Dead or Alive?

I recently read an article at ChurchCentral.com in which Bill Easum, a church growth consultant, identified the signs of spiritually dead churches and those which are alive.

According to Easum, spiritually-dead churches:

1. Have lost their sense of mission to those who have not heard about Jesus Christ and do not pant after the Great Commission;
2. Exist primarily to provide fellowship for the "members of the club;"
3. Expect their pastors to focus primarily on ministering to the members' personal spiritual needs;
4. Design ministry to meet the needs of their members;
5. Have no idea about the needs of the "stranger outside the gates;"
6. Are focused more on the past than the future;
7. Often experience major forms of conflict;
8. And watch the bottom line of the financial statement more than the number of confessions of faith.

On the other hand, in a spiritually alive church:

1. The church turns outward in its focus.
2. Jesus, not the institution, will become the object of our affection.
3. The Great Commission will become our mandate, and we will measure everything we do by how many new converts we make rather than whether we have a black bottom line.
4. Membership in the Kingdom will replace membership in the church.
5. Pastors will cease being chaplains of pastoral care and will become modern-day apostles of Jesus Christ.
6. And those who try to control the church with an iron fist or intimidate the church at every turn of the road will be shown the door.

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