The above link is a very short pitch for a podcast from Phil Munsey by Thomas McDaniels. Munsey is intricately tied to Joel Osteen so it is no wonder that while he seems to understand some things, he misses the boat on so much more. Here is the pitch:
"Have you ever heard someone say, "Pastor, we are leaving the church, and it's our fault?" I haven't. The church is shifting. The post-COVID church is in a huge shift. Can we find good reasons to stop attending church? Absolutely. Let's agree that churches are not perfect and all churches make mistakes. Churches are not perfect because church leaders are people. Pastors make mistakes like everyone else and the American church has also made plenty of mistakes.
One primary reason the church is declining is that we have focused more on building the church than building up the people. Many people are tired of being entertained and long for a genuine experience with God. Attenders are desperate to connect to authentic leaders. COVID-19 wrecked families, organizations and churches. In this podcast, Pastor Phil Munsey shares how churches can survive and thrive in this post-COVID world. Pastor Phil gives keen insight to pastors and churches. This podcast is better than any pastor school you will find anywhere. In this episode, you will catch Pastor Phil's passion for seeing the church recover fully. Pastor Phil says, "We must hear the needs of the members and pastor those needs." Pastor Phil also shares how the 5-Fold gifts go deep into the church body and everyone has a gift. Don't miss this revelation from a pastor with over 47 years of experience. - Thomas McDaniels
McDaniels has some things correct. Churches are not perfect and we should not expect perfection from sinful men. We should however expect purity of doctrine and a willingness to learn, even from the pulpit. You see the problem is not just that churches make mistakes. It is that they fail to admit them, learn from them, or correct them. They think as the world thinks because that is what Rick Warren has taught them through the Purpose Driven Church. They think things can be schemed, planned and implemented to achieve what only the preached gospel can - the salvation of souls. Attenders are not desperate to connect with authentic leaders. That is an arrogant and myopic viewpoint. Attenders are desperate, like everyone else on the planet, to hear from the living God which is only achievable through the preached gospel (sensing a theme yet). While I agree that too much emphasis is placed on building the individual church facility, it is a little disingenuous to say so after you have grown to the point that your church must be held in a former basketball arena. The answer however is not to "build people up." The object needs to be to tear them down. To tear down the façade they have built against God. Do not lecture me about the needs of the lost. They need God, period. If they need to restore their marriage - God can do that! If they need to break an addiction - God can do that! There is no yoke Phil Munsey can break by building up lost sheep to feel better about themselves. His keen insight is pure carnality.
The primary reason church is declining as we transition to a post-COVID world is that COVID exposed the church. When COVID hit the church folded up shop and then whined and complained about faux persecution for being asked to not hold services for fear of spreading the lethal virus. Within three months many churches reopened, violating state ordinances and Romans 13 because the purpose driven church cannot survive without the weekly tithe collection. COVID gave the church a grand opportunity to be the church. To be that shining city on a hill. Did the church go on a mercy mission to meet the needs of the community it served? Did they cut the large services down to smaller ones? Allow their pastor to individually call members to check on them and attend to all physical and spiritual needs? No, they did none of that. Instead they cried about things they do not understand like epidemiology, virology, and death rates. Many others became uber-political and pretended the virus did not exist, or was fake, or not that big a deal. Many pastors died from that ignorance but how many sheep have been lost because of it, we may never know. COVID exposed the apostate church as being concerned solely for the needs of the apostate church, instead of the sheep entrusted to their care. I agree that people could care less about being entertained during a pandemic but it sounds very shrill coming from a man whose church thinks nothing of sharing the pulpit with Kanye West. Please.
There is only one need that has to be met and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ must be preached and the chosen vehicle for delivering that preaching is the church. Forget your seeker friendly schemes and your purpose driven dreams. Repent and preach the gospel or get out of the way.
Rev. Anthony.
