We know what questions we often ask about our churches. Is the church growing? Are we meeting budget? Are we making disciples? Take some time today to evaluate your church via these somewhat “random” questions:
- If your church disappeared today, would your community know the difference? If not, you’re likely not making much difference.
- If God sent revival to your church, would you be ready to grow the new believers He gives you? If your congregation isn’t prepared to incorporate and disciple new believers, God may not entrust them to you in the first place.
- If your church carried out church discipline on every member living in flagrant sin, how many members would remain? I can only wonder how many churches have not exercised biblical church discipline in years.
- How would your church react if God did something in your service that was not already scheduled in the order of service? Sometimes we’re so afraid of anything new that we’d question even God, it seems.
- If you conducted a basic theological survey of your Sunday morning crowd, how would the findings compare to your church’s doctrinal statement? Pastors are often distressed by their findings of such a survey – particularly over beliefs about good people going to heaven even if they do not know Jesus.
- If the Bible were taken away and your church leaders did ministry based only on the Word stored in their memory, how much ministry would continue? Perhaps we need to do a better job at teaching and memorizing God’s Word.
- If your church faced persecution, what percentage of members would die rather than renounce Christ? I don’t know if we’ll face this kind of persecution in my lifetime, but the day may eventually come.
- If the government removed tax benefits for giving to the church, would your budget giving change? I doubt it would increase . . . .
- What percentage of members in your church shared the gospel with someone in the last year? If your church is average, the percentage is quite low.
- If no one ever joined your church again, how long would it be before your church closes its doors? Some churches are almost having an “out of body” experience; that is, they’re watching themselves die.
- How many of your church members can name the government leaders in your city and state? We’re to pray for these leaders, but it’s tough to do if we don’t even know their names.
- If members of the early church in the book of Acts attended your church next Sunday, would they think you give little attention to Jesus? We can only guess, but I suspect the early church so in love with Jesus might wonder about us.
- What percentage of your attenders would say, “I’ve never really been discipled by anyone”? In my experience, this is the story of many church attenders in North America.
- Would non-believers hear joy when they hear your church members sing? I’ve heard singing around the world that’s often amazing — but not always in churches I’ve attended.
- If God left your church today, would any of its activities continue unchanged? One would hope not, but I wonder sometimes.
Chuck these are good questions. I just lived this type of church and community for the first 8 months of this year serving as an interim. I wondered to myself what every church in town had done to drive everyone from the church regardless of denomination. I learned that the Baptist church I was serving in for 8 months had been very disobedient in regard to discipline pertaining to the 2 previous pastors. No wonder the town was in such a mess spiritually. Beautiful worship places with no people. Thanks for the insightful questions
Parry
Thanks, Parry.
Will, Scott, and Chuck,
I’m not sure who will receive this reply, but I felt the need to say a hearty AMEN to the list of questions and comments. The questions are right on target for the churches of today with which I am familiar because of my ongoing ministry. Even though retired from NOBTS after 25 years of service in the Kingdom in connection with the work of the SBC, I still preach regularly and seek to strengthen churches. Thanks for the thoughtful exercise in self/church analysis.
Thanks, Don. Blessings!
When you can’t tell where the world ends and the church begins, you understand why people are leaving by the thousands. Christians need a sanctuary today, not another gymnasium which is already provided by the community schools and county recreation departments. Another good question is to ask is, where are our priorities, especially if we truly believe Jesus will be returning in the near future? And how dare we call missionaries off the fields which are “ripe to harvest”? I believe these are pertinent questions also.
Thanks, Janeece.
If your church disappeared today, would your community know the difference?
Yes, but we are a small community.
If God sent revival to your church, would you be ready to grow the new believers He gives you?
That’s why we hold revival services 🙂
If your church carried out church discipline on every member living in flagrant sin, how many members would remain?
All of them.
(1 John 3:6-9)
How would your church react if God did something in your service that was not already scheduled in the church bulletin?
While we have an orderly service, we don’t have a bulletin. Still, “out of the ordinary” things happen often and are considered blessings.
If you conducted a basic theological survey of your Sunday morning crowd, how would the findings compare to your church’s doctrinal statement?
We don’t have a doctrinal statement; we have Bibles. There seems to be an overall agreement on what it says.
If the Bible were taken away and your church’s leaders did ministry based only on the Word stored in their memory, how much ministry would continue?
Quite a bit. Our teachers and pastor have been at this for years, plus we have a few fellows with exceptional memory.
If your church faced persecution, what percentage of members would die rather than renounce Christ?
Not sure. I don’t know how anyone could really answer this without it actually happening.
If the government removed tax benefits from giving to the church, would your budget giving change?
I don’t think it would have a negative effect.
What percentage of members in your church shared the gospel with someone in the last year?
Not sure of the percentage, but we do often hear testimony in this. Personally, I need to grow in this respect.
If no one ever joined your church again, how long would it be before your church closes its doors?
Not sure I get the point of this question. Do you mean would leadership continue if our pastor was called Home? Yes. We have members in their 20s with strong callings to the ministry.
If members of the early church in the book of Acts attended your church next Sunday, what would they think?
I think they’d be pleased. I’m fairly certain there wouldn’t be a need for any young men waiting to carry out dead bodies 😉
If God left your church today, would any of its activities continue unchanged?
We’d follow Him.
Thanks, Eric.