1 Peter 4:10-11King James Version — As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Our Sunday School class is following a series that looks at churches of the Revelation. You might remember that they were on a spectrum from pretty poor to pretty great — but Jesus had something against all of them.
That set me thinking — are there characteristic faults in modern churches? Of course, you can find all the issues of the “Revelation” churches, but are there any new ones? Almost as soon as the idea had presented to me, ideas started flooding in!

The first thing that came to mind was the “monomaniac” church — the church that seems to have a one-track mind, focused on one great mission. I know you know the kind of thing I mean … the church that is so focused on missions that nothing is being done to reach out to the lost souls in its own neighborhood. Or the church that does a great job on getting people through the church door and to salvation, but that doesn’t disciple the new Christians.

“Well, so what?”, you might ask. “Why does it matter? Surely as long as they’re doing something really well, they’re building the kingdom, aren’t they?” That sounds good, but it’s not right. There are three things, at least, to consider.

Firstly, I can’t find anywhere in the Bible where Jesus said “Pick one of the things I’ve told you to do, and do it really well.” Every one of His commands is a command … not a suggestion.

Secondly, around every church is a whole patchwork of needs. No single church is surrounded only by people who need salvation, or discipling, or teaching, or worship leadership. There are widows and orphans, sick people, people struggling with marital challenges — and yes, every church has its mission fields, its “Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, and uttermost part of the earth”.

Finally, every church is made up of differently gifted people. An obsessive focus on a single mission denies some of the church members the opportunity to exercise their gifts. That will inevitably lead to dissension, and departures. 

So, if you’re in one of those churches that is only aiming at one target, help your leaders to spread their wings. Everybody will be better off!