Midweek Meditation: "Eight Symptoms of Dying Churches"

Why churches plateau and die? Here are eight symptoms from Jeffrey Allan Christopherson's "Kingdom First" book.

1. Majoring on the Means: "They value the process of decision more than the outcome of decision." 
2. Self-Indulgent: "They value their preferences over the needs of the unreached."
3. Aging Leadership: "They have an inability to pass leadership to the next generation."
4. Loss of Neighbourliness: "They cease, often gradually, to be part of the fabric of their community."
5. Program-Centered: "They grow dependent on programs or personalities for growth or stability."
6. Finger Pointing: "They tend to blame the community for a lack of response and in time grow resentful of the community for not responding as it once did."
7. Failure to Acknowledge: "They anesthetize the pain of death with overabundance of activity and maintaining outdated structure. "
8. Property Focused: "Confusion of caring for the “building” as caring for the church."

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