垂死教會的特徵

The churches in Hong Kong are dying.

Everyone do not want to die, they all struggle to live longer. Death is not a topic we enjoy. 

But you see all around us, there are so many churches are dying.

Most local churches are full of flaws, sins and hypocrisies, and the rate of dying and decay of church people are accelerating.

Certainly from a biblical perspective, we understand Christ will have the final victory, and the gates of hell and devil cannot stand against him in the final days.

But that does not mean that the churches nowadays will not die.

To make it simple, there are four types of dying churches, and I hope you do not belong to one of these churches. 

1. The Ex-Bible Church. 

These churches have abandoned the truths of Scripture. A few are explicit in their denials. But many just give lip service to the Bible. The congregation does not study Scripture. The pastor does not deal with the biblical texts and the whole counsel of God. The Bible is just another book that rarely gets read, studied or proclaimed. The Word of God has no power in these churches.

2. The Country Club Church. 

Members in these churches see their membership as perks and privileges. They want their styles of music, their worship service times, their types of architecture and their preferred lengths of sermons. They pay their dues, so they should get their benefits. Or so the thinking of the members goes. Don’t ask them to evangelize, to put others first or to make sacrifices. After all, it is their church.

3. The Bad Words Church. 

If you want to see a good fight, just go to these churches. Their meetings are just like the presidential election. Those words of communication are not nice words. These are the churches where bullies go unchecked, where personnel committees and boards work in darkness, and where gossip and backstabbing are common. These churches expend most of their energy on bad words. They do not have time or energy to share the good news.

4. The Ex-Community Church.

Go into these churches and look at the members. Go into the community and look at the residents. They do not look alike. They do not dress alike. They do not go to the same places. The community has changed, but the church has not. The church people are the outsider of the community, they only concern their own people. The idea of building bridges to the community, as light in the community, is ignored, resisted if not repulsive.

How many churches in Hong Kong nowaday fall into the above categories?

The answer is：Too many churches are dying  ........................