Fixing a Ruined Church - Church Planters' Workshop

Fixing a Ruined Church is an article and suggestions on how to fix a ruined, sick church by getting back to the basics of what a church is and should be.

I read an article named, 4 Starter Ideas for the Care and Treatment of an Unhealthy Church (a good article by the way), and in it, it mentions some tips on how to “treat” the patient of an unhealthy church. From that general idea I want to expand on some of my thoughts of that post.

Contents

1 Get back to the Bible
2 Get a right attitude
- 2.1 Sacrifice your will for God’s will
3 Seek spirituality, purity, righteousness, and holiness
4 Dump spiritual apathy and laziness
5 Worst thing to happen to a preach by Leonard Ravenhill
6 Take it slow and steady
7 Follow a godly Pastor
- 7.1 More Posts on Church

Get back to the Bible

The difference between life and death in the spiritual world is to recognize that NOTHING WORKS EXCEPT GOD’S PLAN, METHOD, AND WAY. Nobody can outsmart God, and nobody can run roughshod over God. To get things back on track, you have to go to God, to his word, and start there.

When the people in a church follow God’s Word, things work. Even when there is persecution, the people come together and fight for God’s cause. When things go wrong in a church, most undoubtedly there are people and actions that are not biblical. Instead of love, they express hate. You have to get back to what God has ordered for things to work out.

Get a right attitude

Repent of your bad attitude. The pastor of a church is there like a doctor in a hospital. If there weren’t problems, there would be no need for the pastor. The pastor is the change agent for the problems in the church.

#1 Don’t cause more problems. Dealing with problems sometimes looks like you are causing problems, but soak everything in prayer.

#2 People change when they interact with spiritual people who truly care for their welfare. People do change, and they will change when they hear the Word of God accurately explained, and the sin called out, and the remedy easily given.

#3 Prayer changes things. If you are in a problem church, then there are two things God is going to do through you the preacher. First, he will try your loyalty and faithfulness to God, and second, he will see how real your belief is that prayer can change things. Pray can change the hardest heart, but it takes time and energy, and most of all patience.

#4 Be positive. Being negative and always rebuking gets old quickly. Try to focus the church on what we as Christians are supposed to be. You replace bad character by highlighting and focusing constantly on good character. When people see this in Scripture, the Holy Spirit will work through those passages to change people.

#5 Most people’s main problem is that they are not saved. This is true even among churches, deacons, and pastors a lot of times. Return to the basics of salvation. Preach it often and hard.

Sacrifice your will for God’s will

Many times a preacher wants certain things. He wants economic prosperity, or fame, or honor and praise from his people, and he becomes frustrated when he doesn’t get those things. Once you understand that God has sent you on a mission in that church with those people, and God’s plan is spiritual. Those things we hope for as pastors are not really what God is doing, then we can adjust ourselves to our mission.

Seek spirituality, purity, righteousness, and holiness

There is only one way to fix things that are wrong, and that is to get things to what they are supposed to be according to God’s Word. By focusing on love, purity, righteousness, holiness, and a host of other objectives that God has set for us in His Word, then things start working correctly. If you as pastor do not focus on these things, then they will not start appearing in the church. You must strive to see these things in your people, in yourself, and in your prayer life.

Dump spiritual apathy and laziness

So many churches are just social clubs. They do not do the work of God. Evangelism, prayers, biblical counseling, spiritual growth, etc. just are not in the mix of everything that happens at church. That must change. We are here to do the mission of God. Find it, and do it.

Worst thing to happen to a preach by Leonard Ravenhill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc4pclpeau0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCO18O-NJDs

Take it slow and steady

Just like any person who has had a serious bout with disease, an unhealthy needs to take things slow and steady. Resist strongly the temptation to do too much too soon. People don’t need to be busy; they do that quite well without help. What they need is to be active in essential and centrally important things. It is not important to go run around town doing nothing, but to go out and work. That brings in a paycheck which you exchange for rent, clothes, and food. You need to understand your spiritual priorities and focus on them.

Follow a godly Pastor

If you are the pastor, change. If you are not the pastor pray earnestly that the pastor changes, or you change churches. Don’t accept poor spiritual treatment and care.

More Posts on Church

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More Good Posts

Are we a country of Laws? Are we a country of Laws? Is an examination of the question of we are a country of laws, and nobody is above the law, and what is really happening in our country. This is an opinion piece written in light of the news of the day. Topics: The Greatness of the United States of America | "Nobody is above the Law" | Comparisons | Defund the Police | No one is above the law | What one would ask for...

Excerpts from the article...
I say "for a person to have a right walk before God" meaning that what you personally do is acceptable in a level of being fair and just both what you do to others, and in the context of what others do to you. You only have a claim of somebody doing something "wrong" in a moral context, and this moral context has to begin with God's existence and God's laws over us before you get to what happens in a court of law in a country, state, county, or city.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

This verse fully backs up this concept. To "please God" who is the Judge... The concept of "rewarder" is somebody that looks at actions and gives a reward or a punishment. This is ultimately God's task, and earthly judges must also answer to God, as those in their courts have to answer to that earthly judge. We posit God "must believe that he is" means they must accept the authority and controls (of blessing or curse, of reward or punishment) from the Judge. He exists. He has a forceful interaction with our lives.

The system that is built on this is a system where one person doesn't get anything different from another. Are there abuses? Yea, but life is full of injustices. But taking something from one person to give to another person is not the answer here especially when the person you are taking away things from really hasn't done anything wrong. Black people (Asians, etc.) need to enter shoulder to shoulder with every other person on an equal ground, and they need to compete. That is life. If they of their own merit and effort get ahead, so be it. But nobody owes them a living. Reparations are the opposite of this.
Read the article: Are we a country of Laws?

Tracts Group 2

pc85 Carl Jung and Psychology explains the origin of Psychology with spiritist Jung, which had contact with a spiritual guide.
We explain that Carl Jung was a spiritist, as were his parents (father was a pastor of a spiritist church). The spirit guide Philemon appeared to Jung at age 3, and over time, Philemon gave Jung all of his concepts which he later made into "psychology". Jung is known as the founder or creator of psychology. Psychology is not a science because its data is not testable, but rather opinions. There are no clean experiments that give unequivocal yes or no results. The results they claim in one set of experiments do not unilaterally give the same results when independent groups do the same experiments. Psychology is a doctrine of Demons, 1 Timothy 4:1, and Christians have to reject it, and denounce it.
Read/Download PDF: pc85 Carl Jung and Psychology.