Close Your Church for Good. Introduction. Now that I’ve finished chapter 1, I felt like I needed to go back and write an Introduction for the book. So here it is. After this, we will get on with chapter 2.

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It is not my desire for any church to close. I grieve whenever I hear of another church having to disband, sell its building, and the pastor has to find a new job, and the members must (hopefully) find new churches. In fact, on the day I began writing this book, I learned that a church I used to pastor had just closed its doors. I knew and loved the people who went there, who poured hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars into the church. With many tears and prayers, they had tried to make that church a vibrant source of light in their community. But they closed. And when I heard, I grieved.

So do not misunderstand. I love your church. I love your pastor and the people who attend there. I love the programs you run, and how you have labored for Christ so faithfully over the years. I know there have been great sacrifices, and many people have been helped as a result of your church. That last thing I want is for your church to disband, for the pastor to lose his job, and the people who attend there to no longer have a place to worship, learn, and be encouraged.

To the contrary, I desire that such things only increase in frequency and effectiveness. I want to see more people in church as greater numbers of people are reached with the gospel. I hope that your church becomes widely known for its love, grace, mercy, and generosity. My wish is that the influence of the church only increases. That is why I wrote this book.

If you’ve scanned the book, or read the chapter titles, you may be under the impression that I want churches to sell their buildings and shut down permanently. Let me emphatically say that this is not the message I intend to give. Rather, my hope is that churches rethink what they do, and more importantly, why they do it. Certainly, some churches may close down if some of the suggestions in this book are followed, but if so, they will close for good reasons. They will close to expand their effectiveness and ministry options, not because they can no longer survive. That is how you should understand the title of this book. If you are going to close your church, close it to accomplish something good. This book is about closing your church with purpose, rather than just fading away for lack of funds and people.

So it’s not just a book for struggling or dying churches. It’s a book for thriving churches who sense they’ve lost their direction, or need to revitalize their vision and mission. This book points out several areas and functions of the church that can be closed or modified, and in so doing, better accomplish the mission of Jesus Christ, thereby revealing the Kingdom principles of God. You might be surprised at some of the suggestions that are proposed. But you may also find that in following these suggestions (which initially seem “anti-church”), you and your church is liberated to function as the body of Christ is truly supposed to function. You may find that closing your doors is the best thing your church ever did.

Close Your Church for Good, Chap. 1, Sec. 8. If the church of the past adopted and accepted the powers offered by Satan but rejected by Jesus, what should our response be today?

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It’s no use arguing that the church should have done something different. We weren’t there, and even if we had been, we probably would have done the same thing as they. What’s done is done whether we agree with it or not. The past cannot be changed.

But one thing that can be changed is the present. Whether we agree or not with the decisions of our predecessors, we make our own decisions today. We can choose differently. We can, if we so choose, reject the siren call of power, money, glory, authority, recognition, and control. We can root out the areas in our churches that draw us away from love, service, and sacrifice.

And many believe we have done just that. Though all agree that there have been abuses in the past, most think that in general, the church has improved. We hasten to add, of course, that the church will never be perfect because it is filled with imperfect people. And that’s probably true. The church, like individual Christians, is always a mixture of faithfulness and failure. But this doesn’t stop all the positive things the church accomplishes. The general consensus among churchgoers is that we are a loving, generous, humble, sacrificial, service-oriented, forgiving, merciful, and friendly organization. The trouble, however, is that this image of the church is generally not shared by non-churchgoing people. They tend to see us as greedy, hypocritical, unforgiving, judgmental, harsh, critical, and selfish.

So where is the disconnect? If the church is as loving and generous as we believe, why do people on the outside see just the opposite? The possible answers are numerous, but the solution is what concerns me. And the solution, I believe, must be based on the fact that in general, people are blind to their own faults, though they are obvious to everyone else. Just take church history as an example. We can all look back and see the abuses and problems of the past. We wonder why they didn’t see their mistakes, and make the necessary corrections. How could they be so blind? But the point is that one hundred years from now, people will look back and ask the same questions about us.

Did the church of the past err? Yes. Are we erring now? Probably. The trick is to find how and where, and then what to do about it. We do not know what future critics will say, so the best we can do is listen to some of the critics of today. And then, with the aid of Scripture and the Holy Spirit, try to discern what is true and how we can change.

That is the goal of this book. With one ear to Scripture and the other to our unchurched critics, we want to see if there is anything in the church today which still reflects the abuses of the past. Where are we falling to the temptations and influences of the devil and his attempt to twist and pervert the church away from the purposes and plans of God? Where might we reflect a desire for self-reliance, riches, authority, recognition, glory, and control? If such desires and influences exist, they must be identified and changed so that we may truly live and function as the body of Christ.

Each of the following chapters will look at one area of concern. After showing why it’s an area of concern, we will attempt to discern the biblical and traditional basis for this practice or program in an attempt to determine its original purpose. Next, we will try to discern any Satanic influence in this area, which has caused it become twisted or perverted away from the original purpose. And finally, suggestions will be made about how that practice or program can be resurrected to reflect Jesus Christ and the life-transforming glory of the gospel.