I feel like an outsider in churches today. This is in spite of the fact that I began attending church immediately after birth and grew up attending services three times a week. After graduating from seminary, I pastored two churches.
Yet something has changed during my lifetime.
I see at least five troubling trends in churches today. They are not new, but have become more pronounced in the past two or three decades. What follows are my observations based upon what I see, what others tell me, and what I read in the many emails that come my way.
1. A Kingdom Mentality
All of the troubling trends I mention in this article find their root in the kingdom mentality of our day. Most churches today believe that they are God’s kingdom on the earth, or perhaps “an outpost of it.” Many pastors believe that the Church has absorbed all of God’s many kingdom promises to Israel, albeit spiritually.
A kingdom, however, operates on a far different plane than a body of believers, which is how the New Testament describes the Church. During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church took its kingdom identity to an extreme with its assumption of political power and forced conversions. It proclaimed a false gospel and killed a great many Christians who opposed its tyrannical rule.
Today, the kingdom mentality manifests itself in an obsession with numbers, a far more peaceful approach. Of course, we want people to come to saving faith in Jesus. But the seeker-friendly emphasis of the past decades has added numbers to church rolls at the expense of adding depth to the faith of the new believers. As a result, false teachers have drawn multitudes of saints away from solid Bible-based beliefs (see Hebrews 5:11-14).
The numbers approach to ministry impacts how pastors see themselves. Proverbs 14:28 aptly sums up the related leadership problem when numbers become the primary focus, “In a multitude of people is the glory of a king, but without people a prince is ruined.” On the other hand, numbers don’t make or break one who leads as a servant, which brings me to the next closely related matter.
2. Elders Rule Rather Than Shepherd the Flock
Please know I believe elder leadership is biblical, but in many cases, how it’s practiced is not. Based on what I have seen and heard, many times the pastoral staff and elder board rule churches with an assumption of power that goes far beyond that of an overseer. They make all the decisions while those in the pews quietly go along with them.
My experience growing up was that of churches where the congregation decided everything. I remember long business meetings where the members voted on even the smallest matters. I’m not saying that was good or biblical, but perhaps there’s a balance between these two extremes where elders act as the servant leaders that Jesus talked about in Mark 10:42-45: “And Jesus called them to him and said to them, ‘You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'”
The pattern Jesus set was that of servant leadership, which differs greatly from what we far too often see today, where the elders “lord it over” silent and subdued sheep. I believe the Apostle Peter may have been thinking of Jesus’ words when he wrote 1 Peter 5:1-3 portraying the role of an elder as a shepherd: “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.” (emphasis added)
The primary role of an elder is to minister to those under his care in a way that matches what Paul wrote about body life in Romans 12:3-5: “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.“
Most Bible-believing churches affirm the apostle’s description of body life in Romans 12:3-8, but what I have experienced in recent years differs radically from the words in this passage. Its leaders far too often see themselves as superior to those whom the Lord calls them to shepherd.
3. It’s All About This Life
Another disturbing pattern I have noticed is that the words “eternal life” have all but disappeared from presentations of the Gospel.
It’s wonderful that people understand that Jesus died to pay the penalty for their sins so that they can find forgiveness for them through His blood. But from what I have observed, many Gospel presentations stop with an invitation to trust the Savior as the One who paid the debt for their sins. I have heard pastors only include the words “eternal life” in their closing prayers, but by that time, people are already thinking about where to eat or what to cook for lunch. (Yes, that is a confession of how my mind wanders).
Jesus, however, frequently talked about “eternal life.” He was not at all silent about the subject. The books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians reveal that, despite Paul’s brief stay in Thessalonica, he instructed the new believers in many matters pertaining to eternity. His readers knew all about the Rapture as well as the behavior of the antichrist during the Tribulation; to name just a few things, the apostle taught them.
I sense that many pastors avoid the matter of eternity out of caution so as to stay far, far away from mentioning the Rapture. However, regardless of what one believes about saying the word “Rapture,” it is our “blessed hope,” which by the way, was among the topics Paul instructed Titus to “declare” in his ministry (Titus 2:11-15).
The problem is that the silence regarding the hereafter leads to an undue emphasis on this life. The avoidance of mentioning anything to do with “eternal life” results in believers who make plans for the future with no thought of Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, that of regarding eternal realities as more important than those that are temporal. If the kingdom is now, so also is one’s hope.
4. Human Wisdom Trumps the Words of Scripture
Today’s prevalent kingdom mentality comes from applying human reason to the words of Scripture rather than interpreting them as the authors intended. The false assumption that God has replaced Israel with the Church dismisses a great multitude of clear prophetic texts as allegory, symbolic of another reality. Such interpretations find their basis in human wisdom, that which someone brings to Scripture rather than letting the words speak for themselves.
If human reasoning trumps the originally intended meaning of Bible prophecy texts, can it not also happen with other passages of Scripture? For example, many interpret Paul’s clear assertion in Romans 11:1-2, where he states that God has not rejected Israel, to mean that He has rejected Israel. Does that not open the door for others to find “alternative” interpretations of the apostle’s words on other matters? Does this not lead to a ripple effect that negates the clear meaning of other Bible passages?
Of course, not every church that rejects the Lord’s promise of a future kingdom restoration to Israel goes down this path. However, many have done so with the sad result of fully adopting the LGBTQ+ agenda and promoting abortion.
5. Misplaced Hope and Identity
Although I have never placed my hope in the church as God’s earthly kingdom that will overcome today’s evil and bring millennial conditions to the earth, I have made a similar mistake. Far too often, my hope for the future of the U.S. has rested on the outcomes of elections or in my expectation that the right President will solve the woes that I see.
I believe we should vote, pray, and become involved to the degree that the Lord leads. However, problems arise when we place our confidence in flawed humans because such hopes surely lead to great disappointment. I know this from experience.
Jesus’ imminent appearing to take us home to glory is our only sure hope for what lies ahead. We must keep our allegiance to Him totally separate from any other hope so that others see that we only trust Him for what happens next in our world.
It’s crucial that our hope and identity rest solely in Jesus. For instance, should things go seriously awry in our world before His appearing to take us to glory, if our confidence is in a political party or politician, people won’t ask us about the reason for our hope (see 1 Peter 3:15) because it will have dissipated by then. But if we are clutching to Jesus alone during the storm, others will see and ask us why we don’t share their alarm and dismay.
These five trends are based upon what I have experienced and observed. Perhaps my past has colored my reflections; there are exceptions, of course. I believe the Lord led me down this path, and I pray that my words will encourage others who also feel like outcasts in the churches they attend.
