David Kaywood1
“After 79 years of spiritual service in the community,” a local newspaper reported, “Hope Evangelical Christian Community Church will host its last public worship service this Sunday. Church leaders cite budgetary pressures mixed with low attendance to force closure. The church building is officially for sale.”
At some point in your life, you may hear of a church that dies. But the reason many churches die may surprise you. Sometimes churches die for obvious reasons: a global pandemic, financial struggles, or lack of attendance over a long period. We live in a fallen world, so sometimes church leaders make all the right decisions and their churches still don’t make it. Why? We can’t always know.
Other times, churches die because long-standing members develop unhealthy ownership of the church, killing forward progress. These members feel a sense of entitlement because they’ve been giving and serving and fighting for the church for years. In their minds, they’re making decisions to protect the church—when they’re actually killing it. Hundreds of churches in the Western world die each year because of good Christian folks. The ones who attend, give, and serve sacrificially over a long period can unintentionally become the reason the church can’t move forward. I’m convinced the remedy for many of the issues plaguing churches today boils down to rediscovering Christian contentment.
Every year, hundreds of churches in the Western world die because the discontentment of its members has led to unhealthy entitlement in the church.
Becoming a divisive, entitled church member is a slow-acting disease that can infect any Christian.
Remedy
I’m convinced the remedy for many of the issues plaguing churches today boils down to rediscovering Christian contentment.
Contentment is freedom from dependence on desired circumstances.
Unlike secular methods that insist contentment is always attainable through personal strength, true Christian contentment derives from God’s supernatural grace that enables us to endure all things with rejoicing.
Paul famously states, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). This often misapplied verse doesn’t mean Paul can accomplish anything; it means he can endure anything.
Recapture Christian Contentment
Contentment has fallen on hard times in modern culture. While the virtue was prized in previous centuries, it’s now underappreciated and overlooked. Expressive individualism combined with abundant material possessions has conditioned many of us—even within the church—to trivialize the value of contentment.
But the Bible doesn’t just encourage contentment; it commands it: “be content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ” I will Never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.” (Heb 13:5b)
You can’t deny there’s competition, comparison, and envy in your church. We’re conditioned by culture to fixate on self, and we wrongly bring these attitudes into the church. Why did she get picked to lead the women’s event?Why do we have to plant a church and lose beloved members? Why was I passed over for leadership again? The next time you feel discontent with a person or circumstance in your church, spend extended time in prayer for the person and for your church. Consider using a journal, and write down evidences of God’s grace in your church community. Remember the persecuted church, and how thousands of churches across the world can’t afford a building and don’t have resources for a formal youth ministry. Comparison breeds envy; gratitude breeds contentment.
Christian contentment is one of the best gifts you can give your local church.
Christian contentment is one of the best gifts you can give your local church. When your church leaders make a small move that rubs you the wrong way, contentment enables you to quietly disagree without being divisive. Contentment empowers you to serve in children’s ministry without complaining that nobody else serves back there as much as you. This virtue will allow you to support your church financially, knowing your true treasure is Christ.
David Kaywood
David Kaywood (MDiv, Covenant Theological Seminary) is senior associate pastor of Eastside Community Church in Jacksonville, Florida. He is the author of A Call to Contentment: Pursuing Godly Satisfaction in a Restless World (Christian Focus, 2024). He blogs regularly at Gospel Relevance and you can subscribe to his blog. David lives in Jacksonville Beach with his wife and two children. ↩︎