Backsliders in church, what is our role

[shout4Lord]

In my ministry i found few back sliders

They are good in faith
They are good in repentance
They are good in assembly believers group
They are good in many matters

Now they are backsliders, what is our role, how we can teach to them
please share your thoughts

 

[Jesus Cares]

The most common problem I see in the Church when it comes to the fruitfulness of the Church is not so much a lack of solid teaching but a lack of delegation and hard work. Genuine conversion by nature brings about a strong desire for fruitfulness. Money is rarely the issue for them. Give new converts small tasks to do around the church and in the community, and when they are faithful in the small things move them on to bigger things.

The added benefit of these tasks is that the community will notice your churchgoers doing good in their neighbourhood, and there is nothing that attracts the sort of people we want more than that.

The good leader does more than preach a sermon on Sunday. Convince people of the cause for Christ this may, but it takes hard work to prepare soldiers for the battlefield and great humility to recognise that the soldiers under your command may get the praise for bravery in victory and not you, yet still send them.

Christ was willing to take this chance to the point that he died a gruesome death that might have been ignominious but for the few who listened, and even they didn't catch on until after his death and resurrection.

To be an effective teacher and a leader in the Church is quite different to what is required of a CEO in the world. You will often serve rather than being served. You will often be the least rather than the greatest. You will often be required to kneel before God so that you can stand before the people of God. Criticised rather than commended. Weak and humble rather than strong and proud. Setting the example yourself before teaching others.

In the words of Haddon W. Robinson "Lord, if these people knew about me what you know about me, they wouldn't listen to a word I said."

Jesus Christ struggled just as we do. In the garden of Gethsamene he begged God for another solution as opposed to the death he faced, but God said no and still Jesus was obedient. As a leader, you will often be required to make the toughest decisions, face impossible odds and do what cannot be done in your own strength or even strength in numbers.

What God will ask you to do will always be greater than the resources and people you have now.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. He will keep pushing you until you come to a place where you have no option but to fall to your knees and plead for His divine help and guidance. There and only there will you succeed in knowing and doing His great will.

 

[oneofchrists]

I Do also believe backsliding is very previlent in Our Church in this day and age we live in.

Satan offers innumerable enticements to cause a Christian to back slide. He also offers innumerable negative thought processes to cause a Christian to Backslide, both Within the churches community and also outside of course.

Back sliders I believe lack the rooting of the word in their lives and Our own Church families need to also take responsibility to a certain extent, for the lack of support that we give new converts. Also others who we assume are well rooted in the faith can also slip through the cracks.

We as a Church need to take a share of the fault for the back sliders. For many reasons . Of which I don't think I need to get into . We know when we ourselves are slacking, so We most likely know where help needs to be centered for these people.

Christs Church has a greater Responsibility, not just caring for and feeding His sheep, but also witnessing to the lost of this world and all of the missionary work that goes on all around the world...I really feel that caring and encouraging for the Flock is as big a job as missions and evangelizing . It is our job as members of His Church to look after it's parishoners and not just the outwardly needy ones but all of them, the ones we see every Sunday and then We don't see them for a couple of weeks We as a church need to find out why, contact and follow up needs to be made.

I rambled on long enough those are My thoughts and two cents worth anyway...May the Blessings of the Lord overwhelm You all....Dave

 

[Christos Anesti]

Thats a tough question. To a degree I think the answer would depend on your relationship to the person in question.

All I know for sure is that we must always consider ourselves to be the worst of sinners . We should never think of ourselves as better (more spiritual, godly, more "saved", etc.) then the person we see sinning or whom we think may be sinning in a certain manner.

"Spread your cloak over those who fall into sin, each and every one, and shield them.

And if you cannot take the fault on yourself and accept punishment in their place, do not destroy their character."

-St Isaac of Syria

 

[WOMSteve]

Consider that "backsliding" is not a biblical thing and possibly these people are false converts. Even if they are not false converts, making sure they have taken the time to examine themselves and see if they are "in the faith" is a very important job someone must do. This can be a daunting thing but would it be better to shield someone from their false conversion by shepherding them like a mother hen or let the light of the law expose their sinfulness. A very tough, yet serious issue. Approach this carefully and prayerfully brother.

 

[dobieman0488]

I'd say it's important to tell them that salvaton isn't just getting caught up in emotion and praying a prayer at an altar call, tell them that it's faith that leads to life change through repentance,. and is a three part process, justification, sanctification, and glorification, if you arern't canging gradually to become more like Jesus in your life, you may not know Him.

 

[shout4Lord]

I welcome all of your thoughts,
I think you are not with practical work,
in real work we can see the backsliders definetly
In Jesus ministry also there is backsliders, do you know? many disciples went back and not come back to Jesus. (read in John 6th chapter)
without knowing we are not to make some hard comments on other people. I am not a person to gather some thing from hear,.
I love to get suggestions according to the bible
welcome for your thoughts by adding verses
God bless you

 

[shout4Lord]

I agree with all of your thoughts,
I think you are not with practical work,
in real work we can see the backsliders definetly
In Jesus ministry also there is backsliders, do you know? many disciples went back and not come back to Jesus. (read in John 6th chapter)
without knowing we are not to make some hard comments on other people. I am not a person to gather some thing from hear,.
I love to get suggestions according to the bible
welcome for your thoughts by adding verses
God bless you

 

[shout4Lord]

You are right ..
every church is with back sliding problem
no christian work is able to find the solution for this problem
but i believe if a man truely saved,. he is in the hand of Jesus.. Jesus said, my sheep are in my hand, no one can stole from my hand,,
thank you Jesus

 

[fathomf5ve]

I think the term 'backslider' can cover people who are there for many different reasons, much as depression covers a condition that people have but each one has it because of a different set of reasons.

Jesus in the parable of the sower (or was it seeds) and how different seeds have different outcomes. Some hear the word and grow up fast, but are soon choked by worries of the world and wither and die. Others are abundantly fruitful, others still fall on rocky soil and die through lack of moisture. In others words the word takes root in three of these cases, but through lack of nurture or foundation in the life with God, or through letting the things of life distract one from the life with God, one's faith dies. Some never accept the word from the start and never make that decision to enter life with God. And then some guard their precious life with God and it grows and thrives (Luke 8)

Elsewhere, people are told how to handle people who do not listen to correction or rebuke when they wrong someone, and if they continue to resist, then they are to be treated as an outsider, or a non-christian, one who does not know what it really means to be a Christian (Matthew 18:15-17).

Other times, the church is exhorted to rescue some from the fire (Jude 22-23).

I think people should take each person on a case by case basis - it's insensitive to simply say that some people who have backslidden were never Christians to begin with or that they lacked faith. Is that not a judgement? Is God not the only one who can see people's hearts and have the right to judge? You don't know whether they were hurt by others in the church, or really felt betrayed by God and struggle with that. Perhaps the church failed them and bore them a bad witness on God's behalf.

I know this because I'm not going to church right now. I've tried for several years after being hurt by several people over several churches. I continue not to fit in, and continue to be unhelped. It has become painful to go to church because it reminds me that I was hurt there and that I've become a person that feels alienated from the things I still believe in. I need a break from the church, it's become poisonous to me.

Still, I believe what I've always believed as a Christian. If some dismiss me as backslidden and never saved to begin with, that's their judgement on me, and they're wrong. If someone sees me as one in danger and relates to me based on who I am in Christ and not what I appear to be now, then I think that's actually more Christlike. While I am responsible for my life, there is no doubt the Christian life is to be lived as one in community, and if the church is no longer that, then I don't want to be a part of it.

I say that the majority of backsliders know everything you know as a Christian, but it sounds old and useless and irrelevant and trite. Come to them with a respect for what they know. But move on to what they still believe and bring it back to them - if you believe in God, are you spending time with God daily with His word? In Prayer? Are you counting your blessings? Helping others? Sometimes they need to be helped along like a friend helps a wounded person until they can walk again, even though they kick and scream from the pain. Never give up on a backslider.

 

[jesusismyguru]

What God will ask you to do will always be greater than the resources and people you have now.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. He will keep pushing you until you come to a place where you have no option but to fall to your knees and plead for His divine help and guidance. There and only there will you succeed in knowing and doing His great will.

What excellent insight. Thank you so much for sharing this wisdom.

 

[jesusismyguru]

We as a Church need to take a share of the fault for the back sliders. For many reasons . Of which I don't think I need to get into . We know when we ourselves are slacking, so We most likely know where help needs to be centered for these people.

Thank you for saying this. Too often, when people fall away, the tendency is to blame the "world" and all its enticements. In reality, half the time we should be saying instead, "We have met the enemy, and it is us." Introspection is not just a good idea, it's a necessity.

 

[brittany111]

The most common problem I see in the Church when it comes to the fruitfulness of the Church is not so much a lack of solid teaching but a lack of delegation and hard work. Genuine conversion by nature brings about a strong desire for fruitfulness. Money is rarely the issue for them. Give new converts small tasks to do around the church and in the community, and when they are faithful in the small things move them on to bigger things.

The added benefit of these tasks is that the community will notice your churchgoers doing good in their neighbourhood, and there is nothing that attracts the sort of people we want more than that.

The good leader does more than preach a sermon on Sunday. Convince people of the cause for Christ this may, but it takes hard work to prepare soldiers for the battlefield and great humility to recognise that the soldiers under your command may get the praise for bravery in victory and not you, yet still send them.

You bring up an excellent point. People need a chance to exercise their faith and use their gifts. Sort of like the "use it or loose it" thing. The problem is many people do not know what thier gifts are or where they can use them in the church or community. Everyone needs the oppertunity to both serve others and grow in thier faith.

 

[gasman64]

Every christian will experience times of dryness, lose faith. Trials and testings are how God brings growth. I myself had times where I had to withdraw from fellowship sometimes just so I could clear my head and hear the still small voice again. It may not be everyone's way of reconnecting but it was mine. I was accused of being a backslider by many, but that was just arrogance and ignorance on their part. I never left God. It is church, or the people of church who offend one another and gossip, and judge and work against each other all the time, pushing others down in an attempt to raise themselves up. All you can do is try to keep your integrity as well as you can.
Now the people who have actually left God because they have been offended are those who need to be reconciled back to the Lord. In love, considering your own soul lest you also fall. In humility and mercy. Because mercy rejoices over judgement. I have found hospitality to be a great tool in this area. It opens doors and people feel more free to open up and share. We can restore them if God wills it. When they see you invest yourself in them willingly then they will respond. The ministry of reconciliation is given to all of us. we cannot call ourselves christian's if we don't display it.

 

[Comprehender]

In my ministry i found few back sliders

They are good in faith
They are good in repentance
They are good in assembly believers group
They are good in many matters

Now they are backsliders, what is our role, how we can teach to them
please share your thoughts

Love them!
Realize we all slide back once in a while.
Find their strengths and ways they might want to benefit the group.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Originally Posted by oneofchrists We as a Church need to take a share of the fault for the back sliders. For many reasons . Of which I don't think I need to get into . We know when we ourselves are slacking, so We most likely know where help needs to be centered for these people.

Thank you for saying this. Too often, when people fall away, the tendency is to blame the "world" and all its enticements. In reality, half the time we should be saying instead, "We have met the enemy, and it is us." Introspection is not just a good idea, it's a necessity.

What should we a Christian be doing the other half the time?

.....

 

[mrjerseys]

Without faith it is impossible to please God. He will keep pushing you until you come to a place where you have no option but to fall to your knees and plead for His divine help and guidance.

 

[episkopos]

Emptiness will attract other things to fill that empty space.
A spiritual vacuum will be filled with spiritual things, either
positively or negatively. Nature abhors a vacuum, and every
space will be filled.
And when he [an evil spirit] cometh, he findeth it
UNOCCUPIED...
Luke 11:25 (Goodspeed Translation)
Empty Christians are targets for the enemy. The devil will
try to fill you with evil and backsliding tendencies because of
the emptiness within you.Fill your time with church
activities. If you don't fill your life with these good things
something else will fill it. Drive away the emptiness from
your spiritual life. This is a fundamental key to staying
power for the Christian race.

- Backsliding

 

[shout4Lord]

The most common problem I see in the Church when it comes to the fruitfulness of the Church is not so much a lack of solid teaching but a lack of delegation and hard work. Genuine conversion by nature brings about a strong desire for fruitfulness. Money is rarely the issue for them. Give new converts small tasks to do around the church and in the community, and when they are faithful in the small things move them on to bigger things.

The added benefit of these tasks is that the community will notice your churchgoers doing good in their neighbourhood, and there is nothing that attracts the sort of people we want more than that.

The good leader does more than preach a sermon on Sunday. Convince people of the cause for Christ this may, but it takes hard work to prepare soldiers for the battlefield and great humility to recognise that the soldiers under your command may get the praise for bravery in victory and not you, yet still send them.

Christ was willing to take this chance to the point that he died a gruesome death that might have been ignominious but for the few who listened, and even they didn't catch on until after his death and resurrection.

To be an effective teacher and a leader in the Church is quite different to what is required of a CEO in the world. You will often serve rather than being served. You will often be the least rather than the greatest. You will often be required to kneel before God so that you can stand before the people of God. Criticised rather than commended. Weak and humble rather than strong and proud. Setting the example yourself before teaching others.

In the words of Haddon W. Robinson "Lord, if these people knew about me what you know about me, they wouldn't listen to a word I said."

Jesus Christ struggled just as we do. In the garden of Gethsamene he begged God for another solution as opposed to the death he faced, but God said no and still Jesus was obedient. As a leader, you will often be required to make the toughest decisions, face impossible odds and do what cannot be done in your own strength or even strength in numbers.

What God will ask you to do will always be greater than the resources and people you have now.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. He will keep pushing you until you come to a place where you have no option but to fall to your knees and plead for His divine help and guidance. There and only there will you succeed in knowing and doing His great will.

yes i agree with you
i am also hoping better things in our people
many are still back sliding but many are coming back.,..
thank you for your big writing..

 

[shout4Lord]

You bring up an excellent point. People need a chance to exercise their faith and use their gifts. Sort of like the "use it or loose it" thing. The problem is many people do not know what thier gifts are or where they can use them in the church or community. Everyone needs the oppertunity to both serve others and grow in thier faith.

I am totally agree with you
people need to use their talents and they need to know their placement in the local church..
thank you for writing..