Why do churches close?

Because I work so much with smaller churches a common question I'm asked is how can these churches avoid closing their doors.  The question is usually asked by a long-time member of a small church that has struggled for years.  They have watched their formerly active church that had a nearly full sanctuary a few decades ago continually shrink until they are a couple dozen people or less attending services.  For years they knew something was wrong, but as they see the slide downward continue they become desperate and want to know what needs to happen to keep their church open.

These folks have a right to fear their church may close.  Although the figures aren't exact, approximately 5,000 churches close their doors each year in the United States.  That's an average of 100 churches per week that lock their doors for the last time.  Some give lower figures, but it is still a large number of churches.  Most of these are smaller churches, but their size isn't what caused them to close.  Although I've not seen any studies to back up my opinion, I believe the reason most of these churches closed is because they lost their vision for ministry.

Everyone of the churches that closed were begun because someone had a vision for a church in that community.  As people moved westward and formed communities it was not long before a church was started.  Each of these churches were born out of a vision held by a number of men and women who recognized a church was needed in this new area where they were settling.  This church was important as a place where people's lives would be changed, the Scriptures would be taught, and lost people would be introduced to Jesus Christ.  As the years went by, however, that vision was lost and a maintenance-mentality took over.  The church settled into a routine and forgot why it was founded in the first place.  At first, people slowly began to leave.  Children grew up, married, and never returned to the church where they were raised.  If they went to church at all, they found other churches to attend.  In many of these churches, the decline was so slow that it really wasn't noticed at first, and by the time someone finally did recognize what was happening it was too late.  Either the church remained open but was largely ineffective or it closed its doors when its resources were too low to keep them open.

The key for a small church to remain open is to recapture a fresh vision from God for its ministry to its community.  If a vision gave life to a church in the first place does it not make sense that vision is going to be the life of the church?  It is my belief that God has a vision - a purpose - for every church.  That purpose is not mere survival; it is to be an effective witness for God in the community in which it serves.  That vision should compel the church to go out from its buildings into the community sharing and modeling the love of God to everyone who lives there.  A church that lives out its God-given vision will never need to fear closing its doors.  To read more about this check out my book Intentional Ministry in a Not-So-Mega Church: Becoming a Missional Community.