Almost every time I speak about church decline and death, someone challenges my thesis. They tell me churches will not die, according to Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:18: “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock and I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”
There are two major problems with the argument that churches will not close. First, Jesus is not referring to any one congregation in this passage; He is referring to the Universal Church. Second, churches are dying, lots of them—several thousand each year in America alone. Read More
I spent a part of my childhood in Seely Suffolk, Holy Suffolk, as it was once called because of its many churches. A number of these churches stand alone in the midst of an empty countryside. The communities in which they were built have disappeared.The houses have been pulled down.
Churches do die. Some churches die through no fault of their own. They are the victims of changes in demographics and shifts in attitudes toward religion. For others, however,the seeds of their demise were sown when they were planted. They were planted without proper attention to the need to establish an evangelistic culture in the church. They were served by a succession of pastors who failed to help them develop such a culture. Now those seeds are bearing fruit - poisonous fruit that will kill the church.
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