WARNING! Contents Under Pressure May Explode: Warning Signs of a Church in Danger

When I was younger and still to this day I have an obsession with fire, danger and anything that explodes. I guess you could call me a high-tech-pyro-redneck! One thing I used to enjoy doing back in the glory days was making Draino bombs. With the right combination of tin foil, draino and plastic, one can take a 2 Liter bottle and have some fun. Once the ingredients are mixed and the lid screwed on, the bottle begins to expand, very quickly. The contents become under great pressure and eventually "bam," the bottle explodes from the pressure. (metal trashcans sound the best, haha).

The church is similar. Churches have life cycles. Churches are born, churches grow, and churches die. Here are four warning signs of a church in danger:

• Lack of Vision: What is vision? Vision is a specific, detailed statement of direction, unique to an individual or church’s ministry. Its clear. It concentrates on the future. It's from God. It unifies, it empowers, it’s inspiring, and it’s contagious. It creates passion, it creates action. It challenges, It separates. It's a ministry's strategic game plan. Vision is key.

Vision Killers: Fear of change, fear of failure, fear of the unexpected, Tradition for the sake of Tradition, Complacency, and Lukewarmness(Rev. 3.14-22).
Results: Apathetic Christians. No passion. Shoulders sag, hope fades, and the dream of doing something great for God diminishes. No direction.

• Lack of Leadership: In case you didn’t know, the Pastor isn’t the only minister in the church. We place the responsibility on other people's shoulders and then complain when things aren't the way we want them to be. Pastor's are burdened down by having to spend all their time workin IN the church and don't have time to work ON the church.

• Lack of Growth: Healthy things grow, period. A thriving ministry should be growing. And yes, numbers matter. Numbers represent souls and souls matter to God. Many times we get comfortable with the size of our ministry or church, while there are still numbers of people all around us in the community dying and going to hell. A ministry should be growing. True disciples create more Christ-followers.

• Lack of Unity: Division in churches is the biggest danger of them all. This happens as a result of all of the above warning signs, but goes much deeper. This is the result of sin in the church. Pride, selfishness, and gossip are the big ones the divide a church quicker than anything.

Relieving the Stress

• Cast Vision- Jesus said we are to be Fishers of Men. Vision is like the bait. What good is bait if its stuck in the tackle box of the fisherman? Can’t catch a fish is you don’t cast the bait. So as a church we aren’t gonna catch men unto Christ is we don’t cast a vision.

• Creat Disciples-We will be much for effective in creating geniune Christ-following disciples if we quit teaching people a set of "Do Nots," on how to be like us, and instead challenge and teach them the person of Jesus and encourage them to fall madly in love with Him.

• Be Relevant- Meet the needs of the community around you. Tradition for the sake of tradition isn't going to cut it. As the needs change in the culture around us the church must change methods to reach the lost. Change the method and hang on to the same Message.

• Be Unified- Quit sinning habitually. Stomp out gossip. Humble yourself and squash pride. Be servants. Take ownership and responsibility for how the church is.

( These are some notes from the sermon I preached at Sandy Run for those of yall who were not there)