Is God Sustaining Your Church

"What God does not ordain, He does not sustain." - Unknown

This may well be why so many church starts fail. Intentions may have been good and demographics screamed, "GO!", but the still small voice of God said, "No" or "Not now" or "Not you."

It may also be why so many churches dwindle and close after the founder or the popular preacher transfers, retires or dies. The pastor had good dreams, plenty of energy and support, but because it was about him and his goals it fades out after the prime mover and shaker is gone. I am sure he and the people thought it was God's plan, but if it is not sustained after one man leaves it was probably not ordained or planted by God.

Sometimes a major contributor moves on because he cannot have the control he wants and things get crazy economically. This makes think that the adage, “If the rich build the church man builds the church. If the poor build the church” is very true.

The pastor I heard this morning mentioned that people do not move on but get stuck in the movement of yesterday or the power that was there years ago. They struggle to make that happen again and a church once on fire is just smoking ember that is almost gone because they live in the past.

I once preached in view of call at a church where the pastor had died after being their fifty years. I believe it was three years before and they still had his poems in the bulletin and talked about him like he was on vacation. A man would have a hard time being the new shoes in the place leading them onward. Out of curiosity, I looked and they have no web presence only an address and phone number in a listing. That does not bode well. They may well have closed.

Revelation 2:5  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Some may say of their churches that they once had great revivals and the pews were filled and some had to stand outside. They sent out missionaries and many left for bible college and became pastors out of their church. Now, it is barely keeping the doors open after a hundred years of ministry. Why?

While we like to blame demographics, the end times and the like they have less influence than we accredit them. Why are some churches that are over a hundred years old and still going while some started only ten or twenty years ago are closed or near closure. It is the end times for both churches and demographics changed in both places.

It may well be that the ones not growing did not change their lures and are still fishing for trout in a lake restocked with different fish. Indeed, we have more Mars Hill type people today than Jews at Pentecost. If you refuse to change bait do not be mad if you do not catch anything and if you do not preach the Gospel like Paul becoming all things to all men you will see your church close. You may have never done something before, but it is wise to investigate and change if needed not close you mind and your doors.

I was once told that churches experience a life-cycle of birth to death just like people. There may be some truth in that. Some churches die in their infancy due to lack of care. Some in their teens due to rebellion against the Father like Rehoboam. Some get slack in their middle-age or go through a crisis poorly while others just get senile and die. Others seem to be like Caleb still doing battle in their 80’s and make it to 120 or so.

It may well be a first love issue like Ephesus. After awhile, we get so tied to our man-made rituals, rites and traditions that we lose that fire we had in our hearts when we first heard the Lord speak to us. We fought hard battles to get where we are, but now we are comfortable. If we have enough nickles we are not even worried about noses like the church that had $50k for the roof felt God was still blessing them when the church was nearly empty with an 80+ year old retired interim pastor in a neighborhood that no longer represented them. They would never turn it over to a pastor or pastors that could reach that neighborhood. They might have hung on until the money ran out or the last person left for the nursing home or died.