We Found the Killer. It Was Us. Part 2 of 2

A few days ago, we started an honest conversation about how churches die from the inside.

None of it is dramatic. No scandal, no blowup, no single moment you can point to. Just a skipped Sunday here. A held-back gift there. A conversation that should’ve happened in the room but ended up in the parking lot instead.

Small things. Quiet things. And over time… real damage.

I know I said I’d pick up next week, but I couldn’t wait. So, here are the final five.

6. Chase the Title, Not the Work

Some people don’t want to serve… they want to be seen serving. When the position doesn’t come, they don’t go quietly. Pride doesn’t just wound a church. It fractures it.

7. Parking Lot Meetings

Nobody said what they actually thought in the room. But the moment it ends, the huddles form and the damage gets done. There are chalk lines all over church parking lots marking exactly where the murder took place. Say it in the room or don’t say it at all.

8. Bare Minimum. Maximum Opinions.

Don’t volunteer. Don’t engage. Don’t take initiative. But absolutely have strong opinions about how everyone else is running things. It’s hard to reach the least of these when you’re only doing the least you can do.

9. Close Your Wallet

Local church ministry is expensive. When giving dries up, so does everything else. Thousands of churches are dying not because of bad leadership but because of God’s people holding back on their generosity. When you stop giving, you stop the work… and every life that work could’ve touched pays the price.

10. Never Invite a Soul

The whole mission is to bring people in. And yet some church members go years without inviting a single person. New people aren’t a threat to your church… they’re the blood in its veins. A church that stops growing isn’t resting. It’s dying.

There you go. You’ve got all 10 now.

You have more power over the life or death of your church than you think. Not the pastor. Not the board. You.

Show up. Serve. Give. Invite. Say the hard thing in the room. Stay when it costs you something.

Don’t be the reason your church struggles.

BEN DAILEY

www.awakenchurch.ac

benwdailey@awakenchurch.ac

972.261.1919

LEAD PASTOR