It is always sad to see a local church die.  It does, unfortunately, happen from time to time.  The factors involved may differ.  Sometimes it involves circumstances that are completely out of the hands of the people who make up the local church.  For example, it may be a small church to begin with, without a whole lot of young people.  In the same city, there is a larger church with lots of children, and whenever families are deciding where to place their membership, if they have children, they often choose the local church that has kids the age of their own.  Slowly, the older, smaller church dies.  Other factors contribute to the problem, such as families moving away, etc.  The church tries hard, but in the end, has to close its doors.

However, sometimes a local church dies because of the people that compose it.  For example, immaturity, lack of love, and indifference are just a few negative qualities that can destroy a church.  Since a church is only as strong as the people who make it up, a strong local church is composed of strong Christians.  On the other hand, spiritually weak churches are usually on the verge of death because of its weak membership.  Here are a few things that can kill a local church:

          Unlived Truth

John, the apostle, rejoiced when brethren told him Gaius was walking  in the truth (3 John 1:3).  In fact, he said that he did not have any greater joy than to hear that brethren were doing so (ver. 4).    This is because he knew that the spiritual survival of the soul depends on a person living by the Word of God, which is truth (John 17:17).

There is something else that depends on the truth to survive, and that is the local church.  Whenever a congregation has several members not walking in the truth, you have an unhealthy church that is in trouble.  It is not enough to just hear the truth; spiritual prosperity only comes when the truth is applied, and this is true both individually and collectively as a local church.  When we stop living by God’s Word,  we have unfastened the belt of truth, a major part of the armor of God that keeps us safe from the assaults of the devil (Ephesians 6:14), and have become vulnerable to the devils attacks.  If too many in a local church do this, death is inevitable.  It might be a slow death, but it will eventually come.

          Uncommitted Majority

Every church has some members who are uncommitted.  However, when it is the majority of the group, you have a dead church (Revelation 3:1-4).   This might be more prevalent than we would like to admit.  Too many members think that commitment to the Lord consist of attending one or two worship services a week and that is it.  They cannot be counted on to work with the local church to reach its goals.  Too often they do not even know what the goals of the church are.  They do not use their talents for the cause of Christ (Matthew 25:14-30).  They do not encourage or edify other saints in any way.  They merely show up for a few services and count themselves faithful.  If a church has too many of these kind of members it will not survive.  If you want to kill a local church, make a habit of doing nothing.  But be aware, you will lose your own soul in the process.

          Habitual Sin

Sin is like an infectious disease that spreads throughout a person’s body.  If it is not interrupted from its course, the body will die.  Unrepented sin in the church has this same impact on the spiritual body of Christ.  To the church at Corinth that was tolerating unrepented sin, Paul said this:

1 Corinthians 5:6-7 (ESV)
⁶  Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? ⁷  Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

We should be able to see how important it is for a local church not to tolerate any member living in sin.  The church has the responsibility to discipline those among its membership who insist on living in sin.  The body of Christ must not be defiled  (1 Corinthians 3:17).

I am sure that none of us want to be responsible for contributing to the death of the local church of which we are members.  If you want to avoid this, just be sure to live by the Word of God, commit yourself to the cause of Christ, using whatever talent you have for His glorification, and never make a habit of sinning against God.  A local church filled with these kind of members will remain alive and well.