In Sermon Illustrations: "Seven Churches"

Ineffective Churches

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 5, 2011

INEFFECTIVE CHURCHES Chuck Colson makes an interesting observation. He points out that when the Communists took over Russia in 1917, they did not make Christianity illegal. The Soviet constitution guaranteed freedom of religion. What they did do is make it illegal for the churches to do any "good ...read more

Scripture: Titus 3:14

Tags: Christian Witness

Mom's Church  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 6, 2011

MOM'S CHURCH Four scholars were arguing over Bible translations. One said he preferred the King James Version because of its beauty, eloquent old English. Another said he preferred the American Standard Bible for its literalism, the way it moves the reader from passage to passage with confident ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:5

Tags: Mother's Day

A Peacemaking Church  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 25, 2011

A PEACEMAKING CHURCH I can tell this story because one neighbor has died and the other neighbor no longer lives across the street from our church. Our neighbors endured the disruption of their lives as we built on to our church. I'm sure that contributed to their lack of patience with us. We put ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:9, Exodus 32:1-14, Isaiah 32:15-20

Tags: Jesus Teachings

The Ship Of The Church

Contributed by Davon Huss on Jan 9, 2012

THE SHIP OF THE CHURCH In Wheat That Springeth Green, author J.F. Powers has one of his characters say, "This is a big old ship. She creaks, she rocks, she rolls, and at times she makes you want to throw up. But she gets where she’s going. Always has, always ...read more

Tags: Church General

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Thoughts On The Church

Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Jun 20, 2012

THOUGHTS ON THE CHURCH Here are some thoughts on The Church from a few 30 on down in age, individuals from the book "The Relevant Church": Quotes: Tyler Watts, "I think I disconnect from the Gospel of Jesus Christ when I'm not involved in close relationships with other believers." Philip Evans, ...read more

Tags: Church General

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Division In The Church

Contributed by Davon Huss on Sep 6, 2014

Daniel Overdorf- A few years ago I visited a couple in their home. Both husband and wife had lived most of their lives apart from Christ and His church. Their marriage- a second marriage for both- had grown rocky. The 50 year old husband faced a frightening battle with cancer, and neither ...read more

Scripture: John 17:20-23

Tags: Argue, Church Unity, Disunity

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

A Dying Church

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Oct 13, 2019

John MacArthur tells this awesome story: There once was an old church in England. A sign on the front of the building read, ''We preach Christ crucified.'' After a time, ivy grew up and obscured the last word and it read, 'We preach Christ.'' The ivy grew some ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 3:1-10

Tags: Church, Revival, Repentance, Mission

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Church Is Open!

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on May 24, 2020

As I write this, it’s late May 2020 and this has been one of the strangest years I can ever remember. Much of the year has been taken up with the Wuhan Virus (also called COVID-19, the Corona Virus, and perhaps other names) and the effect on the world’s economy. For those of you reading this in the ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 122:1, Jeremiah 36:5

Tags: David, Church Attendance, House Of The Lord

Denomination: Baptist

Sleeping Church

Contributed by Rev. Duraimony Dickson on Sep 26, 2020

Martin Luther once dreamed that the devil was listening to reports from his agents on the progress they were making against the Kingdom of God. One reported, "A company of Christians were crossing the desert, and I loosen the lions on them, and all were lost." The devil replied, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 25:5

Tags: Against The Kingdom Of God, Sleeping Church

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Be Quiet In Church

Contributed by John Bright on Apr 27, 2021

One Sunday School teacher asked her class, “Why do we have to be quiet in church?’ A little boy quickly ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:46-47

Tags: Church, Children, Worship

Denomination: Methodist

The Perfect Church

Contributed by David Parks on Sep 19, 2022

If you should find the perfect church Without one spot or sore For goodness sake! Don’t join that church! For it won’t be perfect anymore. If you should find the perfect church Where all anxieties cease. Then pass it by, lest you join it, And mar the masterpiece. But since no perfect church ...read more

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 1:7, Matthew 16:18, 1 Corinthians 13:1-10

Tags: Love, Faith, Hope, Church

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Church Matters

Contributed by Dr. Fred W. Penney on Jun 1, 2024

Why do people in churches seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute? The tourists are having coffee and doughnuts on Deck C. Presumably someone is minding the ship, correcting the course, avoiding icebergs and shoals, fueling the engines, watching the radar screen, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 16:18, Ephesians 4:11-13

Tags: Eternity, Church, Mission

Denomination: Pentecostal

Mockery Of The Church

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Feb 22, 2025

New Zealand, Feb. 26 [2016] (UPI) -- Members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, otherwise known as Pastafarians, registered their first official marriage celebrant in New Zealand. The group announced the news on its Facebook page, although the first couple that was set to be married by ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 6:7, 1 Timothy 3:15

Tags: Mocking The Church, Mocking Christianity, Ridiculous, Religion, Mockers, Mocking  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Independent/Bible

50-Somethings For Jesus

Contributed by Tim Smith on Feb 19, 2012

50-SOMETHINGS FOR JESUS At the age of 58, Tom and Elaine Samply cashed out their retirements and moved to the Czech Republic and opened a coffee shop called Common Grounds where he taught business principles to atheists. After they were there for six years, they had enough business that they ...read more

Tags: Aging

Denomination: Methodist

Church Finances: The Average Church Budget Size ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Church finances: The average church budget size is $292,790 (median: $203,590). Senior pastors earn a median base salary of $31,006 and a median housing allowance of $15,250. 66% of church treasurers are responsible for the oversight of church expenditures. 57% of churches use debt only as needed ...read more

Tags: Church Practices

Church Debt: Your Church Magazine Reports That ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Church Debt: Your Church magazine reports that 54% of all churches carry some kind of debt. 32% of small churches (annual budget up to $100,000) carry debt versus 69% of churches with budgets over $500,000. The median debt is 64% of the annual budget with larger churches carrying the highest ...read more

Tags: Church General

Live Churches Verse Dead Churches! (Adapted, ...  PRO

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Jul 10, 2003

LIVE CHURCHES VERSE DEAD CHURCHES! (adapted, WRITER UNKNOWN) Live churches constantly change, --- dead churches resist and refuse change... Live churches love to try, dead churches feel they don’t have to... Live churches have youth that are noisy and can’t be still, dead churches are very ...read more

Tags: Leadership General, Church General

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Church Shopping Online Church Consultant Tom ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 14, 2008

Church Shopping Online Church consultant Tom Bandy says that as tools for reaching potential worshipers, church Web sites are growing in number and getting more sophisticated. One sign: 5 years ago, churches made up only 5% of clientele for StreamGuys, an Arcadia, CA based provider of streaming ...read more

Tags: Church Growth

Our Seven-Year-Old Daughter Had Just Won $2 For ...  PRO

Contributed by A. Todd Coget on Feb 20, 2004

Our seven-year-old daughter had just won $2 for her memory work in Sunday School. After the morning service, the pastor’s wife congratulated her. Our daughter proudly announced, “And I put it all in the morning’s offering!” “My, how wonderful!” the pastor’s wife exclaimed. “I’m sure God will be ...read more

Tags: Giving General

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Seven Year Old Tommy Had Been Asking His Parents ...

Contributed by Kenneth Trent on Oct 30, 2007

Seven year old Tommy had been asking his parents for a dog but they were not convinced that the family needed one. After Tommy’s repeated pleas, his dad told him if he would help his mother with chores around the house he could earn enough money to buy a dog. Tommy was more than eager to accept ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 46:1-34

Tags: Redemption, Redeemed

Denomination: Baptist