Today’s guest post comes to us from Josh Daffern, Lead Pastor of Mt Vernon Church. Josh graduated from New Orleans Baptist Seminary with a Masters and Doctorate and is an avid reader and blogger.

I don’t think it was ever intentional, but I picked up some church lies growing up. I’m born and raised Baptist, surrounded by (mostly) loving, well-meaning folks. I’m grateful for my heritage, but it isn’t without baggage. Looking back now, here are the top five church lies I picked up from my church childhood.

1. “God never called us to be successful, he called us to be faithful.” I heard this time and time again from churches I attended that weren’t growing, weren’t reaching the next generation, weren’t being successful. Their justification for not changing? “God never called us to be successful, he called us to be faithful.” To be ‘faithful’ to the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), you have to be ‘successful’ at it. You can’t separate the two. The successful/faithful line was just a convenient justification for their unwillingness to change.

2. “If another church is growing, they must be doing something sinful.” Right in line with the first statement came this one. This was a default attitude towards churches around us that were actually growing. If they were growing, they must be watering down the gospel somehow.

3. “Bible knowledge = spiritual maturity.” The goal of church was to learn more Bible knowledge. If you can just learn enough, you’ll become a true disciple. Obviously we never learned the parts of the gospels where Jesus condemned the Pharisees for having knowledge of the Law but not living it out. It would have been awkward to realize that we were in fact growing Pharisees.

4. “You can honor God or be culturally relevant, but you can’t be both.” Culture wars started early in my church experience. It was us vs. them, and you had to choose sides. Obviously I wanted to be on God’s side, but I was torn. It wasn’t until later that I encountered Christians that had found a way to redeem culture, not just reject it.

5. “The church is for church people.” This was never said outright, but the message was loud and clear. Every time I had the gall of inviting an unchurched friend to come with me to church, I was reminded that church wasn’t for them. They didn’t dress right, act right, talk right. My unchurched friends made the horrific mistake of acting like unchurched people at times, and that was too much for some in my church.

Once again, I’m thankful for my heritage and the foundation I grew up in, but we all have baggage. This is mine.

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About Nelson Searcy

Nelson Searcy is an experienced church growth strategist, pastor, church planter and coach, consulting with churches around the world. As founder of Church Leader Insights and the Renegade Pastors Network, he has personally trained more than 3,500 church leaders in over 45 denominations through live events, seminars and monthly coaching. Nelson is also the Founding and Lead Pastor of The Journey Church, with locations across New York City and in Boca Raton, FL. Nelson and his church routinely appear on lists such as “The 50 Most Influential Churches” and “The 25 Most Innovative Leaders.” He is the author of over 100 church growth resources and 18+ books, including The Renegade Pastor: Abandoning Average in Your Life, Ministry and The Difference Maker: Using Your Everyday Life for Eternal Impact, and At the Cross with the People Who Were There. He and his wife, Kelley, have one son, Alexander.