Symptoms of a Church in Trouble

Some Symptoms of a Sick Church - in no particular order:

1. The preacher becomes an automatic member of every committee and uses his influence to exert control.
2. Committees tend to abdicate their power in favor of the preacher, taking his word for gospel.
3. The preacher tries to place people, associates or family, who are in favor of his plans or actions, into key positions within the church.
4. The preacher feels he has to be involved in every important decision.
5. The preacher's recruitment priority for new church members has wealth as a criteria.
6. Lots of money gets spent on the pastor's pet projects.
7. There is talk that the preacher is not always totally honest, and tends to blame others for his mistakes or shortcomings.
8. Corners get cut in long-standing church business procedures.
9. Members begin to leave as they realize some of these things are going on.
10. There is friction between the preacher and those staff or members who are in a position to know about some of the questionable decisions and events.

Of course, it's probably a bad sign if the preacher or any of his associates have a history of causing problems or stealing money at their prior church or churches.

Just some things to watch out for... See my earlier post.

- Pop