By Ken Blue

A few years ago I was a preacher’s conference where we hoped to glean some new ideas on church growth. Sitting next to me was a young pastor. He confided in me that he was troubled and perplexed as why his church would not grow. I ask him, “What kind of sermons are you preaching?” He said to me, “I rip their face off!”

I believe it was Charles Spurgeon who said, “Pulpits are coward’s castles.” Weak men see the pulpit as a place of power, prestige, and pageantry. They love the position more than the person, and the telling of the thing, more than the thing they tell. They learned somewhere that guilt is the key to motivating people. They also learn, in time, that it will backfire on them.

Here are some tips on how to destroy or empty your church.

• Flog your own sins as though they were the sins of your people.

• Make people feel they are not right with God, unless they do what you want.

• Start a ministry, and then scold people for not participating.

• Attack other religions.

• Attack other Bibles.

• Attack personalities.

• Preach that every person must go on scheduled church visitation before they can serve.

• Preach that every person must tithe before they can serve.

• Tell them that if they loved Jesus, they would attend every service.

• Tell women if they wear pants, they are “hussies.”

• Preach against men with facial hair.

• Tell people if they mean business, they will come to the “altar.”

• When you preach, ride a “Hobby horse.”

• Tell yourself, because you have an infallible Bible, therefore, you are infallible.

• Preach to make people feel guilt, guilt, guilt, guilt, guilt, and watch your church grow!

I know if some observed the above, they won’t have anything to preach. Can you feel the guilt yet?

Ken Blue

Pastor Ken Blue was born in Boswell, Ark. In 1955 he accepted Christ as his Savior. He and his wife Joyce were married in 1955. They have 5 children. He graduated from Midwestern Baptist Bible College in 1969 and started the Open Door Baptist Church in Lynnwood, Wa. where he pastored for 39 years. Because of health issues (ALS) he was forced to resign as pastor. It is his desire to continue to be used of God to help pastors and believers through this ministry.