Measuring Dead Churches


By Phil Scovell


     Is your church spiritually dead?  Some say, "It can't be
because more people are coming than ever before.  We are having
spine tingling worship services and the music has never been more
uplifting.  We have even had to go to more than one morning
service because of the attendance.  The offerings have tripled.
The preaching has never been more stimulating.  I feel better when
leaving a service than when I came.  Our church is growing.  The
youth ministry has never been as dynamic, the Sunday school has
never been as large, and the parking lot is full."

     How can you tell if your church is growing?  What biblical
measurements can you use to make this determination?  Do you count
the number of those in attendance for the morning service?  Do you
count those coming to Sunday school services?  Do you count the
offerings?  If they are steadily growing, then does this mean the
church is growing?  Do you consider the length of your music
worship service as the indicator of the level of spirituality your
church has obtained?  Do you count how many people come to the
alter for prayer following the sermon?  Do you consider the length
of the alter call itself?  Are you certain your church is growing
just because you feel better when you leave for home?  How can you
really tell if your church is growing spiritually?  Is there any
biblical way of calculating the degree of spirituality of a given
church?

     If we examine Scripture carefully, there are only two basic
rules we can use to judge the level of spirituality of our
church.  Jesus said, "It is written, My house shall be called the
house of prayer," (Matthew 21:13).  First and for most, if your
church isn't praying; it isn't growing.  I don't care how many you
have in attendance; it isn't growing.  In every church I've been
in over the years as I've traveled, I've only seen one church that
really believed in praying.  All churches pray to one degree or
another but that's all it is; prayer.  They thank God for the
blessings, they pray God would touch the sick, they pray God's
blessings on the offerings, they ask the Lord to save the lost,
and they ask for His blessings upon the Word as it is taught or
preached.  When a special speaker is announced, we pray that God
would bless him when he comes and that revival would break out in
our church.  Although it never does, we never seem to notice
because the services are so wonderful.  Lots of people came, too,
and the alter calls were good so we must have had revival.

     do we really pray?  Oh, sure, we have a prayer meeting.  In
some cases, we meet in someone's home and a few pray together.
Sometimes a few of us meet at church each week and pray and call
it a prayer meeting.  Is it?  I ask again, do we really pray and
has the church become known as the house of prayer?  Unless
everyone in the body of believers is praying, can we honestly say
we are the house of prayer?

     What is prayer?  Jesus said we would be known as the "House
of Prayer."  Are we known for this?  Do other churches know we
pray?  Do others in the neighborhood know we pray?  Oh, sure, they
know we have long and loud services.  They know we have church a
lot because of all the cars coming and going.  They know we have a
food bank once a week where we give away free food.  They know we
have special singing groups in from time to time because we invite
them to come and hear them.  they know we have after service
dinners on the ground and Sunday school contests and that we
sometimes give away free gifts to all who attend.  Do they know,
however, we pray so much and with such authority that they can
come over and be prayed for with the assurance that God will bring
about an answer?  Do other churches come to our prayer meetings
just to see how we do it?  Are we praying collectively has a
church or do we have a special prayer group set aside to do all
our praying for us once a week?  Maybe we have even established a
so called intercessory prayer group that does all of the praying
for us once or twice a week.

     A few years ago, I was a member of a small church of about
forty people.  The pastor said he had been called by God to our
area to win Denver to Christ.  A few months later, after hearing
about this special calling, I asked the pastor just exactly what
he meant by reaching Denver for Christ.  He said that he believed
he had been called to Denver to become the pastor of Denver and
that eventually all pastors, or most of them, would come under his
leadership and we would become a super church.  He'd already
picked out a huge building he wanted to use for this super church.
Later, he admitted that this meant he would become the apostle of
Denver.

     One morning, in this small church, as I sat and listened to
the worship team practicing their songs for that morning, the Holy
Spirit began speaking to me about the true nature of this
particular church.  In a few seconds of time, he gave me a
complete message for this church to hear.  As a New Testament
prophet, I knew I had to give this message.  What really
confirmed it to me was the promise God would give this church if
we would do what He said.

     The pastor was walking around listening to the worship team
practicing and I called him over and told him I had a message
from the Lord for this body of Believers.  He said, "That's
wonderful."  Furthermore, he said, "I have tried all week to get
up a sermon but the Lord never gave me anything.  This has to be
of the Lord because I came with absolutely nothing prepared to
speak."  He instructed me to speak up whenever I wanted to talk
and he would turn the microphone over to me.  during the worship
time, I was overpowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit and
could hardly stand.  Finally the Lord said it was time to speak.

     Taking the microphone, I was only vaguely aware of the
message the Lord had given me but as I talked, I not only knew the
exact message but I had a vision of what He wanted us to do which
came with a promise.

     the message was simple overall.  the Lord showed me that we
would be moving to even a smaller building and I saw a small store
front that would probably only hold fifty people.  the Lord told
me to tell these people that we would begin to pray as a body of
Believers and that we would pray so much, we would find it more
desirable to be at church than at home.  Furthermore, the Lord
showed me that our prayers would be heard and the pastors and
youth pastors and assistant pastors of the city would eventually
come to us and request we teach them how to pray and request that
we lay hands on them so they could take what we had back to their
own churches.  Also, the Lord showed me that day that we would
become so close to Him through our corporate church prayers that
the sick and infirmed would hear of us and would come for prayer.
They would not come to us for prayer because we had invited them
but because the church that prayed was being made known by the
hand of the Lord.  they would come, we would lay hands upon them,
and pray for them and they would recover.  The Lord also revealed
to me that many would come to Christ as a result of our prayers.
It suddenly dawned on me what the Lord was saying.  He was telling
us that our little church was going to take Denver for Christ.  We
would never become a big church but we would be the Lord's church
and we would be known for our spiritual authority and power
through our corporate church prayers and that we would literally
reach all of Denver through our intercession and petitionary
prayers.

     When I sat down, after over thirty minutes of speaking, the
pastor got up and the first thing he said was, "Well, I don't
agree with everything Phil said."  He then preceded to spend the
next thirty minutes ripping apart everything I had just said.
You see, the word the Lord had given to this body of Believers
did not match what he thought God meant about him taking Denver
for Christ.  Plus, he did not appreciate the idea that his church
might be small in number but big in spiritual authority and
powerful prayers.  In his mind, big meant in size and number.  Yet
the bible is filled with stories of the mightiness of God through
one or by the small in number.  Later this pastor began to drift
doctrinally and began allow sin in the church in such a way that
the church was devastated.  He still pastors about a dozen people
but he has never taken Denver for Christ and, unless he sees the
glory of God, he never will.

PRAYER

     The first, and foremost, test of a growing church, is a
praying church.  We need to learn what it means to pray together
and we need to learn the ways of intercessory prayer and spiritual
warfare.  We likewise need to learn how to conduct spiritual
warfare through our prayers and prayer needs to become our vital
link to the throne of God in behalf of others.  If you have no
prier instruction or training on how this is done, simply get your
church together, and as their pastor, begin to pray together.
Yes, it is that simple.  The Holy Spirit will begin to teach you
how to pray.  In most cases, unfortunately, you will discover, if
you are a church member recommending this to your pastor, he will
not be receptive to the idea.  You may, therefore, have to meet
quietly alone with one or two others in your home.  If this is the
case, begin praying that God would teach you how to pray and as He
does, pray for your pastor and the church that they, too, may
become burden to become a church of prayer.

GO

     Another test of church growth is salvation and changed lives.
The church I have recently been in for the last four years has had
no one saved and stay in the church nor have we discipled anyone.
Matthew 28:18-20 clearly instructs us to lead people to Christ,
baptize them, and disciple them.  this means personal time is a
necessary part of discipling a new convert.  We generally, in
today's modern church, aren't interested in spending personal time
with our new converts.  We want them to simply come to church and
learn from the pulpit.  The problem with this philosophy, however,
is that the new converts never really get to see how others live
on a daily bases because no personal and regular contact is ever
made with them.  In other words, no friendships and personal
relationships are established.  Eventually, they drift away and
try and find some place where they belong.  If your church is not
actively winning the lost and discipling them, your church is not
growing regardless of how many are in attendance.

     This method of church growth requires "going."  Literally, we
are command to go after the lost and if we know Christians who
have not been discipled, they need someone to "go after" them.
Yes, once again this requires personal involved and time.  Most of
us, pastors include, think we are busy enough the way it is and
besides, we rationalized, I'm not very good at it anyhow.  So we
allow others to do it for us and in many cases, our churches are
small and don't have enough people in the first place.  Thus, it
never gets down.  If you are not willing to go after others, be
they lost or Christians out of fellowship with God or Christians
who have never been discipled, then you are living your life out
of the will of God.  If you physically incapable of going, that is
a different matter but physical disabilities does not exempt you
from praying.

In most cases, this is not the message a pastor wants to hear.  So
don't be surprised if you try and suggest these two things to him
and he disagrees strongly with your suggestions.  Most pastors
have been train in seminary and Bible colleges to administrate a
body of Believers.  I had one class, a single semester, of
personal evangelism (this school was afraid to call it soul
winning) and I had literally no classes, nor were none offered in
the curriculum by the bible college, on prayer.  I wonder why and
that isn't a question.

Phil.


I Flew Kites With Jesus
www.SafePlaceFellowship.com