EIGHT WARNING SIGNS YOUR CHURCH IS DRIFTING FROM GOD'S MISSION

We see the latest bout of Arminianism from the Southern Baptists.  It amazes us that they do not see the terrible admonitions they make on their poor confused adherents - ed.

Our comments will be made within brackets usually after the statements from this article.

Eight Warning Signs Your Church is Drifting from God’s Mission | Baptist Press

Sam Rainer
President & Senior Consultant

"Sam serves as the president of Church Answers. He is also the lead pastor of West Bradenton Baptist Church and the co-host of the Est.Church podcast. Sam co-founded Rainer Publishing and serves as the president of Revitalize Network. He has a wonderful wife, four fun children, a smart old dog, a dumb young dog, and a cat his daughters insisted on keeping.

Sam has a B.S. in Finance and Marketing from the University of South Carolina, an M.A. in Missiology from Southern Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies from Dallas Baptist University."

[Sam Reiner is another graduate of the Seminary system, which produces Arminians and those with unscriptural views. With the new emphasis on marketing and the copying of other business practices, Dr. Reiner is well placed to put his trust in "proven" marketing practices as opposed to the Holy Spirit, although he would deny this of course.]  

God’s mission is clear: He seeks and saves the lost. A church excited about the gospel is a church with a laser focus on making disciples. Churches with purpose pour collective energy into one direction.

[It is agreed that one of God's missions is clear, to save "the lost" which defines the elect and not the whole world.  And he WILL accomplish this mission without fail, and without any church "focus".]

Churches without purpose tend to drift. Like the flotsam and jetsam in the sea, a church adrift does little more than float along as aimless debris. I have yet to see a church drift toward God’s mission. The current of apathy always pulls away. It’s obvious to point out drifting churches as lacking purpose. 

[The Church of God in all its local branches, is controlled like everything else by the sovereign power of the God who opened the Red Sea.  If they are a true church, they do not drift as if governed by energies in a random universe in which does not exist.  It is true that churches in Revelation are warned about certain attitudes and practices that do not please God, but God does NOT LET THEM DRIFT.  He corrects them without any of the actions of men.]

But what causes this drift? What are some early warning signs of an unraveling in a congregation? Let’s look at eight practical indicators. 

1. The chatter is all about people and not Jesus. Not all chatter is gossip. People talk—it’s part of being human. Conversations in the church can be about any number of things. Not all of them are bad. However, when people start talking about themselves without any mention of Christ, your church is not only drifting, the congregation is dangerously inward.  [We assume the writer is referring to this article where there is no mention of the Spirit of God or Jesus except in this instance.]
2. You no longer celebrate God’s mission in a worship service. When people go, the church should celebrate. When God sends, the church should erupt in praise. A lack of a celebratory spirit over God’s mission is one indication a church is drifting.  [What is God's mission?  He does not even define it!  What does it mean to "erupt in praise"?  Does this mean that the congregation should adopt world practices and clap like so many do?]
3. The percentage given to missions out of the budget is shrinking. One clear way to determine a church’s priorities is the budget. If your church is giving less and less to missions each year, then it is likely drifting.  [Of course!  We must not forget the money! Money is the fuel for this ungodly machinery called "missions".  IF they give more money to missions then God will bless them more.] 
4. Church leaders do not speak about the lostness of the nations. Do your church leaders call attention to the billions that don’t know Christ? Is your church broken over people who have never heard the gospel? Worse yet, sometimes church leaders rant and rail against other nations as if they don’t deserve the gospel. Mission drift often occurs when people believe cross-cultural sending doesn’t apply to their congregation.  [The "lostness of the nations."  Who is the one who saves?  It is men by their organizations, money, and will, or is it, God, by his sovereign power apart from anything a man does?]
5. New believers are perceived as disturbing the peace of the body. If a small group or Bible class would rather not deal with the messiness of assimilating a new believer, then it’s drifting from God’s mission. The messiness of new believers should be seen as God’s beautiful work, not as a disturbance to the status quo.  [The famous "Bible Class" or "Sunday School."Instead of depending on the leading of the Spirit and their independent study of the Bible, they are INDOCTRINATED as to what they should believe so they can "fit in" with the others in the congregation.]
6. There is more of a focus on the older generation than the younger generation. All generations are important. In fact, a church full of just one generation—young or old—is disobedient. Every church is called outward to reach others unlike those already there. However, the reality is most people are saved at a younger age, not older. The church should resource the ministries with the greatest fruit. Additionally, children don’t often get to voice their preferences or concerns. Therefore, sometimes in churches, the older generation’s concerns trump that of the younger generation. A church drifts when the older generation is willing to sacrifice the souls of the younger generation in order to cling to their preferences.  [This is not a biblical mandate.  If anything, the Bible demonstrates how the elders are to be respected and listened to as fathers in Israel.  No, instead we follow the modern Western norm of the worship of youth.]
7. Few care about the persecuted church. Your church should be acutely aware of what is currently happening to Christians all over the globe. And your people should be praying. Often.  [We suppose this advice could not have been followed by the early apostolic church, since they had no idea of what was going on in China or South America.  And what if people pay "often"?  Does the writer not understand that persecution is the way God causes his people to be strengthened and purified?  This does not mean we should not ask to live in peace but to pray to eliminate all persecution of believers worldwide is not according to God's purpose, since he ordains whatever comes to pass.]
8. It takes more to win less. It is possible for a church to grow numerically and do less kingdom work. People can gather for worship while personal evangelism is drying up in their lives. Praying for lost friends does not happen haphazardly. Sharing your faith is not accidental. When a church grows numerically while having fewer conversions, it’s potentially drifting without purpose.  [What is doing the Kingdom's work mean?  He does not define it, he merely assumes everyone knows what it is.  We confess we do not know what it means.  We thought that it was GOD who built his Kingdom by adding members to it as it pleased him.]

No church is perfect. No person bats 1.000 spiritually. Everyone will drift at some point. Every church will struggle for a season with finding a purpose. The problem comes when people seek the status quo rather than seeking the lost. The problem is exacerbated when whole churches become comfortable drifting.  [Why use Baseball analogies in describing the spiritual life of a believer?  The problem for a "church" is when the members of it do not do something!  What a poor God Reiner must serve that can be thwarted by the will of people!  This is what he is saying, whether he realizes it or not.]

In the end, it is always the same story with Arminians.  They look for something TO DO.  The concept of waiting on the Lord is foreign to them.  It is this accursed doctrine of a system of means or actions that will, in turn, bring in God's blessings.  This doctrine is also found in their Reformed cousins, through the Westminster of Faith, the Second London Confession of Faith, and the Philadelphia Confessions of Faith of 1742.  Since the Westminster Confession is the origin of all these other confessions when it comes to a system of means, we shall quote it:

The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching, of the Word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation” (Q.89)

Q. 88. What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption? A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption, are his ordinances, especially the word, sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.

The “gathering” of the saints refers to bringing sinners to faith in Christ. As Shorter Catechism Q.89 (cited above) puts it, it is “, especially the preaching” of the Word that is “an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners.” Do we think of the preaching of the Word on the Lord’s Day in the church that way? Do we see it as something that God especially uses in evangelism? We should. And so inviting your unbelieving loved ones, friends, and neighbors to join you for worship on a Sunday should be seen as a key part (even if not the only part) of evangelism.

The “perfecting” of the saints refers to their edification and growth in grace (i.e. “building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation” – WSC Q.89). Are you neglecting the gathering together of the saints (Hebrews 10:25)? Then, frankly, it should come as no shock to you if you are not growing in grace. For in neglecting the gathering together of the saints in worship on the Lord’s day, you are also then neglecting the outward and ordinary means of grace – the “ordinances of God” that He has given for your growth in Christ.

The fourth thing that Confession’s statement (25.3) teaches us about the means of grace is their perpetuity – that they are given for the gathering and perfecting of the saints “in this life, to the end of the world.” The outward and ordinary means of grace always seem to be going out of style in the eyes of many, but we must hold to them as Christ ordained them for us. These things are how the Lord Jesus Christ has seen fit to build His church, and it is only through fidelity to Christ in these things that we can be assured of His blessing. We must devote ourselves to doing God’s work God’s way. The early church “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42, ESV). And what was the result? Their lives and fellowship were transformed, and “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (v.47)! 

So we see the Arminian roots that were involved from the earliest in these Reformed creeds. Brethren, THERE ARE NOT MEANS OF GETTING GOD'S GRACE.  By definition, grace is UNMERITED favor. If this is true, then how can prayer, the Lord's Supper, Baptism, etc., get a person grace?  If that were possible then it would be an action that would in turn prompt God to give grace and grace would no longer be unmerited.  We leave it to our readers to ruminate on these things.