Denial is a form of avoidance. It is a lie or half-truth to evade a painful reality. Denial fends off our inner doubts. And when we know our ministry is on the ropes, we tell ourselves all sorts of things to quiet our fears and our sense of failure. In this article and the next, I want to share a total of ten lies spiritual leaders tell themselves when their church is in decline.
For a flagging ministry to receive a revival or renewal by the Holy Spirit, it must face reality. It must dispel its “denial” of what’s wrong. The sooner a church or leader dispels these misconceptions, the sooner they can find real hope. As a church leader, are you telling yourself any of the following?
- “Changing pastors, policies, or church programs will fix our problems.” This line of thinking is commonplace among American churches. But it does not leave room for seeking the Lord about the true nature of a ministry’s decline. Instead, like Old Testament Israel, such churches, in effect, turn to the modern equivalents of Egypt or Assyria to bolster their position. They turn their church, which is an organism, into an organization needing organizational solutions (i.e. firing/hiring, reorganization, new programs, etc.) It is a knee-jerk reaction. Yet, as the Lord declared through Hosea, “None of them calls on Me” (Hosea 7:11). If your church is in serious decline, what better time to seek the Lord about the real nature of the problems you face?
- “The pain in our church’s history is water under the bridge.” Church people may protest, “Why do we need to talk about the past? Who wants to relive our old conflicts?” Or “I don’t think our present dilemma has anything to do with our church’s history!” Remember the cyclical history of Israel during the period of the Judges? Did their sinful history slow or speed up their decline? Did Jesus let any of the seven churches in Revelation 2-3 off the hook for their troubled histories? The key to unleashing your church’s future often begins with cleansing your ministry’s past.
- “The devil is behind our church’s problems.” Engaging in spiritual warfare will not slow your church’s decline if you have not addressed the reason for the devil’s foothold in your congregation. If he has a foothold, it is only with Divine permission (Luke 22:31-32)! In addition, not everything that is painful in a church is from the enemy, sometimes it is from the Lord (1 Cor. 11:27-32; Rev. 3:19). Sometimes we confuse Divine discipline with the devil’s involvement over issues which a congregation has ignored, but Jesus has not.
- “Visitors don’t stay because God has made us a spiritual way-station.” This rationalization helps us deal with ministry frustration over a lack of growth. If your church was once much larger than it is today, your frustration will be particularly acute. But what if there is Divine significance behind those who visit but don’t stay? What might God be saying to your church through it? Maybe your “way-station” is a sign that God sees something wrong in the heart of your church. Has such a thought crossed your mind? There are biblical examples where God used frustration to get His people’s attention, like 2 Samuel 21. Might He be trying to get your church’s attention through its ministry frustration?
- “Our past crises are just challenges we must overcome.” Every church on the planet has challenges to face and overcome. Sometimes those challenges are from within and sometimes from without. However, painful church crises are in a different category and Jesus often has something to say about them. They include a call to repentance. He told the once mighty church in Ephesus, “If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (Rev. 2:5). If your church is in decline and you sense your “lampstand” is at stake, maybe it is time to seek God’s face about your church’s painful past.
Ministers and church leaders are not immune to denial, especially when their church is in decline. No one wants to voice their fears that something is missing or that things have gone awry. Like the old joke goes, denial is not a river in Egypt. However, denial courses through a major portion of the Body of Christ today. May God give us eyes to see and ears to hear so that we can dispel denial and seek His face for a fresh anointing on our churches.
Mark Barnard serves with Blessing Point Ministries. Blessing Point works to heal ministries with painful histories. If you are facing a ministry in decline, consider reading Healing the Heart of Your Church by Dr. Kenneth Quick.