Ordinary Christians in the hands of the Extra-Ordinary God, Part 4

I Corinthians 1-12:13, 3:4-11, 3:21 – 23  New Living Translation.

12 Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter, [d]” or “I follow only Christ! …… 4 When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world? 5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.  11 for no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ…. 21 So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you— 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Peter,[g] or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

When we look at the Church today, what do we see and what do we mean by the word Church ? to some the word Church has a negative effect on the other hand, the word Church has a positive effect, to others Church should be consigned to the past, and it doesn’t have any relevance to them and society both today in the present or indeed tomorrow the future, some think of the word Church and they think of a physical building others think of the New Testament concept of God’s people or a spiritual building.

The Church today is divided into various camps or tribal groups, that more often or not have very little to do with other camps or tribal groups, sometimes different churches can be close to each in terms of a physical distance, but miles apart in so many other ways.   Is the Church somewhere we can go to or is it a body of people that we belong to, and are joined alongside each other to work alongside each other to see the Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom preached to those without the Good News of Salvation through our Lord and Saviour Jesus.

We are divided into groups or denominations that have more to do with our past, and very little to do with our present or future. We hold onto ways of both doing and being church because of our history and our responsibilities to that history, and the expectancies of others. Sometimes we're divided into seemingly rival tribal groups, because for some our revelation of being and doing church is driven by being the people of God where His Presence dwells, but on the other hand we're divided because of politics and personalties !.

We don’t need another “ new “ expression of Church, being built  out  of people’s own sense of importance ,  and because of their misguided zeal  they will attempt to draw followers after themselves  from established churches, offering false promises and prophecies and they tell  people that if join us, the grass will be greener, unfortunately these “ new “ expressions of  church have no foundations and no covering,  because they think that we will build our own foundations and we will become our own covering,  we need to be built up together as one church,  and not be separated into another tribe or grouping. 

The Church is a movement for change and transformation but for many of us The Church has become a monument to our spiritual forefathers who were a movement for change and transformation !.

We follow men and sometimes women, we follow the traditions that were our spiritual forefather’s doctrines and their distinctiveness from other tribal groups and when someone from another tribe says let’s meet together for fellowship and to share together, we say we can't because we’re group a and your group b and our big chief said in 1920 said that we need to avoid group b because your understanding of church and Christianity is different from way he told us to be the church and to be a Christian and therefore you’re wrong, or we do meet together but in a spirit of reluctance and/or a spirit of mistrust, we’ve created theories,  doctrines, theologies and solutions how we’re to be the church and to life our Christian lives and be a Christian Witness, but many of those theories etc belong in the past, and have become hindrances and obstacles for us today.

Many of our tribes or denominations have become tied to the way we did Church, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or a 100 plus years ago, we look for structure and safety in the past.  

We think that the way we do and are the Church is the right or indeed the only way to be do or be Church,  we mistake our history for our present and future and wonder why despite our best efforts, our prayers indeed our prophecies, we’re unfulfilled !

When our Lord Jesus walked the streets of his homeland,  he saw a fig tree and when he looked for fruit he found only leaves Matthew 21:18-20, 18  In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19  And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. 20 When the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?

I would say that so many of our churches are like that fig tree, yes we have life but it has gone to produce only leaves, instead of producing leaves alongside fruit, indeed later in the same chapter, Jesus spoke about the physical nation of Israel, saying that because they trusted in themselves rather than trusting in the Lord, that had lost the Kingdom of God, Matthew 21:43 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

For many of our churches today, we’ve lost the Kingdom of God because we’ve trusted in ourselves, our systems, structures and strategies instead of trusting Him , our Lord and Saviour Jesus,  we’ve just grown leaves not fruit and God has gone and left us, even then we’ve created a theology and/or theory/or solutions around that, see Habakkuk 3:15-18 17 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord!    I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

However there is a message of hope, for those Churches that once proclaimed God’s Message, Haggai 1:6  6 You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes! See Haggai 1, our transformation isn’t due to our living in the luxury houses that  are our own tribal groups/denominations/churches but rather our transformation comes through being part of His Church, or the Temple or the House of the Lord. We’ve become consumed that our way of doing and being Church is also the Lord’s way of doing and being Church, but our ways are not his ways of doing and being Church see Isaiah 55:8-11

We have set in place man made structures, systems and organizations to how to do and be the Church today, we set in place committees, clerical systems and called and commissioned those He’s not called and commissioned to lead us in being the Church and we wonder why nothing is working, we’ve watered down and diluted our message to make it pliable to others, we’ve accepted things that go against Biblical Standards like Homosexual Clergy  and wonder why God isn’t moving amongst us and blessing us

Yet, there is hope for us the Church,  the old wineskins of our ways,  those beloved ways of doing and being the Church aren’t working and if we try to add His way of being and doing Church or the new wine to our old wineskins, our old wineskins are going to tear and break up, instead we need His new wineskins of doing and being the Church, his structure, systems, and Leadership* and following those He has called and commissioned to lead us forward, see Luke 5:37-39.

We notice in Scripture, there is a God Ordained indeed Organized way of being and doing Church, no longer will our man made systems cope with the things, our message should be say no, to the status quo,  , we don’t need another methodology of doing and being the Church.  We need to be a Movement and not a Monument. We need to see a restoration of Apostolic Christianity, which is a Movement for the 21st Century Church not a Monument to the 1st Century Church.  We need to see Revival through a Renewed Church., we need to honour our past and embrace our future.

It says in Ephesians 4:11-13* 11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.  See Ephesians 4:11-16 for context.

Yours in His Grace

Blair Humphreys

Read Part 1 of this series here:

Read Part 2 of this series here:

Read Part 3 of this series here:

Words for The Wise, Standing Firm in Sanctification, 2 Thessalonians 2 NIV

2 Thessalonians 2 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

The man of lawlessness

2 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us – whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter – asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.

 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

Stand firm

13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits[b] to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings[c] we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

It won't be long, from Elim Missions

The Holy Spirit is holding him back, but not for long.

2 Thessalonians 2

Paul's thoughts of the return of Christ are especially relevant today.
Once again we wake to the news of people held by ISIS, attacks by Boko Haram on innocent people and the evil stories continue. How much more will this go on for?

We read in this chapter of the return of Christ coming after the lawless one is revealed. The power of the lawless one is already at work, even in Paul's day, but is being held back. Many comment on who is holding back the power of the lawless one. For me, it can only be the power of God, the Holy Spirit, who is the restraining arm holding him back, until the Spirit steps aside and lets him loose on the earth and then Jesus will be here!

There has never been a time like the one we live in. There has never been more Christians persecuted than in these days. Evil is intensifying alarmingly. The restraining arm is slowly letting go. 
Jesus will come soon!

Matthew Henry's Commentary

Verses 13-15

Here observe, I. The consolation the Thessalonians might take against the terrors of this apostasy, 2 Thess. 2:13, 14. For they were chosen to salvation, and called to the obtaining of glory. Note, When we hear of the apostasy of many, it is matter of great comfort and joy that there is a remnant according to the election of grace which does and shall persevere; and especially we should rejoice if we have reason to hope that we are of that number. The apostle reckoned himself bound in duty to be thankful to God on this account: We are bound to give thanks to God always for you. He had often given thanks on their behalf, and he is still abounding in thanksgiving for them; and there was good reason, because they were beloved by the Lord, as appeared in this matter—their security from apostatizing. This preservation of the saints is owing,

1. To the stability of the election of grace, 2 Thess. 2:13. Therefore were they beloved of the Lord, because God had chosen them from the beginning. He had loved them with an everlasting love. Concerning this election of God we may observe, (1.) The eternal date of it—it is from the beginning; not the beginning of the gospel, but the beginning of the world, before the foundation of the world, Eph. 1:4. Then, (2.) The end to which they were chosen—salvation, complete and eternal salvation from sin and misery, and the full fruition of all good. (3.) The means in order to obtaining this end—sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. The decree of election therefore connects the end and the means, and these must not be separated. We are not the elected of God because we were holy, but that we might be holy. Being chosen of God, we must not live as we list; but, if we are chosen to salvation as the end, we must be prepared for it by sanctification as the necessary means to obtain that end, which sanctification is by the operation of the Holy Spirit as the author and by faith on our part. There must be the belief of the truth, without which there can be by true sanctification, nor perseverance in grace, nor obtaining of salvation. Faith and holiness must be joined together, as well as holiness and happiness; therefore our Saviour prayed for Peter that his faith might not fail (Luke 22:32), and for his disciples (John 17:17), Sanctify them by thy truth; thy word is truth.

2. To the efficacy of the gospel call, 2 Thess. 2:14. As they were chosen to salvation, so they were called thereunto by the gospel. Whom he did predestinate those he also called, Rom. 8:30. The outward call of God is by the gospel; and this is rendered effectual by the inward operation of the Spirit. Note, Wherever the gospel comes it calls and invites men to the obtaining of glory; it is a call to honour and happiness, even the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory he has purchased, and the glory he is possessed of, to be communicated unto those who believe in him and obey his gospel; such shall be with Christ, to behold his glory, and they shall be glorified with Christ and partake of his glory. Hereupon there follows,

II. An exhortation to stedfastness and perseverance: Therefore, brethren, stand fast, 2 Thess. 2:15. Observe, He does not say, “You are chosen to salvation, and therefore you may be careless and secure;” but therefore stand fast. God’s grace in our election and vocation is so far from superseding our diligent care and endeavour that it should quicken and engage us to the greatest resolution and diligence. So the apostle John having told those to whom he wrote that they had received the anointing which should abide in them, and that they should abide in him (in Christ), subjoins this exhortation, Now abide in him, 1 John 2:27, 28. The Thessalonians are exhorted to stedfastness in their Christian profession, to hold fast the traditions which they had been taught, or the doctrine of the gospel, which had been delivered by the apostle, by word or epistle. As yet the canon of scripture was not complete, and therefore some things were delivered by the apostles in their preaching, under the guidance of the infallible Spirit, which Christians were bound to observe as coming from God; other things were afterwards by them committed to writing, as the apostle had written a former epistle to these Thessalonians; and these epistles were written as the writers were moved by the Holy Ghost. Note, There is no argument hence for regarding oral traditions in our days, now that the canon of scripture is complete, as of equal authority with the sacred writings. Such doctrines and duties as were taught by the inspired apostles we must stedfastly adhere to; but we have no certain evidence of any thing delivered by them more than what we find contained in the holy scriptures.

Verses 16-17

In these words we have the apostle’s earnest prayer for them, in which observe,

I. To whom he prays: Our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father. We may and should direct our prayers, not only to God the Father, through the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also to our Lord Jesus Christ himself; and should pray in his name unto God, not only as his Father but as our Father in and through him.

II. From what he takes encouragement in his prayer—from the consideration of what God had already done for him and them: Who hath loved us, and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, 2 Thess. 2:16. Here observe, 1. The love of God is the spring and fountain of all the good we have or hope for; our election, vocation, justification, and salvation, are all owing to the love of God in Christ Jesus. 2. From this fountain in particular all our consolation flows. And the consolation of the saints is an everlasting consolation. The comforts of the saints are not dying things; they shall not die with them. The spiritual consolations God gives none shall deprive them of; and God will not take them away: because he love them with an everlasting love, therefore they shall have everlasting consolation. 3. Their consolation is founded on the hope of eternal life. They rejoice in hope of the glory of God, and are not only patient, but joyful, in tribulations; and there is good reason for these strong consolations, because the saints have good hope: their hope is grounded on the love of God, the promise of God, and the experience they have had of the power, the goodness, and the faithfulness of God, and it is good hope through grace; the free grace and mercy of God are what they hope for, and what their hopes are founded on, and not on any worth or merit of their own.

III. What it is that he asks of God for them—that he would comfort their hearts, and establish them in every good word and work, 2 Thess. 2:17. God had given them consolations, and he prayed that they might have more abundant consolation. There was good hope, through grace, that they would be preserved, and he prayed that they might be established: it is observable how comfort and establishment are here joined together. Note therefore, 1. Comfort is a means of establishment; for the more pleasure we take in the word, and work, and ways of God, the more likely we shall be to persevere therein. And, 2. Our establishment in the ways of God is a likely means in order to comfort; whereas, if we are wavering in faith, and of a doubtful mind, or if we are halting and faltering in our duty, no wonder if we are strangers to the pleasures and joys of religion. What is it that lies at the bottom of all our uneasiness, but our unsteadiness in religion? We must be established in every good word and work, in the word of truth and the work of righteousness: Christ must be honoured by our good works and good words; and those who are sincere will endeavour to do both, and in so doing they may hope for comfort and establishment, till at length their holiness and happiness be completed.

The Bible Panorama

2 Thessalonians 2

V 1–4: DON’T BE DECEIVED Continuing teaching on the second coming of Christ, Paul deals with those who have been deceived into thinking that ‘the day of Christ’ has already come, because of the tribulations they are facing. He tells them to stay firm: that day will not come without a falling away, and the revelation of the man of sin (the Antichrist), who will oppose everything to do with God, and exalt himself. He will even sit in the temple of God claiming to be God. 

V 5–12: REMEMBER MY REMINDERS Paul reminds them that he had often told them what would happen before the second coming of Christ. (The verb for ‘told’ is in the imperfect tense, indicating he kept on doing it.) As God withdraws His restraining influence (thought by some to mean that the Holy Spirit will withdraw), the lawless one (the man of sin, or Antichrist) will be revealed. God the Son will consume him with the breath of His mouth and ‘destroy him with the brightness of His coming’. The lawless one will perform satanic works and lying wonders with great powers and signs. Those who are perishing will be deceived. Having rejected God’s truth, He will send them a delusion that they will believe. Condemnation awaits them. 

V 13–15: SALVATION AND SANCTIFICATION Paul thanks God that the Thessalonian Christians have been chosen for salvation to be sanctified through God’s Holy Spirit and a belief in the truth of His word and His gospel. This glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ, and he urges them to stand fast in these godly traditions. 

V 16–17: GRACE OF GOD Grace from the Father and Son will give those Christians consolation and comfort, establishing them in ‘every good work and word’. Paul prays for this for them.

Dictionary of Bible Themes

3233 Holy Spirit, and sanctification

The work of the Holy Spirit in enabling believers to lead holy lives, dedicated to the service of God and conformed to his likeness.

6744 sanctification

The process of becoming consecrated to God, which is an integral aspect of being a member of the people of God. This process of being made holy through the work of the Holy Spirit ultimately rests upon the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, which the OT anticipates and foreshadows

The Spirit of holiness is promised

Mt 3:11 pp Lk 3:16 “fire” implies the Holy Spirit’s work of purification and judgment.

Sanctification is a special work of the Holy Spirit

Ro 15:16 See also 1Co 6:11; Gal 5:5; 1Pe 1:2

The Holy Spirit requires believers to be sanctified

2Th 2:13 Sanctification is a necessary part of being a Christian. See also 1Co 6:18-19

The Holy Spirit enables believers to be sanctified

Ro 8:4 See also Ro 8:13; Eph 5:18

The Holy Spirit produces sanctification

Gal 5:22-23 See also Ro 14:17; 2Ti 1:7

The process of sanctification

The Holy Spirit makes believers more like Jesus Christ 2Co 3:18

The Holy Spirit helps mortify sinful human nature Ro 8:13 See also Gal 5:17

The Holy Spirit is opposed to natural desires Gal 5:16-17 See also Ro 8:5-9; Jude 19

Examples of people sanctified by the Holy Spirit

Joshua: Nu 27:18 fn; Dt 34:9 fn

Lk 2:25 Simeon The deacons in Jerusalem: Ac 6:3,5

Ac 11:24 Barnabas; 2Co 6:6 Paul and his companions

Some Scriptures on Sanctification.

1.      Sanctification is a special work of the Holy Spirit

Romans 15:14-20 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

Paul the minister to the Gentiles

14 I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. 15 Yet I have written to you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.17 Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. 18 I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done – 19 by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way round to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. 20 It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

2.    The Holy Spirit requires believers to be sanctified

2 Thessalonians 2:13 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

Stand firm

13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits[a] to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.

3.     The Holy Spirit enables believers to be sanctified

Romans 8:4-14 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit 5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life[a] because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[b] his Spirit who lives in you.12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation – but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

4.    The Holy Spirit produces sanctification

Galatians 5:22-26New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Sanctification

involves more than a mere moral reformation of character, brought about by the power of the truth: it is the work of the Holy Spirit bringing the whole nature more and more under the influences of the new gracious principles implanted in the soul in regeneration. In other words, sanctification is the carrying on to perfection the work begun in regeneration, and it extends to the whole man (Rom. 6:13; 2 Cor. 4:6; Col. 3:10; 1 John 4:7; 1 Cor. 6:19). It is the special office of the Holy Spirit in the plan of redemption to carry on this work (1 Cor. 6:11; 2 Thess. 2:13). Faith is instrumental in securing sanctification, inasmuch as it (1) secures union to Christ (Gal. 2:20), and (2) brings the believer into living contact with the truth, whereby he is led to yield obedience "to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come."

Perfect sanctification is not attainable in this life (1 Kings 8:46; Prov. 20:9; Eccl. 7:20; James 3:2; 1 John 1:8). See Paul's account of himself in Rom. 7:14-25; Phil. 3:12-14; and 1 Tim. 1:15; also the confessions of David (Ps. 19:12, 13; 51), of Moses (90:8), of Job (42:5, 6), and of Daniel (9:3-20). "The more holy a man is, the more humble, self-renouncing, self-abhorring, and the more sensitive to every sin he becomes, and the more closely he clings to Christ. The moral imperfections which cling to him he feels to be sins, which he laments and strives to overcome. Believers find that their life is a constant warfare, and they need to take the kingdom of heaven by storm, and watch while they pray. They are always subject to the constant chastisement of their Father's loving hand, which can only be designed to correct their imperfections and to confirm their graces. And it has been notoriously the fact that the best Christians have been those who have been the least prone to claim the attainment of perfection for themselves.", Hodge's Outlines.

Part 1 Words for The Wise, The Christian's Growth and Contentment, 2 Thessalonians 1

Part 3 Words for The Wise, Prayer, Perseverance and Discipleship, 2 Thessalonians 3 NIV (UK)

Yours for the His grace,  for the sake of His Church and His Kingdom

Blair Humphreys,  Southport , England

Church Appropriate Dance Moves

Church Appropriate Dance Moves Countdown from Church Fuel on Vimeo.

10 Troubling Statements Pastors Make

10 Troubling Statements Pastors Make

If you want your church to move toward a slow yet certain death, make certain your church leadership and membership affirms most of these 10 statements. They are troubling statements. Indeed, they are proclamations that virtually assure your
church's decline and probable demise.

What is troubling is that these statements are not uncommon. They are articulated by both staff and lay leaders at times. See if you have ever heard any of these
10:

1.

We hire our pastors and staff to do that. "That" can be evangelism.
Or discipleship. Or caring for others. Or visiting people in the hospital. Some
lay leaders view pastors and staff as hired hands to do ministry they should be
doing themselves.

2.

We have enough churches in our community. I rarely see a community that is
really "overchurched." The number of unchurched people in any one
community is typically increasing, not decreasing. This comment usually comes
from church leaders who view new churches as competition.

3.

We are a discipleship church. Or an evangelism church. Or a ministry church.
Church leaders who say their churches are focused on only one area of ministry
are offering excuses not to be obedient in other areas.

4.

We have never done it that way before. Yes, it's cliché. But it's still a very
pervasive attitude among change-resistant people in the church.