Between 6,000 And 10,000 Churches In The U.S. Are Dying Each Year” – And That Means That Over 100 Will Die This Week

The original ink is from InfoWars, which is not the most reliable and sane of sources! If you follow the links back, you’ll find it came from Thom Rainer. In his article, he writes:

Hear me well, church leaders. For many of your churches the choice is simple: change or die.

Certainly from a biblical perspective, I understand the bride of Christ will be victorious. I understand the gates of hell will not prevail against her (Matthew 16:18).

But that does not mean individual congregations won’t die. Revitalization is needed in nearly two-thirds of American churches. For some, that might mean an evangelistic boost. Others need a complete turnaround.

So, what can churches do to bring about much-needed revitalization?

I get what Rainer is saying. Only the leaders of a particular church know how well the shoe fits, here or in the article Jim linked to (above). Wally’s points are also very well taken. Leaders have to be honest with themselves about whether the shoe fits, or not.

Are there any stats on how many new churches are being started each year?

The problem isn’t that the churches aren’t doing evangelistic programs. They are. The problem is that evangelistic programs don’t really work - and they lull the church members into a complacency that says, “I’ve done my evangelistic work because I’ve worked at this program.” And no one is getting saved in the program. Young people go through the youth group and few return. Children in the community come for Awana, but don’t come on Sunday morning, and few are baptized.

Running programs is not evangelism. Programs substituted for evangelism has caused churches to fail in a big way.

-A pastor who is pastoring a church through the closure process presently

CAWatson has a valid point that is important to consider. My point is to remember that evangelism/church (or even college/seminary) “failure” does not always mean that the problem is some error in our evangelism or church ministry. We sometimes unknowingly practice the philosophy of Charles Finney - right methods or evangelistic philosophy will produce results. Sometimes (maybe a lot) the reason for lack of “results” is simply the Holy Spirit is not convicting people of sin, righteousness, & judgment (John 16:8-11). If that is the case in specific situations, no amount of evangelism will produce a saved person or church growth. The difficulty is knowing where the problem is: correcting something in our work or the Lord not convicting the unbeliever.

Concerning children/youth: Watson’s comment illustrates the importance of trying to reach the entire family. Children and youth ministries by design usually focus on the children/youth. If parents not saved, then of course the majority of these children/youth will fade. If the parents are saved but openly inconsistent/hypocritical at home, then the children/youth will fade. This situation is also complicated and has many reasons as well. Let’s fix what we have the power to fix. But the work in the soul is not our job.

Both Jim and Wally Morris have valid points as to why churches die. There are multiple reasons.

A seminary professor of mine mentioned that some pastors do a great job, in some situations, to make a church decline slowly instead of rapidly.

Of course, we should do all the evangelism and outreach we can to prevent the death of a church. Thom Rainer has some good books along these lines.

But even if a church dies, it does not take away from the fact that church preached the truth through the years. I don’t know of any New Testament churches of the first century that are still around. But their influence continues.

David R. Brumbelow

When churches die, the members don’t just disappear or quit going to church. Most often they find new churches and they flourish there. (Remember, they might not have left “church”–-they may have just left “your” church.) I have been part of three churches that no longer exist. In each case the vast majority of members moved to other healthier churches.

Ron’s use of the word “healthier”: Although I’m sure Ron understands this, just because a church closes does not mean that church is not “healthy”. Again, many factors contribute to churches closing. Doesn’t necessarily mean that the church wasn’t “healthy”. Perhaps the churches he was associated with were not “healthy”, but not always true.