Reasons Churches Stall

I recently came across an article by Marcus Honeysett in which he gave ten reasons why churches stall. I found the article to be quite gospel-centered and mission focused. I'll post five of his reasons today and five more in my next post.

1. The church forgets who we are and what we are for. 1 Peter says that we are a royal priesthood (who we are) for declaring God's greatness to the world (what we are for). When we forget that we are the community of disciples for declaring God's greatness and making disciples, mission quickly becomes just one among many activities rather than the defining vision of who we are as a community.
2. The majority of believers are no longer thrilled with the Lord and what he is doing in their lives. When a large percentage of believers are spiritually stalled, the church stalls too. The commonly happens when people attach themselves to a fellowship because they like the activities and the warm company, but never commit themselves to gospel vision, either beceause it isn't explained to them or they have no commitment to it.
3. The people get happy with not going anywhere because of the comfort and refreshments that are offered. Worse still is when people get happy with activities, events, service and even good teaching and preaching but are resistant to challenges to radical living and sacrifice for the gospel.
4. When filler-Christians who have no real commitment to gospel vision outnumber the core committed believers who do. A filler-Christian adds up everything else they need and want to do for the rest of the week, sees how many hours are left and allocates a certain number of them to church things. They see church as one among many leisure activities, usually low down the priority list. They are unlikely to see the Christian community as God's great hope for the world and unlikely to put commitment above self-interest.
5. When a large percentage of the church are used to being passive receivers of ministry from other people rather than being active self-feeders on the Word of God. It is easy to persuade ourselves that we have done the spiritual bit for the week because we have listened to a sermon but with no thought about acting on it. Where people take no personal responsibility for their own spiritual growth a stalled church becomes more likely.