David Fairchild is the Acts 29 Regional Director for Texas and posted this last week on Facebook. It is used with his glad permission.
1. Division:
Causing divisions within the church over non-essential issues, personal preferences, or through gossip and slander, is extraordinarily harmful to the witness.
2. Hypocrisy:
When what you say about your faith doesn’t match what you do with your faith it leads to a loss of credibility and witness within and outside the church.
3. Legalism:
Insisting on rigid adherence to secondary issues or traditions at the expense of grace and love drives people away from the very community God intends people to experience His grace.
4. Judgmentalism:
Being overly critical and judgmental of leaders and members creates an unsafe environment for people to be honest about their struggles and sins.
5. Unforgiveness:
Holding grudges and refusing to forgive others goes against the core of Christianity’s insistence on forgiveness and leads to bitterness and resentment instead of unity and grace within the body of Christ.
6. Power Hunger:
Engaging in power struggles for control in the church severely damages the unity of the church. Seeking power not given is damaging to yourself and your community. Seek to serve, not to be served.
7. Neglect of Responsibility:
Failing to contribute to the church’s life through your time, talents, and resources, leads to a lack of growth and health in the church body. Neglecting your responsibility puts additional pressure on others.
8. False Teaching:
Diluting the church’s teaching to suit personal beliefs or the prevailing culture, leads to compromise, confusion and spiritual decline.
9. Inflexibility:
Opposing changes because of personal preference or comfort leads to missional stagnation and rigidity. Grace allows to be firm on primary issues and flexible on secondary ones.
10. Cliques:
Forming closed cliques alienates those in need of inclusive community and hinders others from forming meaningful friendships. Look out for the lonely in your church and include them in the relationships you enjoy.
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