Twenty-Four Ways to Not Be a Strong Congregation

1. Don’t look for any substantial remedy for what has youth drop out of church life after confirmation.
2. Be satisfied that a prayer chain can take the place of God’s expectation that all Christians be pray-ers.
3. Hold no prayer meetings.
4. Expect much from the pastor who is getting paid and little from the lay people.
5. Do not come to grips with all the challenges of youth growing up in this culture and all the influences, dangers and evil scheming they are dealing with.
6. Never address evil, the wiles of the devil and the need to put on continually the armor of God so one will be strong in the Lord. 
7. Act as though Sunday School, VBS and confirmation will be sufficient to give the youth the Christian education they need.
8. Disregard what Luther saw that parents are the bishops, apostles and priests in their own families, their spiritual and temporal responsibilities.
9. Overlook what God expects of grandparents in passing on the faith.
10. Believe a ten or twelve minute sermon will be sufficient to feed the flock for the week.
11. Be satisfied that a member is simply a member on the rolls and leave it at that.
12. Focus on issues brought up by the media and what is in vogue at the time.
13. Never identify the callings or ministries people have and what responsibilities those callings entail.
14. Never preach sermons that apply the text to those specific responsibilities.
15. Never develop a program that has all members prayed for daily by other members.
16. Develop no training that equips parents and grandparents for their home ministries as mandated by Ephesians 4:11, 12.
17. Do not return calls to people who call the church office. 
18. Never mobilize all the members to see themselves as having a vital part in building up the body of Christ.
19. Have no one in the congregation be a responsible spiritual leader except the pastor.
20. Never enroll and train people to be adult education leaders.
21. In spite of scamming, Internet pornography, child molestation, defrauding, domestic violence, addictions, scheming, others taking advantage of vulnerable people, never address or provide wisdom for dealing with such.
22. Don’t address persecutions Christians are facing or will face or the cost of discipleship which calls a congregation to prepare the people as to how they will handle the attacks coming at them.
23. Keep far in the background the reality of the wrath of God.
24. Overlook the importance of rejoicing in the Lord always and giving thanks in all circumstances.

See: www.adultssavingkids.org  612-708-1875  We seek to provide what can aid in shifting some of these missing pieces into some workable solutions if a congregation is looking for  resources or ways to build itself up as the body of Christ from where it is at.