St George Church (Luková – kostel svatého Jiří), which was consecrated in 1352, became abandoned since 1968 when the roof fell through during a funeral. It is reported that the church building became abandoned because the people believed it was either haunted or cursed; consequently, the services were held outside of the building for a short time. However, in 2012, an artist (Jakub Hadrava) turned it into a tourist attraction by creating and placing sculptures of ghosts inside the building.
Take a moment to think about how truly sad this story is. The believers of Christ gave more power and authority to the evil that might haunt or curse a place rather than proclaiming the Truth of GOD’s Word that they have the Holy Spirit within them! Is it not written that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us (Romans 8:11; Ephesians 1:13-23)?! We are to fear GOD, not demons or ghosts.
No one cared about that church building until it appealed to the world through an innovative worldly idea. More people have visited that building as a tourist attraction than as a church. Tourists come, but congregants stay away. Tourists come to experience how “creepy” it feels to see a failed abandoned church with ghost sculptures inside. Is this what church buildings have become in the last days? Though this church building is not in America, I would argue that this building and its story represents a great majority of church buildings in America. It’s terribly sad that the beautiful body of Christ couldn’t compete against fake ghosts. People will seek after false spirits in an abandoned building they call a church, but they will avoid going into that building if the true Church is inside with the Holy Spirit? Why is that? In my opinion, the ghost figures in that church building accurately represent most congregants within modern church buildings. They just sit there. That church building is only open for a few hours every Sunday; likewise, most “Christians” desire to hear from GOD only for a few minutes every Sunday. The ghost sculptures don’t do anything outside of the walls of that building; likewise, most “Christians” don’t either. Why not? Who is to blame? The congregants? The pastor? I would argue that both are to blame. Followers of Christ should be pursuing Christ every minute of every day and pastors should be equipping and empowering the congregation to put their faith into practice.
Empty churches seem to be more and more common the closer we get to Christ’s second coming. Either that, or they have been captured and taken over by the progressive apostates. The enemy is playing capture the flag and is winning.
Deconstructionism is also a tale often told. To put it simply, more and more people are leaving the “church” and are not returning. But why? Why are traditional churches dying off? Why are so many people leaving and never coming back? It seems to be a story of modern religious organizations and institutions stifling people’s ability to engage with each other and their communities, to live out their holy callings.
From my personal experiences, the church leaders seem too concerned about titles, the numbers of attendance, whether programs are being followed by proper protocols and procedures, and how much money is received from tithes. The system (or “the machine”) only exists to ensure its own survival. What I’ve noticed is that churches desire to operate as if a business. The pastor, as if CEO of a company, often thinks too highly of himself and is willing to fire anyone who disagrees with his decisions. The paid staff, afraid of losing their jobs, are afraid to disagree with the pastor or confront him — even if he’s wrong. (FYI – the pastor is not above correction; all followers of Christ are liable to accountability.)
Both the pastor and paid staff members are too concerned about keeping people in the church while never equipping them to be launched out into the world [where they are needed most]. They seem to have programs that collect volunteers (who end up getting burned out), but no one ever becomes discipled and trained with the goal of them starting a new church body elsewhere. It seems that the leaders are more concerned about keeping their own salaries so that they can have lives of comfort, convenience, safety, and security.
The church — as a religious institution within four walls of a building — has become a coffin of comfort where hopeful followers of Christ go to die from starvation. Malnourished believers don’t feast on the Daily Bread; instead, they eat only once on Sunday, never grow, and simply stay until they decay, or get hungry enough to walk away. Those who stay become the ghosts who never truly make an impact outside of the four walls. Those who leave never return because they’re hungry to hear from the Lord and to fulfill their purposes.
Too many pastors are trying to get congregants to stay so their own bank accounts will be fed; however, the pastors should send out the body to feed the lost and invite them in. And so the congregation should multiply (grow) and then divide (be sent out). In this design, the church building should be like a fresh river that’s always the same size yet has new fish in it continuously. But stagnant water will always eventually lead to dead fish and then no fish at all. Just bones at the bottom. Just ghosts in an abandoned building that had once been called a church. And so our modern problem is this: either the congregation doesn’t want to do anything and the pastor burns out or the pastor is controlling and the congregation dies out. Either the congregation doesn’t want to feel conviction and grow, or the pastor is too afraid to deliver a message that will challenge the people to feel conviction and grow. But we need a fresh flow because we are fishers of men. All of us. Together. Every single believer is able to do ministry because that person has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him/her. No church should ever be abandoned, nor should it be filled with bench-warming congregants who are no more useful than ghost sculptures. GOD is not the GOD of the dead, but of the living (Matthew 22:32)!
Conclusion:
I give to you this challenge: read and meditate on the following Scriptures (don’t skip this part!):
1Corinthians 3:1—4:2;
Hebrews 5:12—6:2
After you’ve read those Scriptures, I challenge you to ponder and pray. At what point are you going to start on solid food rather than milk? At what point are you going to start discipling others instead of relying upon someone else to give you a spoonful on Sunday? There comes a time when students become graduates and then become teachers themselves. At what point will you respond to your calling and fulfill your purpose? Don’t be absent from a church body, but don’t be a useless ghost either. And finally, to all the pastors and leaders out there, at what point are you going to be faithfully obedient in what the Lord has commanded you to do? You are to train them up in order to launch them out. Stop preventing their growth! Stop preventing them from graduating and leaving!
Quest For Truth 