptist church.
I had chosen not to take any church planting classes while in Bible college, thinking I would surely never be called to plant a church, and here we were, being used of God to plant a new church! Over the years since this beginning we have had ups and downs, the economy and job scene fluctuated a number of times, each time sending members to new places for new jobs. We grew and shrank as is normal in the life of a church. We saw souls saved and people baptized (in a nearby lake). We have seen two members go off to attend Southern Seminary who will be pursuing God's call on their lives in the ministry. We have seen marriages saved, sin confessed, and the church grow - real growth too, not just numbers, but maturity.
I have been a bi-vocational pastor while here and in the last 4 years, due to the economy, 9-11, layoffs, and a bloated job market here I have been unemployed in the secular market for more months that I have been employed. And not all that employment has been gainful if you know what I mean. This has been labor - hard work. And it has been worth it!
However, at the close of 2005 and in the first few months of 2006 we saw a rapid decline in attendance and membership. We lost the majority of our church to a few nearby churches. The attraction for our members leading them to move in every case over these months was that the church they were moving to was larger than we were. More people. More programs. More opportunities. More children. More married couples. Just More.
But the ripple effect then was that for those who remained doubt about what God was doing in our midst began to grow. Some saw this as failure. Others as a sign that things were not right. Still others were not content with a small church, and as it shrank they seemed to be more and more nervous. Some of our people moved out of the area. Some were called to other places. But the end result was that our church had vanished.
As God worked, and as He used us, and as I hope that we were faithful, we came to December 30, 2006, and quite suddenly there was no one. The only members left on the roll of the church were my wife and I. We had just watched our church die. Maranatha Community Church, aka Providence Reformed Baptist Church as we were renamed a few months ago, was disbanded December 31, 2006.
The challenge now is to wait and see what God has for us next, where the next assignment will be in His service.
In the mean time, I will continue to write daily devotionals. I will preach as I have the opportunity. In fact, not preparing and preaching consistently is going to drive me nuts! I live to study and preach God's Word. We will direct our efforts through TIME in the Word Ministries for the immediate future. I have sermons from a few years ago that still need to be put online, so I will have new sermons to post, hopefully for the edification of the Body of Christ at large.
But most importantly, we will pray and seek God's face. We will wait.
We ask you to be praying with us. This is not easy, or fun, or something I would ever want to happen to anyone. But in God's Providence it has happened. And we are confident that He will glorify Himself in it, otherwise it would never have happened. It is for our good and His glory. And so we must be content and dependent upon His grace.
Pray for us and with us, would you? Pray that God's direction would be clear and that we would have wisdom and that we would be obedient. Pray for us as we now search for a church to fellowship and worship with while we wait for our next assignment.
And pray for your church, for your pastor(s), and for other churches where you know that the Word is being faithfully preached and lived! Pray God grows His church wherever we are and that souls are saved as the gospel is preached.
And if you know a church that is dying, pray for them!! But in doing so do not ever lose sight of the fact that while local congregations may come or go, living or dying, the Church of Jesus Christ, His Bride, His Body will never die! He will build His church and the gates of Hell will never prevail against her.
Our call then for the start of the New Year is found in a verse to remember and to live out in our daily life:
Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD! Psalm 27:14
Older
Top
