Seven Ways Being Nice Hurts Your Church

Don’t judge me too quickly on the content of this article.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen it again and again. Church leaders and members sacrifice the health and good of the church for fear of hurting one or a few persons. The body is sacrificed for the sake of a few members.

We think we are being nice, but we are hurting the church.

See if you can identify with one or more of these seven “nice” issues.

1. We don’t make a needed personnel decision. “It not the Christian thing to do,” we often rationalize. But most people know we need to make the change. We are just too nice to do so.
2. We are unwilling to confront sin. “Who am I to judge that person?” we often ask. That’s the “nice” rationale. But if that church member is living in open and flagrant sin, we are failing our biblical duty.
3. We won’t eliminate a weak program or ministry. The ministry or program has outlived its effectiveness, but we don’t want to offend the few persons who have sentimental attachment to it.
4. We are unwilling to make tough decisions on facilities. The parlor is hardly used at all, and the church needs the space for growing ministries. But we are unwilling to tell the keepers of the parlor we need “their” space. It just wouldn’t be the nice thing to do.
5. We compromise the Word of God. Yes, some church leaders do just that because they don’t want to seem narrow or exclusive. But the gospel is narrow and exclusive. We think telling someone they are “okay” without Christ is just being nice. But…