Pandemic in the Church

In 1918 the Spanish flu killed 50,000,000 people and infected one-third of the world’s population. In 2003 SARS killed upwards of 800 people and infected ten times that many. The latest stats on Coronavirus estimate that nearly 10,000 people have died with more than 250,000 infected. Yet, for some time now, a pandemic has ravaged North American churches wreaking havoc and destroying ministries. Of 350,000 churches in the U.S, roughly 70-90% suffer from one of a family of closely related spiritual viruses.

By “spiritual viruses” I mean viruses that spread through a local body of believers. They can even jump from one congregation to another. The Apostle Paul used another image of something that spreads quickly and affects the whole: yeast, or as it was known in ancient times, leaven. He saw the power these maladies had to spread. He reminded both the troubled Corinthian and Galatian churches, “Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?” (1 Cor. 5:6; Gal. 5:9)

These corporate contagions don’t originate with birds or animals like the Coronavirus but occur when known sins and/or wounds go unaddressed in congregations. It becomes not just about the contagion itself, but about leadership’s inadequate actions to protect the congregation, which is their biblical responsibility. Jesus says this to the Thyatiran leaders about the woman they “tolerated” who led people astray in their congregation (Rev. 2:20). The infection affects every heart and can sicken congregation after congregation as pastors and people move to new ministries.

We see the symptoms commonly: congregational mistrust, missional decline, communication failures, exhausted and clueless leaders, and a weakening congregational pulse. Percentage wise, the infection rate for ministries thus afflicted is higher than any physical virus the world has known.

Among Bible-believing congregations, three insidious strains have become all-too-common in church “bodies” and continue to multiply and infect others:

• Sinfluenza: Moral failures, spiritual abuse, loss of love, pride, and heretical ideas cause congregations to run a fever, their illness and weakness making ministry more and more difficult. In healthy churches, leaders address such sinful issues through the loving use of church discipline and wise leadership as they “cultivate and keep” the garden where God placed them. But when they fail to do so, infectious issues contaminate their ministries.
• Splitting Fever: Ravaging countless ministries and denominations, this is by far the most painful sickness a congregation or denomination can contract and illustrates graphically the power of a spiritual disease to spread. Church history proves that Protestantism is infected with this. The body amputates part of itself, and neither remaining part survives without weakening scars. Moreover, splitting continually resurfaces as a way of resolving disputes. The disease may lay dormant for years, but it always resurfaces.
• Hireling-itis: This virulent strain of leaven stems from short-tenured pastors or pastors who wound a congregation and thus break their trust. People no longer believe pastors have their best interests in mind, no matter who they are. Rather than risk being hurt again, church lay leaders and congregations adopt an “employer-employee” mindset and seek to protect themselves by controlling all future pastors. This distrust sickens gifted shepherds, making ministry a miserable experience.

Does your ministry struggle with any of these painful maladies? Then maybe it’s time to get tested. As we witness the stunning impact of Coronavirus on the world, it might be a good time to take the temperature of your local ministry. Take the free “ChurchScan Inventory” that Blessing Point Ministries provides to diagnose any potential contagions your ministry may be carrying.

Mark Barnard authored Diagnosing the Heart of Your Church: How Ministry Leaders Can Assess Systemic Corporate Dysfunction.  He has served with Blessing Point Ministries since 2006.