Stephen C. Rice

In Mark Clifton’s Reclaiming Glory: Revitalizing Dying Churches, he identifies eight characteristics of a dying church. Here are the eight characteristics paraphrased:

1. They value the process of decision-making more than the outcome of those decisions.
   Discussion, debate, committees, and procedures can become more important than actually accomplishing the mission.
2. They value their own preferences over the needs of the unreached.
   Personal comfort, traditions, music, schedules, and familiar ways of doing church take precedence over reaching people with the gospel.
3. They have lost a clear sense of purpose.
   The church becomes focused on maintaining the institution rather than making disciples and glorifying God.
4. They have an obsession with the past.
   The congregation remembers what the church used to be and may spend more energy preserving that memory than pursuing what God desires now.
5. They have a disproportionate focus on internal needs.
   Energy, money, attention, and ministry increasingly revolve around the remaining members rather than the surrounding community.
6. They mistakenly believe the community exists for the church rather than the church existing to serve the community.
   Instead of asking, “How can we reach and serve our neighbors?” they tend to ask, “Why aren’t people coming to us?”
7. They try to minimize the pain of decline through excessive activity and maintaining unfruitful structures.
   A full calendar can create the appearance of health even when little disciple-making fruit is being produced. Simply staying busy is not the same as fulfilling the Great Commission.
8. They confuse caring for the building with caring for the church and community.
   Preserving the facility and “keeping the doors open” can become the mission itself rather than using the church’s resources to advance the gospel.

To summarize, a dying church gradually makes the following shifts:

• from mission to maintenance
• from outsiders to insiders
• from the future to the past

If your church is struggling and you need assistance, contact the Church Consulting & Revitalization team at the Kentucky Baptist Convention.