10 Signs of a Dying Church

This week Melody and I went to see our primary care doctor. Every time we see him, he does the same vital checks on us. Blood pressure, temperature, pulse...these are important indicators of health. The Church is a living body, and just like our bodies it can be checked for vital signs of life. According to Thom Rainer, these are ten signs of a dying church: 

1.Declining worship attendance - A lot of pastors don't actually track worship attendance. This can be an indicator of life. It's important to track and measure against previous years trends. 

2. Decline in attendance of church members - This is often the first sign (next to their giving records which is a key way members "vote" their disapproval) of church decline. When regular members who have been committed to the life of the church stop attending regularly, pay attention. 

3. Lack of joy and vibrancy in the worship service - While subjective, many people can just sense when there is a lack of joy or vibrancy to the worship in any given service. 

4. Little evangelistic fruit - As a general rule, a healthy church will reach at least one non-Christian for every 20 in worship attendance. For example, a church with the average attendance of 200 will see 20 new Christians every year. 

5. Low community impact - Is your church known in your local community? If your church were to go away, would your community notice?

6. More meetings than ministry - I once served a church that had 32 committees. Some churches meet to discuss what they should be doing more than actually doing anything. 

7. Acrimonious business meetings - While it isn't abnormal for people to disagree, sick churches have meetings where the disagreements reflect obvious bitterness and anger. 

8. Very few guests in worship services - A vibrant church attracts guests. A sick church does not. 

9. Worship wars - Yes, they still happen. It is a symptom of a sick and inward focused church. 

10. Unrealistic expectations of pastoral care - A sick church sees this as the function of the pastor and staff alone. A healthy church sees this as something the pastor equips its members to do.

While every church may experience one or more of these, the key is to recognize the symptoms early and correct the situation before it affects the whole body. 

1-2 Symptoms - Normal for most churches for a short period of time. Not a symptom of poor health, but should be dealt with quickly. 

3-4 Symptoms - Your church is sick and needs immediate attention. 

5-6 Symptoms - The church is very sick, and without quick change, your church will move into terminal phases. 

7-10 Symptoms - Your church is in the terminal stage and without help, it will close within 5 years. While it is possible for your church to recover from this level of sickness, not many leaders or churches pull through. 

If you find your church has too many symptoms, please reach out to Chad, or the Church Health Team (Daniel Davila and Ryan McBride)

Posted 12th November 2020 by Classis de las Naciones