When It's Not a Matter of Sickness

Let those who have ears to hear, hear.

Ridiculous!" he screamed as I explained to him the plan for this book. "You can't compare turning around an established church with the resurrection of Jesus Christ! That's sacrilege!" he shouted as he stomped out of the room.

Obviously this person has never experienced the pain of trying to turn around an established church. Nothing can be more difficult. I hear this difficulty echoed in the testimony of every turnaround pastor with whom I talk or consult (and I've consulted on-site with hundreds of pastors who wanted to turn around their churches). Sure, turnaround can't literally be compared to Jesus' resurrection. But metaphorically it most definitely can. If you've tried to turn a church around, you know what I mean. But let me explain more fully.

Revitalization Is Not the Answer

For much of the past three decades, denominational officials have been promoting seminars and programs aimed at revitalizing the church. I know because I have been the speaker or consultant to many of these groups. For many of these leaders, their goal was to breathe new life into churches experiencing declining memberships and lack of commitment. Yet after years of trying to revitalize these churches, the vast majority of them are still declining. What gives?

Is it possible we have underestimated the seriousness of Western Protestantism's situation? What if the metaphors of reformation, renewal, and revitalization don't get to the heart of the problem? What if the situation is much worse than those words describe? What if the vast majority of congregations in the West are spiritually dead and God no longer considers them to be churches? What if God has one foot out the door of most of Western Protestantism? What if the vast majority of our churches are like the church of Laodicea in the Book of Revelations? What if God is about to spit us out of his mouth?

Reformation, renewal, and revitalization assume some preexisting foundation of faith from which to raise up a new church. But what if that assumption isn't correct? What if the assumption is part of our problem? What if being a member of a church for forty years doesn't automatically guarantee any spiritual depth? What if holding every office in the church doesn't automatically mean someone is a disciple of Jesus Christ? Do we dare look deep enough into our souls to find answers to these questions?

Based on the conversations and actions of the thousands of Protestant leaders with whom I worked over the years, I have concluded that most of them are spiritually dead and their institutions have ceased being the church. They have the form but not the substance of what it means to be the church.

Perhaps you're wondering how I define a "spiritually dead church." What you must keep in mind is that churches are nothing more than people who have come together. So when I refer to "church" I am not referring to the institution, but to the people who make up the church. Christianity is a movement of people who have come together in a group for a purpose. So I'm not talking about the resurrection of an institution. I'm talking about the resurrection of the people who make up the institution. They are the ones who are spiritually dead.

I have never seen a church where every member is spiritually dead. A remnant seems to always exist. But overall, the actions of the church are void of any spirituality. Every church has those who remain spiritually focused, enthused, and on fire no matter how complacent those around them may grow. The key is to tap into those folks and grow their number. More on this later.

So let me define what I mean by spiritually dead churches. Here are some clues. Spiritually dead churches

• Have lost their sense of mission to those who have not heard about Jesus Christ and do not pant after the Great Commission;

• Exist primarily to provide fellowship for the "members of the club";

• Expect their pastors to focus primarily on ministering to the members' personal spiritual needs;

• Design ministry to meet the needs of their members;

• Have no idea about the needs of the "stranger outside the gates";

• Are focused more on the past than the future;

• Often experience major forms of conflict;

• And watch the bottom line of the financial statement more than the number of confessions of faith.

Such churches are living corpses. They are physically alive; some may even be growing; but they are spiritually dead to the mission of the New Testament church—to make disciples of Jesus Christ. They've turned inward and exist solely for themselves. They look for ways to serve themselves, and the kingdom be damned. They're like baby birds sitting in the nest with their mouths open waiting for momma bird (pastor) to feed them with no concept that Jesus intends them to feed others. Oh, they might collect money to send away to some distant mission field, but they're all thumbs when it comes to sharing the good news with their neighbor or community. What growth they might experience is not of their doing—it just happens because of the population growth around them.

The Hidden Truth

Underneath all of the tactics and programs in a consultant's bags of tricks, lies something rarely talked about—the abundance of selfish leaders and the lack of spiritually obedient leaders, both lay and clergy. (I hate using those terms.) Most churches have copped out to democratic rule and corporate behaviors instead of following the biblical principles of discernment and prayer. Our churches nominate and elect people to committees and boards without the slightest idea of the depth of their private spiritual life. We allow people to vote on the future of the church who haven't disciplined their lives, much less prayed about the issue. We have so many checks and balances we make it impossible for the Holy Spirit to move among us. And we wonder why we're in the mess we're in.

The following email is indicative of dozens of emails I receive each year.

Subject: Re: thanks
Date: 7/11/2006 10:33:50 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: anyone@ hotmail.com
To: easum@aol.com

Dear Bill and Tom,

Thank you for the books you have written and the seminars you have led. They helped shape my ministry for the past several years. However, if I were two years older or much younger today I would probably leave the ministry and find something else to do.

I tried to lead my last church to change and was reappointed to the most tension-filled, control-oriented church I have ever served. I don't mind the tension or facing the controllers. We have been successful in this regard. At both my last church and this church, eventually in the...