{"id":2772,"date":"2013-01-21T18:52:18","date_gmt":"2013-01-22T02:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=2772"},"modified":"2013-01-21T18:52:18","modified_gmt":"2013-01-22T02:52:18","slug":"beware-of-these-5-seductive-churches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2013\/01\/21\/beware-of-these-5-seductive-churches\/","title":{"rendered":"Beware of These 5 Seductive Churches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally posted March 9, 2012<\/em><\/h1>\n
\n

Here\u2019s a question that could reveal an awful lot about the health of your church.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat church are you in love with\u2026really<\/em>?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

You see, you can often discern a church\u2019s vital signs by how much love the senior pastor has for his congregation.<\/p>\n

Really.<\/p>\n

And few seductions can steal a pastor\u2019s heart away from his congregation quite like the lure ofanother<\/em>\u00a0church.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

These are what I have found to be the 5 most common churches that can steal a pastor\u2019s heart:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The church you\u00a0want<\/em>\u00a0to lead<\/strong>
\nIf you find yourself saying, \u201cMan, I can\u2019t wait until we\u2019re a younger, hipper church\u201d you may be falling out of love with your present congregation.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Your former church<\/strong>
\nYou might be infatuated with an earlier church in your ministry where you had a particularly good run. A classic warning sign would be if you find yourself looking out over your congregation and secretly asking, \u201cWhy can\u2019t you be more like my old church?\u201d<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Someone\u00a0else\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>church<\/strong>
\n\u201cI wish I had Bill Hybels\u2019 volunteers at my church.\u201d
\n\u201cI wish I had Craig Groeschel\u2019s media people at my church.\u201d
\nOther ministries can, and should, inspire your leadership. But heed the warning sign when you begin to romanticize their congregation.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The \u201cgood ol\u2019 days\u201d church<\/strong>
\nIf you\u2019ve had a long ministry run in your present church you can find yourself waxing nostalgic for the way things used to be, and the people you used to have.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>A sub-set of your own church<\/strong>
\nYou might love a particular group in your own church more than other groups. Here\u2019s how you can tell. In referring to groups within your church do you ever find yourself using \u201cus\u201d and \u201cthem\u201d language? For example, \u201cOur church is on mission! But the seniors?\u00a0They<\/em>\u00a0just don\u2019t get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

To love your present congregation doesn\u2019t mean to leave them as they are. To quote Bill Hybels, your job is to take them \u201cfrom here to there\u201d. But it\u2019s\u00a0these people<\/em>\u00a0you are to take on the journey, and to do so requires that you love them without reservation.<\/p>\n

So be careful that these \u201cother\u201d churches don\u2019t steal your heart. Because there\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0a direct link between your love for your church and the health of your church.<\/p>\n

How do you remain \u201cin love\u201d with your church?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally posted March 9, 2012 Here\u2019s a question that could reveal an awful lot about the health of your church. \u201cWhat church are you in love with\u2026really?\u201d You see, you can often discern a church\u2019s vital signs by how much love the senior pastor has for his congregation. Really. And few seductions can steal a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[478],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2772"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2775,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2772\/revisions\/2775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}