We all want our churches to be healthy and fruitful for the kingdom. This is especially true for churches in need of revitalization. Here are seven traps you need to avoid when seeking to improve your church’s health.

A Focus on Programs

No program is going to revitalize your church. Only God can do that. Many churches fail to remember this important fact, so they look to the latest and greatest program, process or material to bring new life back into the church. But often the programs fail, so they move on to the next program and it fails, so they move on with the next thing they learned at a conference or read in a book, with the cycle continuing endlessly. This constant shifting from one program to the next wears out the members of the church and ultimately undermines trust and the leaders’ ability to lead healthy change. All of this is not to say that programs are bad or unhelpful. God can use the focus and structure various programs provide to act as catalysts and guides that the Spirit uses to revitalize. Therefore, seek out good biblical programs and processes. Choose and implement them prayerfully and with commitment. Just remember that the program is just a tool; it will not be your savior. There is only one of those.

Dependence on a Personality

Churches are like a college football program. If the team (church) is doing well, then the coach (pastor) is the reason. If it’s not doing so well, then it’s time for a new coach (pastor). New leadership is often necessary for a church to turn around declining health. But beware of looking to a leader to save the church. Dynamic and charismatic leaders can often provide a much needed jolt of life to a church. God has used leaders like this throughout redemptive history. The problem occurs when the pastor becomes the focal point of the church. If the renewal in your church is primarily because of your pastor’s personality and people’s being drawn to hear him, beware! This can lead to all sorts of unhealthiness and dysfunction. A church built on a personality will crumble as soon as that personality leaves. It is incumbent upon the church and all of its leaders to carefully discern who God is calling to lead them and to do all that they can to prevent the church from becoming dependent on a personality.

Living in the Past

If people in your church spend most of their time talking about how great things were in the past and very little time looking to God’s promising future, you have a big problem. Look out for phrases such as, “if only we did _________ like we used to” or “when Brother _____ was our pastor things were much better.” You can certainly learn from the past, but a preoccupation with the past will consign a church to a very bleak future. Tradition can be a great thing. It can provide important foundations and necessary cultural contextualization. Tradition can unite generations in a church. Traditionalism (a slavish, uncritical and dogmatic devotion to tradition) on the other hand is a sure obstacle to adaptions and corrections that are necessary for a church to grow in health and fruitfulness. For a church to improve its health, it must learn from the past while looking to the future.

Maintenance Mentality

Comfort can kill a church. When the members of the church are more interested in keeping everything working the way it is, the church is on a very dangerous path. Inertia will almost always move us toward maintaining the status quo – our bills are paid, the building is in pretty good shape and really things haven’t dropped off that badly. A maintenance mentality will blind people to the need for change. A church is a living organism and living things don’t just maintain. They either grow or die. The church is no different. Gospel advance ought to be what drives us, not church maintenance.

Victim Mentality

Blaming somebody else for the unhealthy status or decline of your church will never be helpful in revitalization. In fact, it will be extremely harmful because those with victim mentalities will never take responsibility for correcting their situations. After all, their bad situations are someone else’s fault. Churches do this all the time. You blame the big church down the street that is taking all of your people. You blame the younger people who no longer want to be part of your church. An increasingly secular culture and disinterest in church more generally are responsible for your decline. And the list can go on and on. There may even be merit to some of those complaints. But focusing on the complaints takes your eyes off of God who is greater than any problem, enemy or obstacle you face. So don’t allow the victim mentality to take root in your church. Do evaluate and reflect on how you got where you are. But do it to understand, to know how to pray rightly and to discern the best course of action. Don’t just blame someone or something else for your situation.

Distraction from the Gospel

Every church asserts its devotion to the gospel, but most declining churches only pay it lip service. These churches affirm the centrality of the gospel, but function in such a way that shows the comfort of the church members, the maintenance of facilities, tradition or the programs of the church are actually central to them. Sometimes, even really good things like service to others becomes the church’s reason for being. The problem is that anytime you lose the centrality of gospel proclamation and making disciples, you have lost the vitality and energy that the gospel brings to your communities, homes and churches, and you shrivel up and die. It’s very easy for this to happen, so you must be vigilant to always make sure the gospel is central to all that you are and do in your churches.

Comparison

Comparing your church with other churches can be detrimental in at least two ways. First, when you compare yourselves to what you think are more successful or fruitful churches, it can cause you to attempt to imitate what they are doing. This reaction ignores the reality that God has a unique place and context for gospel ministry for every church. If your church tries to be like the big church up the street, you’re trying to be that church, not the one God has called you to be. Comparison with those large churches can also be incredibly discouraging when you don’t get the same results you see them getting. Second, comparing yourself with churches that are less healthy and fruitful than you are can mire you in complacency and perhaps even a little bit of pride. After all, you’re not as bad as they are. You can learn a great deal by examining the successes and failures of other churches, but to compare yourselves to them is to distract you from the church God has called you to be.