I think three great books that address the “dead church” issues are:

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire
Fresh Faith
Fresh Power

All three by Pastor Jim Cymbala of the Brooklyn Tabernacle.  Pastor Cymbala didn’t inhert a large congregation....but he and his wife Carol have witnessed what God will do when they lived in complete obedience to Him and His Word.

While I don’t have a major problem with large churches, what I have seen over the past 25 years or so in the church growth movement is an emphasis on numerical growth; and, in most cases, only lip-service is given to real spiritual growth, which is slower, more painstaking, and much harder to quantify.
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Then the question becomes “what is ‘real spiritual growth’ and how do we measure it?”

What makes churches die?

Christ is not lifted up and man is.

Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in Jesus name, there He is in the midst of them.  Whose responsibility is it to “shut down” an assembly of those gathered in His name?  Whose responsibility is it to guide the Body, to discipline the Body, to heal the Body, to build the Body?  The whole idea of shutting down a group of people gathered together in His name is simply wrong-headed.  If it weren’t for the desire to help oneself to the financial and material resources that exist in a so-called “dead church”, an association or denomination simply wouldn’t be interested at all.  Methinks the whole idea smacks of greed rather than grace and judgmentalism rather than compassion and mercy.  The human authority structure of typical Western religious organizations is the only reason anyone would ever have such a conversation.  Where is the Body in all this?  Would you ever conceive of Paul going into a group and telling them “I’M personally going to shut you down if you don’t get your act together.”? Such arrogance has no place at all in the Body of Christ and it’s time the influential power and prosperity brokers repented of such stuff.  Jesus said he wouldn’t snuff out a flickering wick and it sure smells to high heaven when affluent religious organizations get into the business of criticizing the weak and faltering.  Shame!

A dead church is one in which the lamp of truth has been extinguished because its leaders no longer proclaim God’s Word faithfully, consistently and fully.
A dead church is one in which we have lost our vision of God’s majestic sovereignty and holiness so that we no longer feel the need to bow in the dust before his throne and worship him.
A dead church is one in which a large percentage of the members are unconverted because its leaders have lost, and are therefore no longer proclaiming, the essence of the biblical gospel.
A dead church is one in which we are no longer active in encouraging one another to love and good works and one in which we would rather cover up than to confess our faults one to another.
A dead church is one in which we no longer feel a burning desire to see the lost come to know our Savior in a saving way.
When these are the characteristics of a “church” it is no longer a church but a social club and should be disbanded. The only hope for such organizations is a renewed commitment to biblical preaching and a widespread conversion of its members such as occurred during the great awakening of the early 1700’s.
It is my view that about 90% of our nation’s churches fall into this category.

To pick up where Bernie left off, I believe that churches (biblically speaking, not the structured, incorporated organizations) are alive because Christ is manifested through His people each time they come together not to RECEIVE but in order to GIVE.

I am of the belief that the “life” of a church (again, biblically speaking) cannot be measured in the numbers it may contain physically but rather to the numbers it influences spiritually, as in the real disciples produced, which are much smaller than we would like to believe.

Therefore, most “churches” (i.e., incorporated organizations) of today, be they small, medium or mega, are not alive because Christ is not manifested when they meet because the vast majority of people gather to RECEIVE instead of to GIVE.  However, to infuse a pseudo-life into it, they reach out to numbers physically to give the impression that they’re “alive,” thus limiting their influence spiritually.

The church of Laodicea was apparently a very large “church” numerically but one that had lost sight of its spiritual purpose, that of knowing Christ and having Him manifested among His people when they met.

Thus is the state of the majority of western “churches” today.

Quote:

“Dying churches don’t bear fruit.”

That would depend upon one’s definition of “dying.”

A group of God’s people who “die” to themselves daily will ALWAYS bear fruit.

A group of God’s people who “die” to the temptations of trying to make a name for themselves, for the “sake of Christ,” of course, will ALWAYS bear fruit.

A group of God’s people refuse to be bullied into following all of the “church growth” models of today, knowing that numbers do not equal health, will ALWAYS bear fruit.

A group of God’s people who “die” to the temptation to believe that only a few can “equip the Body,” thus living the fact that it is every believer’s responsibility to exhort, encourage and edity fellow believers will ALWAYS bear fruit.

A group of God’s people who “die” to the notion that God has “called” them to amass large numbers of “converts” and to accommodate them by building ever-increasing buildings, will ALWAYS bear fruit.

I could go on and on.  It’s a matter of perspective.

As Jesus taught concerning the “grain of wheat,” death is a door to the REAL life, God’s life...and much, lasting, pure FRUIT.

I truely beleive that no matter what the number is in the church when God stops being the center of that churchs being or that pastors heart or that congregations sight then the church is dead. With out God the only thing drawing people in is the entertainment value. The singing and worship the fun of church but if your goal of reaching the lost and dying souls for heaven then the church is dead and the pastor should leave and bring in someone else to do the job because he has lost his effectiveness. Jesus’s whole reason for coming to this earth and dying on the Cross was to be that bridge between God and Man if we are not reaching the lost then the function of the church is gone and it should close no matter how many attend

Brian L. said:
“Bernie, I think we need to be careful about using such a wide brush to paint the US church as being like the Laodicean church.”

It’s hard to judge, because the USA is so big (geographical and denominational differences).  But I think when you look at the wealth of the USA churches, and what they are doing with it, compared to the poverty of Asian churches and missions, and see what they do it, we would be extremely embarassed.  Get the free book at gfa.org and I think it will really open some eyes!  ...and they desperately need to be opened…

And why is the USA church, with all it’s power and money, afraid to confront the TBN-sponsored prosperity gospel?  By being silent, this evil teaching is going throughout all the world via TBN TV.  The reason for silence? They don’t want to offend their church members, who may believe it.  Thus, a supreme example of watered-down, lukewarm, mega-churches (Laodicean style).  Has Rick Warren or any other mega-church leaders taken a stand against the false prosperity teachers? 

...Bernie

Luke 9:23 (Christ Jesus talking)
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, pick up his cross, and come follow me.”

I think that we, as the body of Christ, cannot judge by any outward signs as to whether the will of God is being accomplished via mega or small church. It is in our daily walk and the reaching out to people in daily situations that our lives will make a difference. Have any of you ever read that a shoe salesman was the one to make an impact on Billy Graham in a non-church settting or have I been misled?  It’s the day to day encounters from the clerk at Wal-Mart that you can silently or verbally witness to or the friend next door that wil have the greatest impact for the kingdom. Thanks to someone interested in putting integrity first among the disipines! Lorrie

Defining a “dead church” would seem, from reviewing the comments thus far, to be a case of “Christians” not taking Acts 1:8 seriously or a case of of really bad mismanagement on the part of the leadership of a given flock.  To slap a Laodicean judgement is counter productive because it fixes the blame more than the problem.  What is at stake here is so much bigger than the mega verses mini church issue.  Who cares what size a church is.  The essential question is what are the fruits and where are the fruits?  Is fruit being produced and is it remaining?  Do people get discipled and in turn reach out to disciple others in the church and comunity?  Is church growth always manifested in baptisms and conversions?  I pastor a small church and I’ve done the ABC’s of bring em’ bag em’ and Baptise em’ to little or no effect.  So I tried an alternate approach.  I started a nursing home ministry and asked for folks to come and help out.  Wow! Our mini church came alive people started doing the disciple thing and now they really enjoying doing harvest work.  Dead?  Was’nt a friend of Jesus dead?  What was Jesus’ responce?

Bernie writes “Has Rick Warren or any other mega-church leaders taken a stand against the false prosperity teachers?”

It’s a little off topic, but maybe not… I don’t want the world to know me as a Christian for what I am AGAINST! I want them to know what I am FOR… new life in Christ! I hope that attitude keeps my heart and my church from becoming “dead”.

And in one sense, as long as two or more in a church people trust Christ, in all their imperfection and pettiness and everything, the church is still alive! There is still hope!

;-D

Todd, I hope you don’t edit this out, since it’s off topic, but I can’t let it go.

Bernie says “Very common, and a major reason why we have a mess in doctrine, and will never get revival. You want to preach a positive-only message… no put-downs of bad theology, contrary to the attitude of Jesus, John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul, Martin Luther, John Calvin, etc.”

Bernie, I didn’t say that. You are reading into my statement, through the lens (I believe) of your particular agenda, and it isn’t the first time. Only this time I feel like you are being downright insulting.

I was talking about what I want the WORLD to see when they see me. I’m sick to death of people only defining Christians according to their list of things they crusade against. Ask the man on the street what a Christian is, and often they’ll rail off “They’re the people against abortion, the ones who hate homosexuals, the ones who vote Republican.”

Maybe THIS is why churches die. Because they become known in their community only for the list of things they “hate.” The above list of stuff that many Christians are “against” represent a short list of things that Christ, in his public ministry, never even adressed. I want to be known as the guy who preaches God’s grace. If someone comes to faith by that who has serious sin issues in his life, I TOTALLY trust God, his Word, and the Holy Spirit, to sort it all out. I don’t want people to clean up their act before they come into my church, but after!

But that is ALL I’m gonna say on this topic. I just needed to defend myself.