The church is the representative of Jesus Christ in this sinful world. Did you know the reasons for some people boycotting church attendance? Why do we have many unstable converts in the church today?

I am blowing my trumpet through this article as a call to everyone in the Christendom to stand firmly for the corrective measures.

The capacity of the church (with the power and grace of Jesus) can change the world! Listen to this statistics; According to the theological seminary database of Gordon-Conwell on Global Christianity: Denomination of Christian organization is 39,000 and the church congregations (worship centers) are 3,826,000 during the mid-2007.

I am sure that these figures would have increased after a decade. If more than 39,000 denominations in the Christendom could come together to start doing the following, then the level of division, misconception, and lukewarm (worldly mix with godly) would diminish;

1. Preach Outside the Four Walls

Evangelism is not for the ‘Evangelicals’. Preaching the Gospel to people is the fundamental duty of every believer. Jesus did not ask us to limit our Christian performance to the church building.

And Jesus said to His disciples: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15). Jesus Christ did not expect His followers to settle down and build concrete churches.

God supported the early persecution of the disciples at Jerusalem, because He noticed they were forming a mega church when they were expected to travel to other countries. It was synonymous to the story of the tower of Babel. I would talk more on this in my subsequent publication.

There is no record in the Bible that a New Testament church building was built. But, we have records of believers travelling from one place to another to spread the Gospel. They gather in a believer’s home to pray and encourage one another, and then proceed to preach to the lost souls.

Read the book of Luke chapter 10 verses 1 to 24 and you will understand the module operand for New Testament believers. We don’t need temples and synagogues like the Old Testament.

Can you imagine the impact of church evangelism if the 2.4 billion Christians could preach the Gospel daily to the 4.8 billion non-Christians on earth?

This is a clarion call to the church to leave the four walls and consistently start the public announcement of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Time is running out!!

2. Screen your Pastor

The scandals of many Pastors in the church had discouraged many people in the path of Christianity. So, it is time the church screen the spiritual ability of our leaders. Many false Pastors do not want you to screen them, they quote scriptures like; ‘thou shall not judge’. If they refuse judgment on earth, the Lord will judge them in heaven.

The book of second Peter chapter 2 verse 1 says: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.”

Jesus Christ gives you the right to reject an unrighteous Pastor in your church.  He says: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? … Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire…” (Matthew 7:15-23).

Never allow Pastors with fruits of greediness, adultery, etc. to lead the congregation.

Pastoral responsibility is for the anointed; you must be called by God (not by senior pastor) to do the spiritual duty. Pastoral office is not a family business. Many guys who graduated from pastoral (theological) schools pick the “pastoral appointment” (man-made callings) and cause terrible spiritual blunders at long run. Enough of this mess!!

3. The Church should Unite

Enough of this human philosophy and doctrines that separate us in the Christendom. Jesus Christ is One, but we have diverse church denominations. We must unite the church in awesome fear of the Lord. So, we can speak in one voice to defeat the devil that pollutes the Christendom.

It is wise to stop church competitions, and unite as a big family to win souls to Christ. Can we say bye to denominations?

4. Intensive Teachings of the Bible

The church should start a balance teaching of the Bible. Salvation is not all about prosperity, grace and love. Salvation entails ‘sufferings’, endurance, discipline and tribulations…

I felt sad when some new converts told me that the churches they attended did less of Bible studies. But, the churches did more of song entertainment, clapping, dancing and donations. Such church practices arise to lukewarm Christians and the departure of new converts from the church.

There is nothing wrong in singing, clapping, dancing and donations, but teaching the word of God must take the highest priority. The essence of gathering in a church is for iron to sharpen iron. (Proverb 27:17)

The church is not an entertainment center! The role of the church is to train and discipline the new converts with the word of God, and not to bother them with compulsory donations.

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2Timothy 3:16-17)

The church should not only teach prosperity, but also the in-depth of the scriptures.

5. The Church should Spend more on the Poor

I talked about church extravagance in the last article I wrote on 5 things the church should stop doing. This generation is fond of ‘expensive’ church buildings, (spirit of pride and unhealthy competitions among some church leaders). All the millions of dollars for the ‘elegant church structure’ would be consumed by fire on the Final Day.

Jesus did not support spending so much on earthly structures, but He instructs us to give to the poor. When you tell a poor person that: “Jesus told me to give you this small parcel of foods and clothes”… it is a big sermon about the Gospel of Jesus to the joyful poor person.

The church should start giving to the poor aggressively, to avoid empty treasury in heaven. Jesus says: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6: 19-20)

Church is a group of Christians that gather in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to worship God. I am worried about the trend of the church. Is Jesus Christ in the church of our generation? Can two masters control a home? Can the Spirit of God and the spirit of worldliness control the church?

Barna conducted an analysis on the state of the church in 2016, and revealed that Americans are attending church less, and many are practicing their faith outside of its four walls. I am sure that other continents are experiencing similar trend.

Today, I want to share some practices going on in the church, which we need to stop. I don’t intend to judge anyone or any denomination, but I want us to trace our steps back to the Bible.

The world’s civilization/modernization is putting more pressure on the church. We must take our stand in Christ’s rules alone!

The church does not want to ‘hurt’ anyone with the blunt truth of the Gospel. Preaching topics like holiness, perseverance and so on is now a boring topic in many churches.

The church chose to be friend with the world with the intention to win souls, and such intention is affecting the integrity of the church. First John chapter 2 verse 15 and 16 says:

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life–is not of the Father but is of the world.”

I am sure Jesus Christ saw this church trend long ago, and He asked His disciples this question: “… Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)

It is wise for us to stop the following practices before the Faith in Jesus is changed to faith in worldliness.

1. Using Worldly Styles to Present the Gospel

a. Music ministrations in the church are less different from the worldly music. The unique gospel musicals filled with powerful messages of salvation is uncommon in our generation.

The new converts could not stop singing the worldly songs, because we use the worldly musical tones and beats in the church choir.

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other….” (Matthew 6:24)

b. The Hollywood style of presenting the Gospel had produced more lukewarm converts to the church.

c. The introduction of cosmetics and fashion into the church makes it difficult to distinguish a Christian from an unbeliever.

For instance; Piercing of the body is not limited to the women anymore, because men in the church are piercing their ears to wear earrings. The use of Tattoo in the church is no more news…

“Who’s adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” (1peter 3:3-4 KJV)

The church should stop imitating the worldly styles of doing things. It attracts unbelievers to the church, but they don’t understand the godly styles of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Obeying the Ungodly laws of the Land

The church is not prepared for persecution. Let us stand against the ungodly laws of the land imposed on the church. How could a government ask us to organize wedding for homosexual!?

We shall serve only One Almighty God. The church should not be afraid of persecution from the rulers of the world. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:10)

The church is scared to pray, read the Bible or preach the salvation of Jesus to the public. The church should stop pretending that the ungodly laws of the land are manageable.

3. Let’s Stop Church Discrimination

It is unfortunate that we have thousands of denominations, but the figures separated us from the one love of God. For instance, the Protestant disregards the Orthodox, while the Orthodox disregards the Evangelical, and the discrimination continues on and on…

Let us unite! Jesus did not ask us to form denominations, but He told us to go preach the gospel to the world. “And He said to them, “Go into the entire world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)

4. Church Extravagance

Let us stop spending millions of dollars on church buildings. Let’s spend it on spreading the Gospel to the world.

The expensive church buildings will be crushed on the Day of destruction. So, let us stop church extravagance, and spend our funds to help the poor.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

5. Church Politics

a. The poor people have less attention of the Pastor, but the rich enjoy more attention of the Pastor.

b. The rich are giving altar post such as Elder, Deacon and Pastor in the church, but the poor are limited.

c. The chair of the rich is different from the ‘ordinary’ people in the church.

“My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality… you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool, have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?” (James 2:1-4)

“If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19)

The church should come together to speak in one voice. And enough of these adopted worldly styles that pollute the church every day. The church should do things differently from the world.