Every church needs to ask itself some tough questions

Socrates once said "The unexamined life is not worth living."  The same could be said about churches.  Numerous times in the life of a church it needs to begin asking some important questions about its purpose, what it believes, and what it is doing.  I'm not sure that happens as often as it should.  If you feel that your church is at a crossroads and lacks clear direction you may be at a time when your church needs to do some serious reflection.  To help you get started let me list some questions I often ask church leaders who attend one of my workshops.  You'll also find these questions and why they are important in my book The Healthy Community: Moving Your Church Beyond Tunnel Vision.

• Who are we here for?  This is a critical question for a church to answer because that answer really sets the tone for everything the church will do.  Only after you answer this question are you ready to create your budget and plan your programming for the year.  Many churches will respond that they are here to reach people for Christ, but neither their budget nor their ministries and programs show that to be the case.  If you show me your budget and ministries I will tell you who you are here for.
• Is what we are doing here worth the life of the Son of God?  I heard of a pastor who challenges his congregation with this question on a regular basis and asks each of the church's committees and boards to begin each meeting by answering that question.  I sometimes ask the question a little more direct, "Did Jesus die for this?"  If we ask this question about everything we do as a church we may find that we're doing a lot of things that really don't matter to God.
• Who is Jesus to you?  I think of how the disciples must have felt when Jesus asked them who did the people say He was and then followed it up with "But who do you say that I am?"  From my observation over the years I think many churches see Jesus as passive and rather uninterested in the affairs of mankind because that is what they are.  On the other hand, those churches that believe that Jesus conquered death and is the only way to God are bold in their witness and ministry to those outside the church.  While most evangelical churches will give the right answer to this question, their actions do not back up that answer.
• Do you love people as much as Jesus does?  Virtually every church I serve tell me they are the friendliest church in their community, but I've attended some of them before they knew who I was, and I can tell you that many of them are friendly...to one another.  In my first year as an Area Minister I visited several First Church of the Refrigerator.  People ignored my wife and I like we had a disease.  How intentional is your church in making first-time guests feel comfortable and welcome?  How many unchurched friends do the members of your congregation have and how many of them are they introducing to Christ?  How welcomed would people from different cultures or races be in your church? Scripture is clear that if we claim to love God but not our brother that we are liars, and it is equally clear that we are all brothers and sisters to one another.
• What price are you willing to pay to change?  Yesterday I listened to a podcast from Dave Ramsey when a caller contacted his show upset over his on-going financial mess.  Once Ramsey got all the financial information from the caller it was obvious that his income was sufficient to address the problem.  Ramsey explained that the more pain he was willing to endure now the quicker his mess could be cleaned up.  How much short-term pain was he and his wife willing to experience to get his life back in order?  It's a good question for the church as well.  If things are not as they should be in your church, there is a reason for that.  Are you willing to pay the price to turn that around, and how much pain are you willing to endure for a season for long-term benefits?

These are just some questions to get you started as you reflect on where your church is today and what it will take to get you to a better place.  I encourage church leaders to work through these by yourself and then begin to meet with other leaders in your church to discuss them.  Once the leadership has a handle on the answers then you can take them to the congregation and begin to discuss them as a body.  Asking the right questions can help you identify the steps you need to take as a church to move forward once again.