We know what questions we often ask about our churches. Is the church growing? Are we meeting budget? Are we making disciples? Take some time today to evaluate your church via these somewhat “random” questions:
1. If your church disappeared today, would your community know the difference? If not, you’re likely not making much difference.
2. If God sent revival to your church, would you be ready to grow the new believers He gives you? If your congregation isn’t prepared to incorporate and disciple new believers, God may not entrust them to you in the first place.
3. If your church carried out church discipline on every member living in flagrant sin, how many members would remain? I can only wonder how many churches have not exercised biblical church discipline in years.
4. How would your church react if God did something in your service that was not already scheduled in the order of service? Sometimes we’re so afraid of anything new that we’d question even God, it seems.
5. If you conducted a basic theological survey of your Sunday morning crowd, how would the findings compare to your church’s doctrinal statement? Pastors are often distressed by their findings of such a survey — particularly over beliefs about good people going to heaven even if they do not know Jesus.
6. If the Bible were taken away and your church leaders did ministry based only on the Word stored in their memory, how much ministry would continue? Perhaps we need to do a better job at teaching and memorizing God’s Word.
7. If your church faced persecution, what percentage of members would die rather than renounce Christ? I don’t know if we’ll face this kind of persecution in my lifetime, but the day may eventually come.
8. If the government removed tax benefits for giving to the church, would your budget giving change? I doubt it would increase . . . .
9. What percentage of members in your church shared the gospel with someone in the last year? If your church is average, the percentage is quite low.
10. If no one ever joined your church again, how long would it be before your church closes its doors? Some churches are almost having an “out of body” experience; that is, they’re watching themselves die.
11. How many of your church members can name the government leaders in your city and state? We’re to pray for these leaders, but it’s tough to do if we don’t even know their names.
12. If members of the early church in the book of Acts attended your church next Sunday, would they think you give little attention to Jesus? We can only guess, but I suspect the early church so in love with Jesus might wonder about us.
13. What percentage of your attenders would say, “I’ve never really been discipled by anyone”? In my experience, this is the story of many church attenders in North America.
14. Would non-believers hear joy when they hear your church members sing? I’ve heard singing around the world that’s often amazing — but not always in churches I’ve attended.
15. If God left your church today, would any of its activities continue unchanged? One would hope not, but I wonder sometimes.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was originally published by chucklawless.com.
