What Happened to my Church?

That’s exactly what happened to my old church. I’d left the area for about 15 years when I returned my old church was replaced by black curtains so it was dark as night in there. Rock concert music, fog machines and singers in mini skirts rocking out with a pastor with punk hair and ripped jeans. I still attended because they had a great youth pastor, who was in his forties and my daughter loved going to all the activities. Then the pastor decided the youth pastor  wasnt as hip and cool as he wanted the new image of the church to be and fired him. That caused a split from the older core members from the young crowd. We and a lot of the older crowd left. Discouraged by church politics I didn’t go for a few years until I went to my church now. The church I left has been plagued with infidelity rumors about new pastors and singing directors and the young girls singing on stage. But it remains the same rock concert appealing to the flesh and lust of lost sheep.

The article is excellent and the testimony by Miss Daisy breaks my heart.

Sad article and testimonies.

But it does go to show how each generation in a church - each family and individual - needs to be faithful and walk with the Lord today, not just rest where they or their church once stood.

There is no coasting in the Christian life - not for an individual, and not for the church they are part of.

Coasting is like sitting on the fence when temptation to compromise comes your way. I think it was my webpartner, Angela Trenholm, who once said, “The Devil owns the fence,” and I know the fence is greased! It is a slippery slope, for sure.

My old church in San Diego, fortunately, hasn't gone through this, though I've seen they are starting to use some contemporary music, carefully recrafted to a more conservative sound. Unfortunately, this is often the first step down. Once the current pastor, who is holding things together, passes, the trip down will be much quicker.

Miss Daisy, you nailed it.  "Discouraged by church politics..."  

On ‎3‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 12:07 AM, Guest spdowney said:

I visited my old home church a couple of years ago, and left after the close with a tear in my eye.

in the 60s the church was running around 250 and had a pretty vibrant youth group. After a lot of thought, prayer and planning, we approached the deacons wanting to start a bus ministry. Well, after 6 months we had a lot of both kids and seniors riding in on three busses. There were a few families that joined the congregation thru the ministry. It was successful. Except....

About two years into it the deacons decided there were some problems. First, the ministry was costing. It seemed the children weren’t giving enough. And secondly, since few of the kids had ever been in a church, they misbehaved, they were, in many instances unkept and smelly, and they were disruptive. 

So, wham, the bus ministry was terminated. And it seemed the entire church began to slide downwards. A few families left because the deacons seemed to have lost sight of a church’s mission. Many of the youth group moved on to other churches for the same reason. Attendance dropped, and dropped, and dropped.

Asfer high school I left as well, to join another church that had taken up the “bus” mantle, and was fully committed to going out to the highways and hedges. 

My home church began renting out space to pay the bills. A Montessori school rented the fellowship hall. Some small businesses rented the Main St building. And a variety of evening meetings like AA, Yoga and others would rent space on a weekly basis. Evening services were abandoned. Sunday school was dropped in favor of home groups, which shrank to nothing. Today you can “have coffee with the pastor” on Tuesday and Thursday.

my last visit was in a once full auditorium that sat 600, with about 30 in attendance. The worship team played their instrument and sang songs no one knew..... a performance called “worship time”. The sermonette was spoken by a pastor who seemed to have long lost his enthusiasm. I believe the church was dead, but no one had buried it yet.

My home church died in the 60s when they counted poor children unworthy to dirty the carpets. They had left their first love. They were neither hot nor cold, and Almighty God had spewed them out of His mouth.

The clear initial problem here is that deacons ran the church. Deacons are there to assist the pastor, to take certain responsibilities off his hands so he can minister in prayer and the word-when deacons boards began to run things, that's when church leadership went awry.

And so it goes and has gone that way for many years now. This is the reason that when and if Deacons are chosen they must be deeply spiritual men, well versed in Scripture and with a Godly understanding of what the office of Deacon consists of. Even more important is what the office does NOT consist of.

9 hours ago, Jim_Alaska said:

And so it goes and has gone that way for many years now. This is the reason that when and if Deacons are chosen they must be deeply spiritual men, well versed in Scripture and with a Godly understanding of what the office of Deacon consists of. Even more important is what the office does NOT consist of.

When I first became a pastor, there were no deacons, just 'trustees', because we were small, and they were there for business purposes. I have since done away with the official state business aspect, got rid of the 501C3 aspect of the church, and so no trustees. While still too small to worry about deacons, once I had considered it, and they balked at the idea that, A, they weren't going to be a board who decided what did and didn't go on at the church and run the pastor's ministry, and, B, that their primary job was to take things OFF my shoulders and take over in various duties like visitation and the like, so I could put my focus on the word and prayer for the sake of the church. Even when I showed them in scripture what the deacons were hired for, basically waiting tables, they didn't like it, and so no deacons.

Good for you Mike. "No Deacons" is always a plausible option, especially for small churches.

This is sad, but not unexpected, as others have said we are in the last days. The local Church is a place of worship not a place of entertainment. Everything we do in Church should be done in a way that glorifies the Lord. What's striking to me is the amount of money these Churches spend on providing entertainment, especially considering the staggering number of homeless people. Thank you for this article, I share your concerns brother!

While I would not consider myself a fan or follower of John Macarthur, he does present an interesting explanation for this in his book "The Inerrant Word" In the introduction on Page 14. 

In a brief summary he attributes the modernization of the church to a seeker sensitive "market-driven" church strategy that goes soft on sin in order to draw large crowds. A large crowd of course in this view being the sign of success.  

All the false gospels appear to be "interesting explanations" to different people, even to multitudes (not to just a few), 

but the KJV Scripture says they are anathema,  and not to even greet them nor have a meal with them lest found being quilty (taking part) in with their sin.

"While growing up, this church was a very conservative church. Never would they have entertained the thought of having anything other than a piano or organ on the stage. Upon this visit, I noticed that everything has changed the last 30 years. No longer did the church look like a place of worship, but rather an entertainment center. Ironically, the crowds were smaller now than 30 years ago. "

Somewhere in Scripture it is written to seek out and find those who are faithful (whenever going to some town or city ) ,  right ?

Also perhaps with the warnings or cautions,   not to seek out 'seeker friendly',  'prosperity',  'cheap grace',   'lordship salvation' ,   types of leaders, teachers or assemblies,  right ?

Find the faithful ones,  who did not change,  who did not go along with changes in churches, culture, society, whether because of the government's involvement (telling churches how they could receive gov help in the future, by telling their people to go along with the government directions and not to resist) .... or because of the world secular churches instructions and oversight (millions or billions have joined the world church, contrary to all directions of the Author of Scripture - The Giver of Life and Salvation.) ..

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 "Issues like marriage, abortion, and hell apparently divide so the preaching ceased on those things, although rock music in the church apparently was not a dividing issue.

Having said all of that, the gates of hell are trying like crazy to penetrate the church,change its message, change its purpose, and to distort the gospel.

Matthew 16:18 “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

If anyone else has seen that music has changed your church, please let us know and comment below.

What happened to your church?

Edited March 9, 2019 by Matt Souza"

The True Believers did not change,  did not depart from the truth,  did not go away from Jesus.  

It looks like the "gates of hell" have not had to penetrate most churches,  the churches followed willingly,  wittingly or not,  outside of truth,  leaving/departing from (if they had been with)  the Good Shepherd Jesus,  to follow another voice instead of Jesus.

"rock music" was not a dividing issue.   Those who follow Jesus don't go with those who do rock music.   Those who do rock music have their own many groups all happy with that direction, not knowing where they are headed apparently, or maybe where they have already gone?

On 3/19/2019 at 11:35 AM, Jerry said:

Sad article and testimonies.

But it does go to show how each generation in a church - each family and individual - needs to be faithful and walk with the Lord today, not just rest where they or their church once stood.

There is no coasting in the Christian life - not for an individual, and not for the church they are part of.

Coasting is like sitting on the fence when temptation to compromise comes your way. I think it was my webpartner, Angela Trenholm, who once said, “The Devil owns the fence,” and I know the fence is greased! It is a slippery slope, for sure.

Do you think or consider being on the fence like that is being "luke warm",  neither cold nor hot ?

And like Jesus says ,  you are either for Me,  or against Me,  there is no middle ground. (paraphrased)

On 3/26/2019 at 10:12 AM, Ukulelemike said:

My old church in San Diego, fortunately, hasn't gone through this, though I've seen they are starting to use some contemporary music, carefully recrafted to a more conservative sound. Unfortunately, this is often the first step down. Once the current pastor, who is holding things together, passes, the trip down will be much quicker.

Similar perhaps to what the Apostles warned in the first century ?   They told the assemblies - the wolves are our there watching this flock,  waiting for us (the Apostles) to depart (sleep/die),  then they will (or are ready to) tear the flock apart.   

I enjoyed your article Pastor Matt. I became a Christian five years ago, and I bounced around many churches in many denominations until I found a conservative independent Baptist church. It struck me the first night as great, it had great expository preaching and seemed aimed primarily at feeding the congregation with the Word .

They refuse to allow any modern music, which I thought was extreme. However, I now see it was aimed at focusing everyone on the meaning of the songs and glorifying God. It also seems a stance against the entertainment model of church music. I think the important thing is to get those singing on stage or in the congregation to focus on God, to give Him fame and praise, and to be more about the meaning of the songs than the performance of them. It doesn't matter the music style or culture if these are everyone's goals.

Every single church I went to that was entertainment-centered during so-called worship had issues in other areas that sent me packing eventually. Usually a deep misunderstanding of what the Word actually says and commands. 

Seems as though churches are going down this slope faster  now than when I wrote this a few years ago. 

53 minutes ago, Pastor Matt said:

Seems as though churches are going down this slope faster  now than when I wrote this a few years ago. 

Unfortunately, Brother, they are. 

I know with a church I am familiar with, it wasn't the music. It is the family values they preached, but never practiced, They played favorites and spent money recklessly on "staff trips", but ignored family. Now the church is less then half it's size. Has an amazing godly pastor. But people are leaving I believe primarily due to discouragement. 

I pray this church survives. I love the people there. But I know it is scary situation for many sweet loving members. 

Their music is still Godly, they teach and preach KJV, actively soul win. The only thing I see is family issues.

They can't get or keep members especially among young folks so they have turned to entertainment.

14 hours ago, SureWord said:

They can't get or keep members especially among young folks so they have turned to entertainment.

Also the founder’s (Members) that stool firmly on the Word, have passed away. The newer leaders are in for the money, not all. Some preachers today earn up to five times more per year than preachers 25 years ago. I don’t have the proof of this, but just check in to it. You will be surprised

2 hours ago, TheGloryLand said:

Also the founder’s (Members) that stool firmly on the Word, have passed away. The newer leaders are in for the money, not all. Some preachers today earn up to five times more per year than preachers 25 years ago. I don’t have the proof of this, but just check in to it. You will be surprised

This proves nothing @TheGloryLand. In 25 years everything has increased in price. Vehicles that cost $30K  25 years ago, now cost $70K. Taking inflation into consideration, everyone's salary had to increase also.

4 hours ago, TheGloryLand said:

Also the founder’s (Members) that stool firmly on the Word, have passed away. The newer leaders are in for the money, not all. Some preachers today earn up to five times more per year than preachers 25 years ago. I don’t have the proof of this, but just check in to it. You will be surprised

Have you accounted for inflation, cost of living, and the percentages compared to the time period you're referring to? If you're going to post things like this you truly should be able to back it up. Just sayin'.

3 hours ago, Jim_Alaska said:

This proves nothing @TheGloryLand. In 25 years everything has increased in price. Vehicles that cost $30K  25 years ago, now cost $70K. Taking inflation into consideration, everyone's salary had to increase also.

I found this online, 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)–Salary increases for Southern Baptist pastors have more than doubled the rate of inflation during the past six years, according to a detailed study involving 35 state Baptist conventions throughout the nation.

The biennial salary study began in 1996 with 12 participating state conventions. The study, coordinated by Don Spencer, director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention annuity department, grew to include 19 conventions in 2000 and 35 this year.

Inflation has totaled 15.2 percent in the past six years, Spencer said. Among fulltime pastors, he added, the average compensation has gone up 31.5 percent during the same time.

only in six years, try adding 25 years?

I would be curious what the original salaries were. Our pastor emeritus had a very low salary, with rare increases. When his son took over, he had a mortgage to consider that required us starting him off at a higher salary. (Not an egregious mortgage, very appropriate and even insufficient for the size of his family).  Some salary increases could just be bringing pastors up to a living wage. A lot of churches don't necessarily provide benefits or retirement packages, so salaries (in the corporate world) would generally be larger to account for self-payment of those.

That study also says the scope of the study grew over the years. I wonder if they adjusted the 1996 salary study with numbers from the 23 additional conventions that participated this year? Otherwise you could be comparing apples to oranges with different states/costs of living/etc.