No little attention is being given to the news that American churches of Christ stopped growing over the past several years. It should be noted that numbers is but one gauge of spiritual health of congregations. With that caveat, it’s not hard to discern the causes, once modern practices are placed beside Scripture.

First, many churches have lost their mission. Budgets are showing increases in benevolence and disaster relief at the expense of the preaching of the gospel. The former are now classified as missions. Supposedly, the former are done with saving souls in mind, but they are ineffective and few have strategies implanted to take advantage of opportunities of evangelism. Continue reading →