Leave or stay in a declining church?

What does a faithful follower of Christ do if they realize their local church has become apostate? It no longer teaches or uses the Bible and sin is hardly mentioned but tolerated. Some of its members lure others into immoral practices and the leadership seems unconcerned.

It happens. We talked with a couple this week who attend a mainline church, not agreeing with its teachings yet seemingly unconcerned and without any indication they would go elsewhere. Another couple we know attend another church that has ‘gone off the rails’ but deliberate choose to stay there in hopes of being a godly influence.

Jesus’ letter to the church in Thyatira commends them briefly then condemns them for tolerating false teaching that is leading His servants into sin. Jesus is described as before with one change; He is called the Son of God rather than the Son of Man, reaffirming His deity and His righteous indignation at what was happening. This congregation had accepted the sexual immorality that accompanied pagan religion and were eating food sacrificed to idols, both practices that He abhorred.

But not all of them were doing this. He told them:

But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. (Revelation 2:24–27)

In this case, Christ did not command them to leave it but to remain as a godly testimony. Judgment on the false teacher and her followers would come; He would purge the church. Is staying put in a dead church always the answer?

Usually faithful Christians in apostate local churches leave and go elsewhere. This happened in a large scale in the Middle Ages when Protestantism separated from Roman Catholicism and attempted a return to purity in doctrine and life. It seems to me that God has no ‘rule’ about this, just that Christians pay attention and do what He tells them. I’ve known people who moved to another church because they wanted a youth group for their teen children, not because the church had fallen into error. Motivation and paying attention to the Holy Spirit are the norm. God wants me to be faithful to Him, regardless of what others are doing.

In that regard, Christ promises faithful believers that they will join Him in His rule. Revelation 20:4–6 indicates this is during a certain time period yet the interpretation of that passage may not be literal. To me, the more important part of God’s command to Thyatira is to be faithful, to not allow ‘the deep things of Satan’ to have any hold on me. If my church took a dive, I’d need to let the deep things of God tell me what to do.

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Jesus, I hope this never happens to me, but I know it does happen. Our world is increasingly drifting and even running away from You and letting the enemy direct their thinking and actions. Being faithful sounds nice yet I know it is often challenging and can be costly. Thank You for Your promises to keep me on track!

Today’s thankful list . . .

- the Lord’s instructions can be found, either by principle or clearly spelled out.

- He also speaks to my heart so that I know what He wants from me.

- a good day even though I’m not caught up on all I hoped to accomplish.

- tickets to the ballet tonight.

- no fresh snow but still looks like a Christmas card outside.

- our Panini maker that turns ordinary into gourmet.

Could going back be a step forward?

Some Christians say that the modern church should be just like the church described in the New Testament. Their focus is on the positives described, yet the church had its challenges then just as it does now.

For instance, right from the beginning, some taught that the OT law must be obeyed if a person was going to be saved. This false teaching is common today. Also, there were those who taught that Jesus did not come in the flesh because flesh is sinful so they dismissed His deity. Today, some ‘churches’ still deny the deity of Christ. Also, Paul wrote about spats between believers, not as serious perhaps, but it happened then just as it happens now. We are not perfect, at least on this side of heaven.

The second letter written by John is short. He seems to be writing to a congregation that meets in a woman’s home. After his greeting he writes:

I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. (1 John 4)

Note that he says “some” of your children. In a ‘perfect’ church, would he be finding ‘all’ of them walking in the truth? We have similar burdens today with family split over matters of faith.

He also reminds his readers that we are to love one another by obedience: “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” He adds, “Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for but may win a full reward.” (1 John 7-8)

Again, this is not perfection. They had be on guard against false teaching just as we must do in our modern world. John warns that part of this battle included how to deal with those who tried to infiltrate the Body of Christ by taking advantage of Christian hospitality. For this, I need to remember that the church met in their homes. They did not have church buildings like we do. Should today’s church go back to that model, would it pose some problems? I think so.

For instance, our church has several hundred members. We also have small groups that meet to study the Bible and pray during the week. If those small groups were our only gathering, we’d need many more of them, perhaps hundreds more. How would scattered groups serve one another and our community? How would we demonstrate our unity and keep one another accountable? How would the elders and overseers ensure that all needs were met? I can imagine the flurry of calls, texts and email as each house church tried to keep up with sound doctrine and with ministry to the needy and all the other activities done by today’s church.

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Lord, I am not in church leadership yet as I read this, I see how I need to do my part in spotting false teaching, or in noticing what needs to be done. We do our best ministry together and would suffer if we confined our size to “us four, no more, shut the door” as might happen if we met only in homes. Small groups are good for developing deeper relationships, yet worship would suffer (especially if us four all sing as badly as I do). Community service would also suffer if church were confined to as many people that fit into the average living room.

It seems that we must preserve major teaching and yet encourage each other to express our life in Christ in the culture and situation we are living. We need to be okay with church sizes, from a few to a few hundred, even a few thousand. We have our struggles yet a focus on glorifying You is more important than all of them.

Today’s thankful list . . .

- Jesus promised to build His church and He is doing that with the same amazing variety and diversity as He used when creating the world!

- No matter where we go, fellowship with other Christians is genuine and wonderful.

- As we worship, our difficulties and differences fade away.

- That God put His creativity into us.

- Finally developing enough self-discipline to start doing Pilates again.

- Finding out some of the possibilities of Painter 2019 and a Wacom tablet — as in drawing and tossing the mistakes without wasting paper!