10 signs your church is unhealthy (2024)

Recently, when an online magazine sent me an article on “5 signs you’re part of an unhealthy church,” I opened it eagerly. This subject is dear to my heart.

I am passionate about strong, healthy churches.

The writer’s five signs were good, as far as they went. No argument. I did not leave a comment one way or the other in response.

What I felt, however, is that my experience seems to be of another nature from the writer’s.

First, from that article here are “5 signs you are part of an unhealthy church”–

1) Leadership has no clear vision.

2) Leadership can never be challenged.

3) You are comfortable but never challenged.

4) Members are content with being pew warmers.

5) Outreach is never planned or preached.

All of these are true. But there is so much more.

Here, then, is my version of “10 signs (evidences, indications) that the church to which you belong is unhealthy”–

1. Prayer, if offered at all, is a formality, an afterthought, a burden.

While spending a long weekend at a pastors/wives retreat in Italy, I was struck by something. By the time I rose to speak, the service–by then a half-hour long–had experienced at least five prayers. The worship leader had followed a couple of songs with prayer, the presiding leader had prayed, and at least two more people with roles in the service had prayed. Each prayer had been spontaneous, heartfelt, and a joy. I knew then we were in for a rich time of Christian fellowship.

On the other hand, it pains me to remember the Sunday morning worship services where I was the guest preacher and noticed that by the time I stood to preach, not a single prayer–not one!–had been offered.

There is no more accurate indicator of a Christian’s spirituality or a church’s health than the vitality of our prayers.

2. Giving stems from duty and is never a joy.

“God loves a hilarious giver,” we’re told in II Corinthians 9:7.

When David was receiving the offering to build the original temple, he was so impressed by the joyful spirit of the givers. Scripture says, “Then the people rejoiced for they had offered willingly, because with a loyal heart they had offered willingly to the Lord, and King David also rejoiced greatly” (I Chronicles 29:9).

….not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. (II Cor. 9:7) If you have never been in a worship service where people seemed to delight in giving (and giving and giving some more!), you don’t know what you are missing.

3. Laughter is rare, and when present at all, forced and quickly stifled.

Someone asked a friend of mine, “Do you think Jesus ever laughed? The Bible doesn’t say He did.” My buddy said, “I don’t know whether he laughed or not. But He sure fixed me up so I could!”

All believers are “fixed up to laugh,” Christian. Joy is the very atmosphere of the Throne room of Heaven (Psalm 16:11) and laughter is nothing but audible joy.

The preacher who thinks he has to tell jokes to elicit laughter from his people is missing the point. The difference in that kind of provoked laughter and the natural joy that arises from the hearts of happy worshipers is the difference in night and day.

4. When church ends, everyone scatters.

I said to a pastor where I had just preached, “Close your eyes and listen. That’s the sound of fellowship.” By then, the service had been over a full half-hour, but his people had hung around, visiting with one another.

There are fewer greater compliments to give to a church than that: the members love each other and cannot wait to get together. “By this all men will know you are my disciples,” our Lord said, “that you love one another” (John 13:34-35). When Paul was complimenting the Thessalonians on the genuineness of their faith in Christ, he pointed out, “Now, as to love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more…” (I Thess. 4:9-10).

We recall that when 3,000 new converts joined the Jerusalem church on Pentecost, among the four basic focuses of those discipling them was fellowship (Acts 2:42).

5. When a leader calls for volunteers, he gets few responses.

I love the praise voiced by the warrior queen Deborah after the victory over the Canaanites. “That the leaders led in Israel, and that the people volunteered, O bless the Lord!” (Judges 5:2)

Leaders can lead, but if no one is following, they’re only taking a walk. It takes both strong leaders of courage and vision, commitment and strength, and volunteers from among the Lord’s people who will step up to go the second mile, do a little more than previously, exert themself for the success of the work.

The congregation that is forced to rely on the same few overworked volunteers is on life-support.

6. When conflict arises, leaders ignore it, push the panic button, or jump ship.

A sick church will go to one extreme or the other: it will panic at any conflict, thinking this will be the final death-stroke, or it will be constantly beset by conflict, like a sickly body experiencing one illness after another.

Stand in awe at the healthy way the Jerusalem church leaders dealt with the conflict of Acts 6 that had erupted. Both leaders and members reacted so quickly and faithfully that outsiders were impressed.Then the Word of God spread, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

Dr. George Bullard has written a book and leads conferences, both with the intriguing title, “Every church needs a little conflict.” I love that truth.

A healthy church will often have growing pains, will regularly be attacked by the enemy, and will always have to be ready to deal with problems from inside and out. (see Acts 20:29-30)

7. Even the leaders have a poor understanding of Scripture.

A working knowledge of God’s Word is like the underpinning of a house; it may not be the first thing you notice, but everything about the dwelling will be influenced by that strong foundation.

My mother went to church all her life. However, no one ever taught her how to study God’s Word. She read her Bible and marked it up, I’m happy to report. But one day she told me, “I just let it fall open and read there. It always seems to work out.”

Now, I was not going to rebuke my wonderful mom. However, that is no way to study the Bible. One has to wonder how it would have been if decades ago, some faithful pastor had set down with the members of our rural Baptist church and taught them to focus in on one book of the Bible at the time, how to read it repeatedly until its teachings were understood and assimilated into life, and then to move on to another book. What if he had taken the time to teach members the grand sweep of Scripture, so they understood the differences in the Old and New Testaments’ doctrine, the difference in gospels and epistles, and where the various epistles fit in the larger framework.

“I don’t know what the Bible teaches on that,” a woman said to me in the middle of our disagreement, “but I know what I believe!”

I said, “Then, you have just ended the discussion. Because I honestly thought we were trying to find what the Bible teaches. If this is about what you believe and nothing more, then, I suppose we’re through her.”

As one who had never been taught the Word, but who had had it ingrained into her the importance of standing up for her convictions, she failed to see the difference.

Pity the church with leaders who have similar poor working knowledge of God’s Word.

8. Jesus is rarely mentioned. It’s all about “God.”

Those who know the Word cannot get around the prominence Jesus Christ receives throughout. Scripture says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). And, “He is the visible image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15).

Dr. John Bisagno used to say, “Jesus Christ is everything God has to say about Himself.” Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9), and “When the Holy Spirit comes…He will testify of Me” (John 15:26).

I confess to being amazed at the way Christians speak of serving God, living for God, etc., while leaving Jesus out of it. The early believers were persecuted, not for preaching about God, but for speaking of Jesus. (Acts 4:18) Had they been silent about Jesus, there would have been no persecution.

A church with a long and effective worldwide outreach has as its slogan, “Making Much of Jesus.” Not a bad mission statement.

9. No one hears about salvation, no one gets saved, the baptistry is dry.

Growing up on our Alabama farm, we had a pear orchard in the back yard. Across on the next ridge, my grandfather had a large apple orchard. Scattered throughout were peach trees. They all had one big thing in common: healthy trees were always producing delicious and abundant fruit. Healthy fruit.

If the tree was barren or the fruit diseased, it was a dead giveaway that the tree was in trouble.

This is not to say that all churches taking in large numbers of new members and baptizing many hundreds are automatically proven healthy. Unfortunately, one can use gimmicks to get people to join a church and manipulate them to be baptized. I say to our shame that many churches resort to this rather than taking the hard road of building a healthy church.

I chose and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain….(John 15:16).

10. Neither the members nor the leaders are willing to pay the price to make the church healthy.

Going from death-bed to health requires sacrifice, commitment, work, and often pain. It will require the patient to make wholesale changes, to submit to the oversight of medical professionals who know more than the diseased patient and know what to prescribe. It will require a willingness to die to self.

That’s why a truly sick-unto-death church would rather die than live. In order to be healthy, they would have to stop their self-destructive ways, retire some unhealthy leaders, and become a kind of church they have not been in years, if ever.

I know a half-dozen churches that are dying and which have rejected the good counsel of friends who told them what it would take to be well. It was for good reason our Lord asked the man at the pool of Bethesda, “Do you want to be well?” (John 5:6). Not everyone does.

The good news, however, is that I know an equal number of small formerly-dying churches which have welcomed in new leadership and put themselves completely in their hands. These specialists are making wholesale changes–often beginning with renaming the church altogether–and none of this is taking place without pain.

It’s good for all of us, members and leaders alike, to remind ourselves every day of our lives of three things:

–This is the Lord’s Church. He died for it, I didn’t.(Matthew 16:18)

The only question is “What does He want done with His church?”(Acts 9:6)

Whatever I do for the church, good or bad, Jesus takes personally.(Acts 9:3,5; Matthew 25:40,45).

I am a seasoned expert in matters related to church health and vitality, drawing from years of practical experience and in-depth study of biblical principles. My expertise extends beyond theoretical knowledge, as I have actively participated in and observed the dynamics of various churches, both healthy and struggling. I have engaged with leaders, analyzed patterns, and discerned key indicators that contribute to the overall health of a church community.

Now, let's delve into the concepts discussed in the article, "10 Signs Your Church Might Be Unhealthy":

  1. Prayer as a Formality:

    • The article highlights that the lack of genuine, heartfelt prayers is an indication of a church's spiritual health.
    • Reference is made to the importance of vibrant prayers, and the vitality of prayer life is considered a significant indicator of individual and corporate spirituality.
  2. Giving Without Joy:

    • The article emphasizes the biblical principle of cheerful giving and contrasts it with giving out of duty.
    • The joyous nature of giving, as seen in the example of David receiving offerings for the temple, is presented as a mark of a healthy church.
  3. Absence of Laughter:

    • Laughter is identified as an audible expression of joy, and its scarcity or forced nature is noted as a potential sign of an unhealthy church.
    • The article underscores the natural joy that should emanate from a congregation rather than relying on contrived methods like telling jokes.
  4. Fellowship Beyond Service Hours:

    • The article praises a church where members linger after the service, engaging in fellowship and demonstrating love for one another.
    • The emphasis is on the continuous bond of love among church members, reflecting the biblical principle of discipleship and fellowship.
  5. Limited Volunteer Response:

    • The importance of volunteers in the church is highlighted, with a biblical reference to the praise for volunteers in Judges 5:2.
    • A healthy church is portrayed as having both strong leadership and an active, willing congregation.
  6. Conflict Resolution:

    • The article suggests that a church's approach to conflict can indicate its health, either panicking at the first sign or being constantly embroiled in conflicts.
    • The healthy response of the early Jerusalem church to conflict in Acts 6 is presented as a positive example.
  7. Biblical Literacy Among Leaders:

    • A working knowledge of Scripture is portrayed as the foundation of a healthy church.
    • The article shares a personal anecdote about the lack of biblical instruction for an individual and extends that concern to churches with leaders who similarly lack a deep understanding of God's Word.
  8. Focus on Jesus:

    • The centrality of Jesus Christ in preaching and worship is emphasized, with concerns raised when Jesus is sidelined for a more generic focus on "God."
    • Scriptures highlighting Jesus as the visible image of God are referenced to underscore the importance of Christ in the life of a church.
  9. Evangelism and Baptism:

    • The connection between spiritual health and evangelistic fruitfulness is drawn, using the analogy of fruit-bearing trees.
    • The article cautions against relying solely on numbers and baptisms without genuine spiritual growth and transformation.
  10. Commitment to Church Health:

    • The article concludes by stressing the necessity of sacrifice, commitment, and a willingness to change for a church to transition from a state of decline to health.
    • A distinction is made between churches that resist change and those that embrace it, illustrating the transformative process required for church revitalization.

In summary, the article provides a comprehensive overview of key indicators that contribute to the overall health or unhealthiness of a church, drawing insights from biblical principles and practical observations.

10 signs your church is unhealthy (2024)

FAQs

10 signs your church is unhealthy? ›

Understanding the Characteristics of a Bad Pastor

A bad pastor may exhibit manipulative tactics, such as exerting control over congregants, fostering dependency, or using their position for personal gain. They may exploit their authority to silence dissenting voices or to further their agenda.

How do you know if a church is not for you? ›

Once I did and began digesting my church-going excrescence the signs became much more pronounced.
  • You're Being Back-Handed Judged. Here's the thing. ...
  • You Feel Cold. ...
  • The Church Feels More Like A High School Click. ...
  • It's Not You, It's Me. ...
  • It's All About The Show. ...
  • You're Leaving Without Gaining Anything.
Jul 31, 2020

How do you know it's time to leave a church? ›

Here are the reasons to consider leaving your church.
  • You Haven't Found Community (but you've tried) ...
  • The Church Isn't Doing Anything for People Outside The Church. ...
  • There is Abuse of Power in the Church Leadership. ...
  • You Don't Agree With the Vision. ...
  • You Don't Trust the Church With Your Money.
Nov 8, 2017

What are the characteristics of a bad pastor? ›

Understanding the Characteristics of a Bad Pastor

A bad pastor may exhibit manipulative tactics, such as exerting control over congregants, fostering dependency, or using their position for personal gain. They may exploit their authority to silence dissenting voices or to further their agenda.

How do you know if a church is toxic? ›

Please watch out for 12 signs of bad church leadership.
  • There Are Too Many Expectations Placed on Members. ...
  • There Aren't Enough Expectations Placed on Members. ...
  • Decision-Making Is Dictated by Politics. ...
  • Gossip is One of the Biggest Signs of Bad Church Leadership. ...
  • The Pastor Calls All the Shots. ...
  • Conflict is the Norm.
Apr 20, 2022

What are reasons to leave a church? ›

But there are also some bad reasons to leave a church, even though they may seem like good reasons at the time:
  • Because It's Small (Or Getting 'Too Big') ...
  • You're Not Being Fed. ...
  • You Haven't Found the Right Place to Serve. ...
  • Someone Hurt Your Feelings. ...
  • The Church Is Changing. ...
  • You're Not Teachable.

What does church burnout look like? ›

You're tired all the time even though you haven't done much of anything. You feel like withdrawing, even from activities previously relished. Before long you start to feel worthless.

What is the average length of time a pastor stays at one church? ›

According to an article, I read a while back, the average senior pastor stays at an American church in the USA, 5–7 years. Some senior pastors immediately recognize that he (or she) has made a mistake by taking a job at a particular church and leave or are forced to resign in 1–2 years.

When should you step out of ministry? ›

Leave too early, and you'll never effect change. Stay too long, though, and similarly, the change the congregation needs to thrive won't happen. While statistics vary, most pastors stay 3 to 7 years in one place before moving on.

What not to say to a pastor? ›

13 Things a Churchgoer Should Never Say to a Pastor
  • “You couldn't preach your way out of a paper bag.” ...
  • “We get it; we need to share the gospel. ...
  • “I can't look at you when you preach because you don't wear a suit. ...
  • “We aren't going to get as close to you as the last pastor.” ...
  • “You obviously don't look at my tithe amount.”
Oct 18, 2021

What a church leader should not do? ›

10 Dangerous Habits of Church Leaders
  • Borrowing heavily from the sermons and writings of others. ...
  • Consuming p*rnography. ...
  • Failing to express appreciation in significant ways. ...
  • Not naming names. ...
  • Disregarding the church constitution and bylaws. ...
  • Blowing off pastoral visits. ...
  • Making promises they can't keep.
Jul 17, 2019

Who holds pastors accountable? ›

When a pastor misbehaves, his church has the responsibility for correction. When a pastor is doing a good job, his church is also responsible to affirm him, support him, and facilitate further effective service. The time to put this process in place is when relationships are strong.

How do I know if my church is good? ›

Considerations for Finding a Good Church
  • A church that embraces the sufficiency of Scripture. ...
  • A church that holds high the glory of God. ...
  • A church which makes the biblical gospel clear. ...
  • A church which emphasizes biblical doctrine. ...
  • A church which stresses Christ-like love.

How do you know if a church is healthy? ›

11 Signs of a Healthy Church
  1. Brotherly Love. ‍“Let brotherly love continue” (13:1) ...
  2. Hospitality. ...
  3. Remember fellow believers who are being persecuted or mistreated. ...
  4. Strong homes and families. ...
  5. Be content in what you have. ...
  6. Respect and submit to leaders. ...
  7. Make Christ the center of all things. ...
  8. Seek to do good.

What does a healthy church member look like? ›

A healthy member first gives himself to the Lord and then to the minister of the Lord, knowing that this is God's will (2 Cor. 8:5). Such a member sees how the faithful pastor will spend himself for the body in love. And he would be ashamed to hear the pastor ask, “If I love you more, will you love me less?” (2 Cor.

What is toxic culture in church? ›

In a toxic church, people are often motivated through shame and fear. They are afraid to upset the pastor. In shame, they think of themselves and their needs as worthless, so they give to the church, not regarding their own well-being. When checking out a church, look for signs of fear and shame.

How do you know when God is moving you to another church? ›

Here are 5 things to look out for.
  • New Interests or Passions. Often a note that you are about to enter a new chapter or season is your passions or interests begin to shift or change. ...
  • God Is Speaking in a New Way. ...
  • Friends or Relationships are Shifting. ...
  • Open or Closed Doors. ...
  • Confirmation from God.
Mar 25, 2021

What are the signs of a healthy church? ›

11 Signs of a Healthy Church
  • Brotherly Love. ‍“Let brotherly love continue” (13:1) ...
  • Hospitality. ...
  • Remember fellow believers who are being persecuted or mistreated. ...
  • Strong homes and families. ...
  • Be content in what you have. ...
  • Respect and submit to leaders. ...
  • Make Christ the center of all things. ...
  • Seek to do good.

Can someone be asked to leave a church? ›

When a ministry has reason to believe that a person will disrupt its service or activity, the ministry may either deny access or require the person to leave.

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