I recently started a job in which I am in contact with churches, pastors and members of churches.  To hear stories of progress and answers to prayer is a daily inspiration to me.  It has definitely encouraged me to depend on God more and has strengthened my faith.  It’s also, thankfully, caused me to get on my knees a lot more and shape up my attitude.

There have been moments of sadness, though.  Along the way, I hear about or see for my own eyes, a little church (or not so little church), that has decided to close the doors.   One will hear stories of one or two families who have kept the church going, and the church has died along with the last few members of the family.  A most recent story was of a pastor’s wife passing away, followed soon by the pastor himself.  The daughter, an older lady herself, was the last remaining church member on the roster.

I’ve told you before of going, when I was school age, to a tiny Methodist Church in the country with my grandmother.  It sounds like a tale from way back, but it was actually in the early 70’s (and I hear people saying “Yes, that’s way back.”), but this little church still had outhouses, and I’m sure people made sure they went to the bathroom before they went to church.  Still, it was a big deal that the church built a bathroom in the back room area.  I can recall having a fellowship of sorts following the service, all so that we could walk around the church and tour that new bathroom.  

Speaking of touring the church; there wasn’t much square footage to cover.  One would enter through the arch shaped front doors into a tiny hallway with coat racks on each side, then through identical doors to the sanctuary.  In that sanctuary was a large wonderful picture of Jesus giving us all the peace sign, and I usually managed to give it back to Him during every service.  In order to access the back of the church for “Sunday School” (they don’t call it that anymore), we walked up to the altar, up a couple steps, then down a couple of steps to the back area of the church.  The only Sunday School area that was its own space was the little kids room.  The rest of us met in little alcoves here and there, partitioned off by curtains.  I think most adult classes met out in the sanctuary.

Still, I can remember how that church seemed to have a feeling of “family”.  Now, this was possibly because I was an innocent kid with a general good feeling about most things, but it just seemed, even in its smallness, to be a thriving and loving place with a welcoming feeling. I also remember the other potlucks, Vacation Bible School, cookies and Kool-Aid outside on the grass, Easter egg hunts in the Spring.  During one such hunt, a surprise, fast moving  thunder storm sent us all scrambling inside and my retired schoolteacher grandmother busied us in the back with activities while the other ladies re-hid the eggs in the sanctuary.  

  I can recall a time when the pastor had us all take a slice of bread as we entered the sanctuary, and we walked around and shared a pinch off the slice during his sermon.  A bit progressive and out of the ordinary, but it brought his sermon point across.

At least I think it did.  I don’t recall the sermon point.

But that church is still there.  Still not huge, but still doing well.

I’ve never been privy or thought much about why a church closes doors.  I’ve been around plenty of church people (including me) who are selfish, set in their ways, and never wanting to venture outside their comfort zones.  They will throw water on you if your hair is on fire, but they won’t follow up later to see how you are doing.  It’s not just the age we live in.  Church members picking and choosing what they do has been going on for centuries.

Still, I know church folk who will sit up nights with you and spend enormous amounts of time with you.  These same folks will sacrifice and love you and give all they can for people in their church.  I believe there are still a lot of these people around.

Some churches refuse to face reality.  They see nothing wrong with attendance being down nor do they look closely at large numbers of people choosing to leave.  They are in denial and in a state of delusion, choosing to just go on as usual.  Stepping up to do something about it would require sacrifice.

As I said before, comfort is of utmost importance.  As one source said, “Many in the church today are concerned about great comfort instead of the Great Commission.  The church, therefore, is like a country club, where people pay dues and usually get their preferences and desires met.  Many of them think it’s okay to constantly complain about mundane things like the state of the furniture and the color of the carpet.  

I feel that one of the biggest reasons churches close or at least go stagnant is excuse making.  Excuse making seems to almost overshadow obedience. The upper echelon of the church blames the culture.  They say folks don’t come to church anymore.  There is emphasis on newer churches being more popular and on and on the excuses go.  Few people, as I said, want to face facts or be obedient.

There is so much emphasis on trivial matters, criticizing and fussing about all the stuff in churches, that much of our energy is used up.  I read an article where a pastor commented that, if this much energy was used to reach people with the gospel, our churches would be unstoppable.

Poor leadership is one of the biggest issues for dying churches, and it’s also one of the biggest issues that gets ignored the most.  This is because no one has the skills or wherewithal to approach the problem of poor leadership in a biblical way.  And it all becomes a chaotic mess.

I’m no expert, and I’ll bet some experts who read this will comment that I don’t know the full story.  I probably don’t.  But, it’s safe to say that churches close their doors and die because they’ve taken their eyes off God and His word.  They’ve focused too much on earthly things and one another, which is the problem with so many areas of our lives outside of churches.

And it’s all quite sad, isn’t it?