Sermon Central
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How Can You Tell When A Church Is Dying?
Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Jan 31, 2022 (message contributor)
FUNNY STORY!!!
Calvin Coolidge, our thirtieth president, was an extremely quiet and reserved man with very little personality. When questioned, he rarely answered in more than two or three words—a tendency which earned him the nickname, “Silent Cal.” The public saw him as a stiff and emotionless man. Someone said that he looked like he was weaned on dill pickle juice! Well, in 1933 the radio airwaves were filled with the news of Coolidge’s death. Columnist Dorothy Parker was in her office at The New Yorker when a colleague flung open the door and blurted, “Dottie, did you hear? President Coolidge is dead.” She shot back her most famous quote, “How can they tell?”
HOW CAN YOU TELL WHEN A CHURCH IS DYING?
Here are some of the signs that a church is dying.
A dying church rests on its past accomplishments and is satisfied with its presence state.
A dying church is more concerned about their rituals and their formalities than they are about spirituality.
A dying church is more concerned about social change than they are about seeing people changed by the power of God.
A dying church is more concerned with material growth than it is with spiritual growth.
A dying church is more concerned with pleasing men that it is with pleasing God.
A dying church clings more tightly to its creeds and confessions that it does to the Word of God.
A dying church is one that loses its conviction that the Bible is the Word of God.)
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