As I begin to think through a new book idea, I want to listen to YOUR insights!
Would you take a moment and help me complete the following list which I will then turn into a poll:
“What’s the number one hindrance in the church of the West today?”
Here are possibilities I already have down:
- Religious attitudes and structures
- Legalism
- Lack of obedience
- Selfishness and overly concerned about comfort
- Materialism
- Worldly distractions
- Not enough understanding of God’s grace
- Overly-comfortable grace
- Lack of prayer
This is just a start and I need more!
Once I have your input, I will come up with the top 12 contenders and then create a poll out of it for my research!
Your help is appreciated!
“What’s the number one hindrance in the church of the West today?”
Please comment here or, if you receive this by email, you can reply!
Comments
47 responses to “What’s YOUR Opinion? The Number One Hindrance in the Church Today?”
Hi Roger…I think the biggest hindrance in the church today is The Church itself, AKA us! All of the above affect us to the point that it becomes apparent to non-believers that we don’t practice what we preach. If we did, why are we in the messes and predicaments we’re in? Yes, we’re human, and yes all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We all make mistakes. But when the world sees us all holy on Sunday and living like the devil the rest of the week, it’s small wonder they don’t want much to do with us. We need to seek 1st the kingdom of God and His righteousness and also walk circumspectly.
I believe that the main problem is a lack of attention to the following:
Mat 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you;
And of course, this requires also teaching new disciples both Matthew 28:19-20.
Wow! If I truly had an answer, I’d write a book!! I don’t think things have changed too much in human nature since the Garden. Adam and Eve were trying to make it all about them (‘you’ll be like GOD’), and not much has changed. We talk and sing about it all being about Jesus, but in the end, we want everything all to be pleasing, fulfilling, uplifting, inspiring, funny, comfortable, appealing, etc. (We’re so self-centered, it makes me want to puke!!) It is hard to relate all this to the quote from Brennan Manning for your status on Facebook from 12/26/11:
“The Lord said he wished me to be a fool, the like of which was never seen before,” said Francis of Assisi. A gentle revolution will come through the little cadre of Christian fools who are willing to overthrow the established order by rearranging their lives around the mind of Christ. Manning
May I be counted among such fools….
pamela
My top choice would be an inability to listen properly to the Father. Jesus said only what he heard the Father say and he did only what he saw the Father do.
What about us? Many of us don’t even know HOW to listen. We’ve lost the art of paying attention. We’re full of our own ideas and projects and methods and traditions and (fill in the blanks… ) We’re blinded by this noisy place we inhabit, so we miss the still, small voice whispering to us, ‘This is way, walk in it.’
So most often we head off in the wrong direction.
See this post on listening – http://jesus.scilla.org.uk/2011/07/response-are-you-listening.html
Number One: Inability to KNOW HIM
I have never been more impressed that what Paul prayed for the gatherings he helped plant is what Father wants most for us: to know Him. It was always in Paul’s prayers. TO KNOW HIM! Only the Holy Spirit can reveal that to us! Let us hear Paul’s words to the Ephesians in Chapter 3: that we may be able….Gr.exischuo….When the Spirit enables us to know the dimensions of His love, all hindrances will cease to exist in the life of the body. Each soul will be in harmony as a Christ-centered, overcoming, Rock that the gates of Hell cannot prevail against! Every other thing ranks lower than KNOWING HIM! Beloved, hear His voice! He longs to have you Know Him! Amen.
Biblical illiteracy.
You touch on it with your point, “Not enough understanding of God’s grace,” but there’s so much more misunderstanding and ignorance of Scripture in the Church. Not enough understanding of the covenants; of how the Assembly functions; of how the gifts function; of all the blessings and promises we can claim; even of basics, like what salvation is, how to walk by faith…. I could go on and on. My point is: biblical illiteracy.
If God’s people knew His teachings (instead of the teachings of men), the whole world would look different than it does. The kingdom would be covering the earth. I’d say this ignorance of God’s teachings is what underlies all the other hindrances. So this is, like, the primary hindrance. Biblical illiteracy.
Was just discussing this topic the other day amongst some friends! The ideas we came up with had more to do with reaching the lost:
– The use of “Christianese” and not being able to relate the those we come into contact with on a regular basis.
– After someone “converts” we baby and isolate them from their existing relationships and they are taught passivity is the norm. So they loose connections with people that no one else may have the ability to reach until they meet certain membership requirements.
– The compartmentalization of “ministry times” verses a lifestyle of obedience to Jesus creates the appearance of hypocrisy to unbelievers.
– And then of course we put discomfort on unbelievers rather than making ourselves be the uncomfortable ones (ie. Making people *come* to our building or place of worship, rather than us *going* to them and serving them.)
Of these options: materialism. Here in Philly context we call what the churches do “empire competition.” A lot of churches are competing for larger buildings, more numbers, and in result revert to competition within in Christ.
It seems like the last should be first. Without prayer, truly connecting with God’s heart, all the others are free to develop. But with true prayer, these enemies of God and His children are exposed and overcome.
Lacks the active, manifest Presence of Jesus.
I would have to agree with you and all those that have posted. Each person will see issues from their unique perspective. You might need more than 12 chapter to adequately diagnois and prescribe a cure for the western church. HOWEVER, I see three issues that should make the list. Satan has Distracted the saints with all kinds of things. Christians have spiritual ADD when it comes to the Kingdom of God. And second is the American spirit of individualism and commercialism. The past 30 – 40 years of Evangelicalism has left the church with a consumer mentality that makes the Kingdom of God all about the individual -their success, wealth, problems, issues, blessings, etc. IF I had a banner in my church it would say, “It is not about you!” The thirs issue is linking the kingdom of God with politics and somehow believing that a Christian government is going to establish the Kingdom of God. ‘nough said. Good luck with the book. Writing it might even be easier then selling it. 🙂
Thanks for the comments so far! Here are some more thoughts that came in by email or Facebook:
David: “I believe that the main problem is a lack of attention to the following: Mat 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; And of course, this requires also teaching new disciples both Matthew 28:19-20.”
Jackie: “I think another hindrance to both church growth and discipleship is the tendency to almost worship the Church (or individual churches), rather than the Lord of His Church, and confusing our roles – we never build the Church, Jesus does. We as His Church, are to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness – Church growth comes out of that. Not sure how you state this thought in one sentence – but I hope you know what I mean.”
Bill: “Business oriented system vs. Family oriented community; Program-based vs. Relationship-based”
Ken: “Not yielding to Christ as Lord of our lives and Head of His church.”
Kyle: “1. Authoritarian leadership (ie authority imposed by hierarchy vs spirit-led in context of relationship) 2. Entitlement mentality and self-righteous arrogance (ie we’re better, and therefore deserve better, than unbelievers) 3. “Conquest” rather than “Surrender” mentality 4. Confusion of spirituality and politics (ie, attempts to make the US a more ‘godly’ nation through the world’s own means is a counterfeit of kingdom growth) 5. Emphasis on strategies and models vs following the Spirit’s leading (“house church”, even if it can be shown to be a superior model, is still a “model” – worthless, even counterproductive, if God is trying to lead you a different way. 6. Hero-worship (looking to big names in place of God for wisdom, guidance, validation, etc – Benny Hinn, John MacArthur, Brian McLaren, Jack Hayford, whoever)”
Alan: “Materialism, IMO.”
Heidi: “I believe the most serious problem in the church today is a lack of understanding the depths of God’s love. People avoid their own truth, afraid of the pain, thus never really getting to the bottom of their sin-habits…because they don’t REALLY believe that God’s love is more powerful than their deepest sins. Understanding their own darkness, and comprehending the power of God’s love to bring light to ALL of their darkness would also free people from so many of the other problems within the church, including legalism, easy-grace-ism, and materialism. A close second is the disregard of Scripture in worship. It used to be that the passage to be preached on was read aloud, with the congregation reading along or listening. Not anymore. In liturgical churches, such as RC, Anglican, Lutheran, the liturgy provides three readings and a Psalm in every service. This is sorely neglected in evangelical churches, and to our detriment.”
Helen: “Thank you for your list…I think for me one of the major hinderences seems to be a second hand belief system where many are using someone elses experiences as a reason to exercise faith..perhaps the way to say it is that I think maybe there is no revelation of Jesus, no personal experience for an individual. I also think that in the West there is a large preponderance on our ability to be intellectual, how much we know of the things of God but if the majority of Christians were faced with the same circumstances the first century church were facing with persecution,I wonder how many of us would be able to remain standing.”
John: “Unbelief – that all God’s promises are actionable, right now. We probably won’t do many “greater works” until we really believe that we are able now(in His Name)to do the same works Jesus demonstrated.”
Can you give me a phrase? Lack of maturity? disobedience? Lack of holiness?
(Thanks for sharing, Rich).
Thanks, David. Great point here.
lack of personal relationship with Jesus and His Father.
3 things:
1) another jesus
2) another spirit
3) another gospel
Can I push for more from you, Jayson? I will always agree that we don’t know Jesus as we are meant to. That’s it’s always about our deep intimacy with Him. But what’s holding us back in this area? Is it our lack of desire for this? our lack of understanding? our lack of openness to the Spirit? our willfullness? Or something else altogether? I just want to explore this a bit more if you’re game.
The clergy/laity divide.
I think it’s a spirit of criticism within the church. I was listening to K-Love and a singer was talking about how he catches himself being critical about the church and he suddenly said,”wait a minute, I AM the church.” We tend to think we are always correct,without sin and perfect.The true test is when someone we know falls from Grace…how do we react? In most cases we start to criticize how they could have, should have done things differently.My mother used to say,”There but for the Grace of God,go I.” The scripture that captures it all for me is:1 Corinthians 13:13 But now faith, hope,love, abide in these three; but the greatest of these is love.God’s love is unconditional and if we could just wrap our brains around this…..
1. Too complicated
2. Failure to trust the Spirit in the life of the believer.
Hey, Roger.
You’ve got a good list here. I would say that NUMBER ONE is our low Christology. We don’t understand the magnificence of our Lord. And if we don’t see from the word and hear from the Father who He is, how can we truly know Him?
After that, I’d say that we can’t see the truth that’s really there in God’s word because we already “know” what the word says.
It’s like me trying to sculpt a buffalo. I tried and tried, but although I “knew” what a bison looked like, I just kept getting it wrong. I had to drive out to the park, find a buffalo bull willing to stand quietly, and sculpt him from clay as I sat in my little red truck.
We look at what we “know” to be in the word, and this makes it oh so hard to just read and understand what it **actually says.**
I think I have a similar view to Cindy Skillman; the disciples were constantly confused by who Jesus was and I think we struggle with the same issue. The more we “learn” about Jesus the greater the risk of distortion because we then adapt Him to fit our purpose. This distortion is not to produce an earthly leader, as with the disciples, but often a religious figure of acceptability, safety and comfort that we “display on the shelf”.
Was going to say a prideful spirit – but that would perhaps be covered in the religious attitudes, and structures.So a lack of brokeness in the leaders.Which is a result of (the lack )of an ongoing working presence of the power of the Holy Spirit in ones life ( ministry )- I like Pauls statement in the 3rd chapter of 2 CORINTHIANS – not needing a letter of recommendation.Obviously this lack of the Holy Spirit means a powerless church.
For me, it has always been not being built up in faith by most of the thousands of sermons that I allowed myself to endure. When you come expecting and leave wondering why you even went, because you were indirectly scolded for who knows what…If the leaders had something to offer, let’s have it…otherwise they should find an honest job. Like Jesus said…”When I return, SHALL there be faith on earth?”. We need new leaders and many of us in the pews had better wake up to the challenge if you are aware.
Hands down; apathy. I have an adult son who works with church youth. He said the youth are not taking their faith seriously because mom and dad don’t take their faith seriously. It the “church” so sick that it can’t see that people are “playing church” every Sunday? Wow. Open your Bible folks and let it convict and change our hearts and the way we live!!!
Another one: Misunderstanding of what worship is. Romans 12:1,2
Man-made traditions
Hey Roger!
2 problems I would offer as contenders are:
No real discipleship and No real leadership.
These work together to keep believers from learning to listen to Jesus and doing what He tells them. Church leaders need to focus on helping each believer connect to Christ as their teacher and guide and then get out of the way and let them follow.
Religion & pride
Additional comments from emails:
Robert: “My #1 is: People have never studied the Bible with the intent of getting to know God/Jesus and His “operating manual” – need to learn about Him and obey what He tells us to do. Another way to say it is people have a hodge podge of beliefs and misinformation they’ve taken from other people without knowing/learning/comparing to what the Word of God says.
Steve: “But since you asked, the first two off the top would be 1) people’s misunderstanding of what an intimate relationship with God could look like. The other in my mind would be that 2) most people, even believers are, for the most part, are biblically illiterate. Therefore they have no inkling of who God is, His passion and heart about His creation, and why would he desire a relationship with us. Pastor’s and teachers propagate this lack of understanding God’s Historical record (His-story) by “cherry picking” for proof-texts in their sermon’s or lessons for their own scriptural themes. We believe If people were given the opportunity to see God’s story chronologically, in order, they would begin to really see, understand, and experience God’s heart in and through their lives as He revealed it to the “real people” like us in scripture.”
Judy: “I assume you mean hindrance to being effective as God’s people in the world. If that is true, I believe that one of the biggest problems is that in most churches we are not taught that following Jesus means living a life of reflective humility. Our leaders are not modeling and teaching us how to be Jesus to our neighbors. Our churches are not structured to address the challenges we face in a postmodern world where relationships are reduced to Facebook and Twitter posts. I can’t really reduce it to one thing, but I have a list of ten things that I think are missing from most Christians’ understanding and, as a consequence, limit the church’s impact. I am attaching the list for you to see. Thanks for exploring these issues.
Steve: “Professional pastorate = clergy/laity split”
Tania: “Complying with worldly standards rather than biblical standards – eg – sex before marriage/living together, divorce, gay ok, promiscuity in and out of marriage.”
John: “Worldly distractions – that includes materialism.”
Scott: “They don’t know the REAL Jesus…..Traditional church doesn’t take the time to help facilitate this..If we would take the time….and put forth the effort to know Jesus…the rest would take of its self….more interested in buildings and functions…..Poor discipleship with new believers.”
Armando: “Religious attitudes and structures; Legalism; Materialism; Not enough understanding of God’s grace.”
Cheryl: “The number one hindrance in the Church Body today is ourselves. We put ourselves, our programs, our agendas in to a “God shaped” box and call it His. In reality there is no difference between the problems today and the problems that have existed throughout history. God wants to be first and foremost, He wants His Son honored and glorified and the power of His Holy Spirit to operate in us all the time. If we are not seeking God and His precepts we are seeking mans or the enemy’s. Either way God is not getting the glory. Most people go to a drive through church to pay their respects, get their blessing and go their ways. We have watered down the Church to let the experience be fast, filling and then we are on our way. Burger King is all about having it “your way”, unfortunately this has become the viewpoint of most of the Church today. It should be have it God’s way, period. Then they could research what God ways are, walk in his precepts and justice and bring about change on Earth as it already is in Heaven.”
Regino: “Lack of true love.”
I believe it is a little of all the above with twp questions I can give you an answer.
When was the last time (not in a church type setting or by someone who knew you were a Christian) did someone share Jesus with you?
If we were sharing the gospel of Jesus as we would I think the Holy Spirit may draw all men to Himself. In sharing the gospel we would occasionally share with each other. I find that we are not sharing with each other very often. Most people that I speak with have never had anyone share Jesus with them outside of the Church. This includes Christians and non-Christians. Are we really doing what Jesus commanded or what is comfortable for us? This thought came to me early last year and I have been asking the question as often as I can.
The next question is when was the last time not in a church environment you shared the gospel of Jesus with someone?
One of the first things to come to mind is familiarity. Many people in the west think they are Christians, but think that Christianity is simply believing in a few doctrines, going through some rituals, and maybe following a few rules. Along with this is the church structure which propels it.
Unbelief – fundamentally we do not believe the reality of the priesthood of all believers. New Testament hope – Old Testament reality.
Compromise! Compromise! Compromise!
Jesus asked His “Followers” “Why do you call me Lord and not do what I say?”
Compromise on doctrines. Compromise on choosing uncommitted to sound Biblical doctrine church leaders. Compormise on how we dress, talk and behave as Christians.
Most Christians want to feel comfortable in church instead of convicted. I personally believe that the Holy Spirit has stopped working in most “Christian” churches because of compromise.
In the O.T. the Lord rebuked the shepards who had become like dogs with no bark. In the N.T. church we have way too many hirelings for pastors. They’re only in it for the money and/or
fleshly glory and fame.
Simply, lack of obedience to God in His Word.
Hello Roger,
In my experience as a pastor of a small church, i see people coming in with the preconcieved notion that all churches are the same, the pastor is boring,and the tithing is for the pastor only! not to invest back into the kingdom to the glory of God,but for the pastors selfish needs! i get these judgemental silliloquies alot, so the main thing for me would be. Worldy men are influencing the christian community, The bible says my people perish for lack of knowledge, and we are certainly persihing!
The leaders of today dont take Christ seriously, dont take the written word as truth, because they dont experience the true written word being manifested in their lives. We need leaders not followers, we need repentenance,revival, restoration, We need people to step up step out and be obedient to God,Hear the true call on their lives, not merely doing what everyone else is doing because it looks and feels right? go with the Holy Spirit, be led by the Holy Spirit. Then and only then will America become true disciples to Christ.
My point in all my tangent filled babbling is this: Create Real leaders, not afraid of climbing out of their comfort zones, and stand up and resist MAN, and the devil and take the lead in the christian community to create powerful,fearless,Faithful leaders boldly confessing Jesus Christ.
What is hindering or slowing the progress of the church? It is a lack of persecution. There is no persecution in the church. This is tough, because should we celebrate this, desire it or praise God because we do not have it? I’ve read the posts here, they are all good points and I believe are symptoms of a church that is comfortable, easy going, and facing a low level of resistance.
We as Christians might be mocked or ridiculed in the west. But when is the last time you heard of a church burned to the ground, a pastor shot dead in the streets or his family seriously harmed or killed solely because of his/her witness for Christ in the west? In the U.S. you can be a “Christian business” a “Christian musician” a “Christian …” fill in the blank and for the most part it is widely accepted, you will not be singled out for death by this title.
But look at the fire of Christianity sweeping the hearts of nations that are hostile to Christianity or where it is restricted. Look at Acts, as the persecution broke out, they spread out when it came. Persecution has and always will fan the flames of growth.
I must say, it is sobering, the persecuted Christians, some in chains right now, are praying for us in the west. Do we pray for them? I was at a Voice of the Martyrs conference and a speaker (who survied persecution) was speaking and said persecution was what was needed in the U.S. Basicially the line of his argument was this is where you will see the church grow (and those who do not hold to the faith will be shed off). I pray I would be one to stand strong in the face of persecution. I am afraid I have no idea how real my faith really is until I am faced with this kind of a situation – My life for Jesus’ name. I am afraid many of us won’t know until that day either. It may never come upon us, but the time to prepare for persecution is now, so if it does, we can stand firm.
The need to “organize” or to form any sort of denomination or even so-called non-denominations is the number one problem. The moment an organization of any sort is formed there becomes the immediate need to maintain the organization. Maintaining the organization instantly becomes the number one goal of those involved even though they may claim otherwise. Here’s a test. Name one organization that encourages their followers just to tell people about Jesus. An organization member cannot do that. The listener must be told about the organization and the real message of God takes a back seat. Many ills of the organized church are driven by the need to maintain the organization including the split of clergy and laity.
How about if it is none of the above list! Maybe trying to create a list and then trying to make people obey what comes to the top of the list is following the same old round of legalism and pressure! Lets just see the Church as already beautiful, incredible, full of potential, the answer of God now to the world. The very Body of Christ here on earth, filled with the fullness of Christ, and all things under our feet. That now we are seated with Christ in the Heavenlies, fellow heirs reigning with Christ as well as sanctified and righteous and holy now! Within each of us a living spring of spiritual life bringing life to ourselves and all around us! This is the age of Spirit and just let the flow of the consciousness of who we are run and all the other “problems” will fade away. When you believe and know who you are it is much easier to live as such people rather than being distracted by our short comings and working harder and harder to be good! Paul says not to look at the flesh but at the spirit. Lets look with eyes of our spirit to who we are and how God sees us. ps I am not perfect, just ask my wife and friends!
I think it must be an inferior revlation of God’s goodness. That may seem somewhat vague, but if we take into consideration that most of the fears we have about ourself, others and God (which ultimately define the limits that our relationships will take and the boudries of our comforts will allow)come from a heart that has has been misled and mistreated. To unshakle the church we must unshakle ourselves. Without a revleation of a God who is not ashamed of us or mad at things we have done we remained locked behind the doors of doubt and destruction.
I’m a little late, but I think the number one hinderance is that we do not properly honor Jesus Christ as Head of the Body. People come to church, but they don’t see Jesus – by people, I’m including Christians. We do not honor Him as our living Lord and Leader in our meetings or our lives. I’ve been to gatherings where every member is fully submitted, fully yielded to the Lord, and His presence is obvious. As the honored Head, He composes a beautiful encounter where heaven touches earth. Jesus manifests Himself through each individual. It’s amazing.
1: the ability, desire, and persistence to hear God’s voice
2: obeying what He tells us thru His spoken words to us and obeying what He tells us thru His written Word to us
3: a combination of both of the above two: advancing His kingdom into new places and new lives where His kingdom is lacking (operating as an army together in an offensive capacity)
All nine of the possibilities you named are included in my answer. But I think the major one would be hypocrisy: saying/believing one thing and doing another. People who know I’m a serious Christian watch me closely and so I ask God every day to nudge me just before I’m about to get into the flesh. Which can be anywhere from 5-10 times a day…lol.
Institutional leadership!!!!! People have become “dumb” sheep, following blindly without asking questions or asking themselves why they believe certain things or do certain things, just following whichever Alpha male (or female) began the “church” ….. imo
Roger, I have been really concerned about the real love of the people God gives us to minister to. That lack of real, deep love and gratitude toward those we serve is one of the deepest hurts that the church (people we serve) can experience. If we serve to get credit and a slap on the back, that’s horrible pride. Pride come befoe the fall and fall we will in the church if we live under that umbrella. Love conquers everything and says to those we serve, they are the most important thing about ministry. Jesus is seen through and in us and that is what brings the unity of the church back to it’s original roots.
Lack of Faith
I think the problem with the church today is the same as in the first century: we have left our first(best) love; Christ is not preeminent among most believers. The church in Ephesus in Rev.2 was by most standards an excellent church, but the Lord had one thing against them: they had left their first love and were thus in great danger of the Lord removing the lampstand out of its place in Ephesus. The failure to give Christ preeminence, to honor Him, to exalt Him, to properly present Him, to properly appreciate Him results in sinful and evil people and the house of God becomes desolate and dead. Is Christ exalted in our private life, married life, work life, family life and church life? How many Christians tell the Lord, “Lord Jesus, I love You. You are so sweet, so beautiful. Oh, Lord Jesus, I have saved my best love for you and give You preeminence in all aspects of my life.”