80% Of New Churches Fail
7,000 Churches Close A Year
65% Of Churches Are Not Growing

That’s not good. Here are a few reasons why churches are closing and tips to recognize and avoid them…

#5 Leadership

It seems that the bad people always make it to the top. Churches are no different, there are countless churches destroyed because of poor leadership. Sometimes the leaders are just bad leaders (or people) but often times good leaders just give up. They get tired of putting forth the effort and become content in a bad way.

#4 The Church Does Not Have A Community

Churches are made up of people and without people, it’s just a building. THE church is not a building but the people that worship there and grow there. People are the church and without community, the people go where there is a community.

#3 God Has Been Left Out

Yep, it’s sad to say but some churches have put God on the backburner. When you think YOU have done this or done that then you have forgotten about God. Without Him, YOU would have none of this. When a churches leave God out they are putting not only their church but also their congregation onto a path of destruction.

#2 Nothing Is Being Taught About God

Often times it seems that sermons are the same exact thought just with a different theme, never really going any deeper. That isn’t good enough. The key is finding the balance, sermons to deep confuse guest but sermons to light are not teaching members anything beyond the first steps. This is why First Steps programs help grow and nurture new Christians, what may be common knowledge to most churchgoers is like greek to a new visitor.

#1 Lack Of Growth

This is pretty obvious yet most churches suffering from this disease don’t even realize they are dying! We get it, you get tired, you get worn out, you get overworked but not even trying to reach new people is not what God intends for the church to be doing. By being satisfied with your current numbers you are essentially closing your doors and not reaching people with the gospel. There is a big difference in being content and not wanting more. God does not want you to set around idle, he wants you to constantly be growing his kingdom!

Sources: Barna