Who Broke My Church?
A book excerpt by Kent R. Hunter

INTRODUCTION
During the last twenty centuries, in hundreds of nations, Christianity has flourished — then atrophied. Local churches thrive with vitality for a season. Then, over time, many plateau, decline, and lose impact. Christianity fades and becomes marginalized. Secularization creeps in, and thriving nations become increasingly troubled. The value of life disintegrates.
Likewise, there are many documented movements in which God has reversed the decline among receptive people. It begins with an “awakening,” a wake‑up call among Christians and their churches. They reclaim the essence of the New Testament church. What follows is often called a “revival.” God moves in the land. Christianity spreads rapidly. Many become believers. The nation benefits. How does this movement begin? How can the power of the church be restored?
After four decades of helping Christians and churches become more effective, our team at Church Doctor Ministries has discovered a dramatic and encouraging element for church vitality. God transforms Christians and their churches. They impact their communities and nations.
We have field-tested this discovery in hundreds of churches. We surveyed 75,000 Christians in those churches. We have participated in major movements of God on six continents. For sixteen years, we have closely studied many of the spiritually reenergized churches in England. The movement that started in England twenty years ago is just beginning in North America.
Diagnosing the issues Christians and churches face, we have identified seven ceilings. They greatly hinder the work God intends. We have field-tested seven strategies that effectively remove these ceilings. You might ask, “If it’s that simple, why doesn’t everyone know this?”
Most Christians — and most churches — suffer from Kingdom culture drift. Kingdom culture is the spiritual and nonnegotiable climate for the seven strategies. It is found in Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom of God. The power of your church depends on who you are and who you become. This changes everything. The apostle Paul wrote, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Rom. 12:2 esv).
Kingdom culture is the spiritual DNA that powers healthy, thriving churches. The helix of this DNA has five interconnected elements: values, beliefs, attitudes, priorities, and worldviews. As you focus on Kingdom culture, you grow. These five elements change everything. As you grow, God transforms your church to be more as Jesus intended. Don’t be fooled: This is not a quick-fix program. It is recapturing the movement the Holy Spirit birthed at Pentecost.
This dramatic change is not beyond you or your church. Our research demonstrates that God can ignite a core group in any church, improving health, vitality, and effectiveness for outreach and mission. Making disciples is what Jesus commissioned us to do. But first, He commissioned us to be — and become — Kingdom people. He said, “My Kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36 niv). This culture makes the difference.
As you will discover, when God revitalizes His movement in any area of the world, it begins with those who have holy discontent. It is likely several of those people exist in your church. They love the Lord. They love the church and respect the pastor(s) and staff. They are involved, generously giving of their time and money. They are not the whiners and complainers found in almost every church. They are discontent about the lack of fruit. They are dissatisfied with puny results or business as usual. They know too much from Scripture to accept mediocrity. They will not settle for simply managing the congregation. They believe what Jesus said: The harvest is ripe (see Matthew 9:37). They are deeply troubled that many young adults consider the church irrelevant. They recognize the church exists to make a difference.
Those with holy discontent are the “early adopters” of a move of God: spiritual seeds that represent the organic start of a coming harvest — if they are cultivated and nurtured. You may discover that you are one of them. If not, you may be about to become one. If you choose to take this journey, get ready for the greatest God-adventure of your life.
Chapter One: The Gift of Holy Discontent
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.— Acts 17:111
Thrive 1. To prosper or flourish; be successful. 2. To grow vigorously.
Survive 1. To live or exist longer than or beyond the life or existence of; outlive. 2. To continue to live after or in spite of: to survive a wreck.
Webster’s New World College Dictionary
How would you describe your spiritual life? Is it thriving or simply surviving? Is it spiritually prospering? Flourishing? Successful? Is it growing vigorously? You will never do what God wants you to do unless you become who God wants you to be. What about your Christian community, your church? Your church will never do what God wants your church to do unless the people become who God wants them to be.
Jesus used picture language to make sure his disciples would get it. He said, “I am the vine; you are the branches.”2 He also said, “You didn’t choose me, but I chose you. I have appointed you to go, to produce fruit that will last, and to ask the Father in my name to give you whatever you ask for.”3
Grapes grow when the vine is healthy. A grapevine will be healthy when the atmosphere is good — fertile soil, proper levels of rain, and just enough sun. Consider spiritual atmosphere to be Kingdom culture. Healthy vines multiply and produce an enormous number of grapes. This occurs not just once, but year after year. Does that describe you? Does it describe your church?
It does describe God’s miracle of creation. It is amazing but not surprising. At creation, God did say, “Be fruitful and multiply,” right?4
If you owned a vineyard, what would you possibly do to increase your harvest? You don’t have much control over the atmosphere — the rain, the sun, and the soil. Is there any way you might cooperate with your Creator to experience better results? According to Jesus, the answer is yes. Admittedly, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. It is counterintuitive. Much about Kingdom culture is counterintuitive. Most everything Jesus says when He begins, “The Kingdom of God is like . . .” is not the way humans normally understand the world. Jesus did say, “My Kingdom is not of this world.”5 Get that? Your spiritual life is not like this world. Your church is not like this world. It is not supposed to be like this world.
With grapes, God does what seems unusual. This is the miracle move with the vine and the branches: They multiply when they are cut back. Really? This is Kingdom culture: Sometimes less equals more. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.6 Jesus told the disciples that His Kingdom works differently than the way human kingdoms operate. It is not similar to nations, human cultures, programs, or activities of this world. A young man once asked Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., “What is the secret of success?” Holmes responded, “Young man, the secret of my success is, at an early age, I discovered I was not God.”7 This is a good reminder for those who call themselves Christians.
After analyzing several hundred churches during the last several decades, it is clear to me that many Christians are surviving, not thriving. Christians are overcome with maintenance of the mundane and are anemic in the movement of mission. Many of the faith communities we call church are, in fact, plateaued or declining and aging. Many churches report a median age older than sixty in worship.
<Please view age graph in book>
No, this is not a church in a retirement community. It is typical of many churches. Is that thriving? You don’t have to be a Church Doctor to see the end in sight. Many Christians and their congregations have shifted into survival mode. Church leaders grasp at straws — the latest program as a “miracle cure” packaged for a quick fix.
The quick fix is another worldly way. Jesus did not build Kingdom atmosphere using a ten-week Bible study. Like many worldly ways, “shortcut Christianity” has seeped into the church. “Just give me a program I can run with,” says the pastor. The result? Kingdom culture drift. A puny harvest. However, there is a spark of hope, a turning point. God is getting our attention. Christians are showing signs of a holy infection, diagnosed as holy discontent or spiritual restlessness. Many Christians are wondering, “Is my church surviving or thriving?”
In John 15, Jesus speaks from a Kingdom culture perspective. He says, “He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.”8 Really? This is Kingdom math. It is different from what you learned in grade school. You learned addition equals more. Kingdom math says subtraction equals multiplication, by God’s power. Less is more, but less of what? The impact of Kingdom culture results in less impurity, fewer distractions, less of all those time-consuming activities that diminish the strategic impact of the Kingdom. The result is spiritual focus. This changes everything. The air you breathe is a movement. This is Kingdom atmosphere.
What will you give up to go up? What will your church cut back to go forward? From the human perspective, it doesn’t make sense. Why? Kingdom culture focuses on faith. This is not simply a different approach; this is a different atmosphere. This Kingdom is not at all like this world. Can you believe God knows what He is doing? Can you follow Jesus when it feels illogical? This is rarefied air.
Are you one of those who have drifted from Kingdom culture? No, it wasn’t on purpose. It wasn’t a conscious decision. No believer intentionally develops a strategy to wander from Kingdom effectiveness. However, in so many churches, among so many Christians, decisions are based on what seems logical. Directions are chosen on winning arguments and majority votes. By contrast, Kingdom culture relies on biblical input to discover God’s direction.
Many Christians experience death by meetings, not life by discipling. Corporate behavior overcomes focused outreach. The flashy program is more attractive than spiritual formation. Robert’s Rules of Order trumps prayer to sort out what God wants. Leaders quote the latest fad rather than inspired Scripture. This is the disease of spiritual dry rot. As many churches have discovered, it is terminal. The health of a church is a reflection of the spiritual vitality of the believers within it. Thriving churches are filled with individuals who live Kingdom culture. This is the atmosphere that breathes life into the Christian movement.
Jesus, in this unusual and miraculous Kingdom, developed a body — His body. He is the head. He is the Master. He is the Lord. It is this head, not the church board, who gives health and life abundantly.9 The direction of this head can impact churches riddled by drift, suffering from subtle, secular culture. This drift kills churches, but Jesus is the Master of resurrection. His body, in any form, can rise again! It makes little sense to cut traditional programs and activities, but these activities cause burned-out believers. It is a hard sell to focus on spiritual formation (re-formation, transformation). Yes, God’s Kingdom isn’t anything like the world where we live. It takes serious faith to be sold out to God’s plan. It takes trust in Jesus to focus on Kingdom culture and to expect the church to flourish and thrive. It sounds strange. Someone changed the verse to add this insight, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you . . . ‘a little peculiar.’ ”10
What if you pulled the plug on half the programs that keep you so occupied? What if you moved from doing toward becoming? God created us human beings, not human doings.
What would happen if you focused on Kingdom culture for a year or two? Could that lead to more outreach? More joy? More community impact? The growth of God’s Kingdom inside people? The growth of God’s Kingdom as Christians engage those in social networks? What if you, and others, were full of the King? Would the King’s Kingdom become a Jesus epidemic? Would it change your church? Your community? The world? Instead of belonging to the church, what would change if you focused on being church?
Would you look and act more like a Christ-follower? Would your church look more like the body of Christ? Reggie McNeal in his book The Present Future says, “As he hung on the cross Jesus probably never thought the impact of his sacrifice would be reduced to an invitation for people to join and to support an institution.”11 Could your church change complexion from institution to movement? Could it move from being reactive to proactive? Could it be rearranged from a destination to a launching pad? Could Jesus thrive as the head, not just in theory, but also in function?
Do you really believe Jesus when He said, “I will build my church”?12 Honestly, we work too hard at church. Imagine what would happen if we focused on Kingdom culture. What if we quit doing and began being?
FAITH
It takes faith to take Jesus at His word. It takes faith to believe. It takes faith to practice Kingdom culture. It requires humility. Ken Blanchard and Terry Waghorn in Mission Possible said, “An attitude of humility is an ingredient of successful change because it permits people to take what they do seriously, while at the same time taking themselves lightly. People with humility don’t think less of themselves — they just think about themselves less.”13 How much do you think about Jesus? His Kingdom?
Jesus’ Kingdom is so different. From the human perspective, the Kingdom looks weird. It is definitely not like this world. It is not like our experience. It is not supposed to be! God wants your church to thrive, to prosper. Prosperity is having everything you need to accomplish the will of God in your life and in the life of your church. When you think about “everything you need,” does your attention drift to the mundane? Do you focus on money, staff, programs, volunteers, and activities? In truth, the real key is Kingdom culture — atmosphere for harvest. You can have the best seeds, the greatest soil, and the right fertilizer, but you won’t get a crop if you plant it in Minnesota in January. Why? Programmatic activity is not enough. Atmosphere changes everything!
You have faith to believe Jesus for salvation. You can also have faith that Jesus can use you and your church for the salvation of others. You can trust Jesus for the faith that your church can thrive without all the gimmicks and gadgets. You can believe the culture of the King will infect you and make you a contagious Christian. You will transform from “local church” to “lifestyle movement.”
In northern Canada, there are two seasons: July to August . . . and winter. At the end of August, the rains come and the rural roads become ruts. Then, overnight, they freeze. At the place where the pavement becomes a dirt road is a sign that reads, “Choose your rut very carefully. you will be in it for a long time.” Some churches have been in a religious rut for a long time. Some Christians act like they have been in a rut forever. Someone has said, “The only difference between a rut and a grave is its length, depth, and how long you’re in it.” What is this rut?
The rut for many Christians is subtle slippage from Kingdom culture. It is quiet, subtle, and often escapes notice. It is like slowly changing temperature. Your spirituality cools, and your church cools to the cause of Christ, one degree at a time. The church veers off its course, one person, one idea, and one activity at a time. It is a slow drift, but it is deadly.
We are warm in the bed of salvation by grace through faith. We’ve got that nailed! We know we need forgiveness. Our faith is in the Savior who died on the cross for our sins. Our salvation is secure. It is so easy for us to take on the aura of a spiritual country club. To those who don’t yet know Jesus, we are an odd group that occasionally invites others to come to our building, eat spaghetti, and donate to a youth mission trip.
RECAPTURING KINGDOM
The idea of recapturing Kingdom culture hits like a cold slap in the face. “Are you telling me I am off base, that our church is less productive? How dare you! We’ve always done it that way. We have a nice church. The people are friendly. We do nice things for the poor. Part of our budget goes to missions.” Yet, you know, in spite of it all, your church may be stalled, aging, and struggling to reach the next generation. You can feel it: more empty seats and less money. On the other hand, your church may be functioning in a way that seems strong, yet the ability to reach non-Christians is far below your potential, and you know it.
Could Kingdom culture really change that? It takes a leap of faith. Why do you think Jesus spent so much time embedding Kingdom DNA in His disciples? Kingdom DNA is the identity imprint of the King. Jesus knows a thriving church is fueled by Kingdom culture. Yes, Jesus came to save the world. He also built an army that breathes air that is out of this world. It is the atmosphere of Kingdom culture. Jesus said it is like yeast in bread. You can’t see it, but it changes everything!14
This culture is spiritual DNA. It represents our values — what we identify as important. It includes our beliefs — what we demonstrate we believe is true. It reflects our attitudes — the way we position our lives before God. It reveals our priorities — what we will consistently, always, do first. It mirrors our worldviews — the way we see the world and the way the world works.
Kingdom culture is so vital to thriving Christianity; Jesus spent most of His ministry pouring it into His disciples. Who would think that focusing most of His attention on a few disciples would launch the greatest movement in history? Who would believe that a few people imprinted with Kingdom DNA could change the world? Who would have ever thought it would last for centuries, change civilizations, and turn around lives by the billions?
Jesus told stories about this culture. He taught through those stories. He made a contrast between this Kingdom and the kingdom of the world, even the world of religious people. Jesus demonstrated Kingdom culture. He fed the hungry. He forgave the guilty. He healed the crippled and cleansed the lepers. He walked on water. He cast out demons. He taught; His disciples learned. He demonstrated; they experienced it. In the process, they caught it. They weren’t just people who knew content. They weren’t followers obsessed with doing. They became different people. Then Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these.”15 Really? Is that you? Is that your church? Do you think He was joking? Do you think He meant it only for them? Honestly, many Christians and their churches act like it!
In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray that we want God’s will to be done on earth, in our lives, and in our churches, just like it is done in heaven.16 Our drift from Kingdom culture makes these words empty. We forget that inside the will of God, there is no failure. We forget that outside the will of God, there is no success. We have drifted.
TIME TO CHANGE
Christians everywhere are beginning to sense that it is time, or past time, to change. It is time to do what Jesus says works — as crazy as it looks, as strange as it sounds. It is time to become who Jesus called us to be. It is late, but not too late. It takes guts to leave ruts. It takes faith to believe that through focus on Kingdom culture, God will transform Christ-followers. It takes a leap of faith to believe God will develop thriving people who become thriving churches. This did work, you know, in the first century. It has worked, you know, in many places around the world where great moves of God, revivals, have taken place. Can it work now? Can it work for you?
It was a great leap of faith for the disciples to hang out with Jesus for three years. It took faith to listen to all His stories. It took faith to live in Kingdom culture. Yet the disciples knew. They knew Jesus “taught with real authority — quite unlike their teachers of religious law.”17 There is power in His Kingdom teaching. There is power in Kingdom atmosphere. Kingdom culture changes everything. I wonder if they wondered — I wonder if you wonder — is the power in the teacher or in what He taught? The answer is both!
Starting a movement with twelve ordinary guys seems risky. It demonstrates that Kingdom culture makes a difference. It shows that God’s people change. The early church thrived, in every dimension of the definition. The early church prospered. It flourished. It was successful. Your church can be thriving today, centuries later. It can begin with you and spread to others. Oswald Chambers in his book My Utmost for His Highest makes the following point:
When looking back on the lives of men and women of God, the tendency is to say, “What wonderfully keen and intelligent wisdom they had, and how perfectly they understood all that God wanted!” But the keen and intelligent mind behind them was the mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the divine guidance of God being exhibited through childlike people who were “foolish” enough to trust God’s wisdom and His supernatural equipment.18
The church spread to Galatia, Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome. As Christians came together, they formed churches. These churches had impact. The movement multiplied. Then it happened. During the brief history of the New Testament church, they drifted. They wandered, subconsciously, from Kingdom culture. How do we know? The apostles wrote letters to correct the drift. God wanted those early churches to thrive. Read the New Testament letters through the lens of Kingdom drift. You will see the importance of values, beliefs, attitudes, priorities, and worldviews.
Wherever Christianity is flourishing and churches are thriving, ordinary people are living out the culture of the King. My friend Ben Manthei wrote an outstanding book, In His Majesty’s Service. Ben says, “Success is the reward you gain from being very good at what you do. Significance is using your success to make a difference for eternity. True significance is not what you do for God, but your ability to allow God to accomplish His goals through you.”19 That is Kingdom culture.
God wants to restore that culture in you and in your church. Kingdom culture in you empowers the church to thrive and influence the world. It is an inside job, inside each of us. It restores us to the mission of the Great Commission. Gerhard Knutson wrote the book Ministry to Inactives. In that book, Knutson says,
One of the tragedies of the modern church is the way in which the gospel has been used as an internal balm, comforting the faithful. We hardly recognize the gospel as the power to energize the church to live with faith. We have many comfortable Christians, but few courageous Christians. We have seen the church as the fortress and protector. Seldom have we seen the church as a launching pad, the base camp for witness and ministry in the world.20
Kingdom culture brings a courageous mission to life in your church.
Courageous missionaries ignite courageous mission. For this to occur, you have a choice, and it’s a big one. Do you really believe Jesus builds His church? Many Christians are ready to see God renew the church and bring life back again. They have watched the church decline for too long. They have unrest in their gut. They can’t shake the vision that God could use their church more powerfully. They are people with holy desperation. Someone said, “If you do desperation right, you get inspiration out of it.”
Before you read further, turn to the back and take the short self-reflection survey in Appendix I. See if you score at the high end of holy discontent. If you don’t, you may not be ready. It might be better to wait, pray, and study Scripture. Listen to God speak and breathe Kingdom atmosphere into your life.
Those with holy discontent and spiritual restlessness are “early adopters” in the move of God to restore His church. They are fertile soil for Kingdom culture. They represent a golden moment, an opportunity for breakthrough. It is the atmosphere for spiritual health. Healthy Christianity ignites holy infection. Healthy churches thrive! God will refresh Kingdom culture in you and in others. The Holy Spirit will reignite your church.
How is your trust in God? Can you embrace Kingdom culture? Do you believe the Lord of the church will embed Kingdom DNA in you? Can you trust God to transform you into a healthy citizen of the Kingdom? Can you fathom that He will, literally, build His church in you and through you?
God is already doing this. The church is growing like wildfire in various areas of the world. His holy fire is springing up in places throughout Europe and in North America. Some call this revival. David Shibley says, “The purpose of revival is to fire the church with divine energy for her divine assignment.”21 As Christians, sometimes we look backward and get fixated on “the good ole days.” We cling to familiar styles like a drowning person grasps at straws. Our focus is toward yesterday. However, God is a God of hope. He restores our strength and we “will soar high on wings like eagles.”22 When there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present. Our trust is in Christ, “who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”23 If you are willing to grasp Kingdom culture, you are about to experience the dawning of a new day.
Mark Hall of the Christian music group Casting Crowns and Matthew West wrote the song “Thrive” in 2013. In that song, they share these words:
We know we were made for so much more than ordinary lives. It’s time for us to more than just survive — we were made to thrive.24
LOOKING AHEAD
Chapter two presents what, for many, is a breakthrough thought: Your spiritual health fits God’s view of church more than your efforts. If all you do is weighed against who you become, your spiritual health is the most important element in Kingdom culture.
Chapter three expands on this theme. The Kingdom of God is not about what you do but about who you are and who you become. Much of Christianity is focused on what you do. Churches are piled high with programs. Christians strongly committed to their church and God’s Kingdom are most often on the brink of burnout. The subtle implication is: The harder you work, the more your church will grow. This is mission-directed works righteousness.
Chapter four explores the unlikely, counterintuitive, unnatural approach Jesus used to launch the most successful movement in history. Jesus focused most of His attention on developing Kingdom DNA in a small group of people. As strange as this feels to human beings, the development of Kingdom culture works. Most active Christians have heard the stories beginning with the words, “The Kingdom of God is like . . .” yet many have not embraced this culture.
Chapters five through eleven focus on seven strategies that remove Kingdom culture drift. These issues have been identified through forty years of consulting almost two thousand churches. These challenges act as ceilings to the health, vitality, and growth of Christians, their churches, and the Christian movement. These Kingdom culture issues are not on the radar for many Christians or their church leaders. You will discover that these ceilings sound familiar. If you know much about the Bible, you will recognize their power to derail the effectiveness of anyone who is serious about Jesus’ Great Commission to make disciples. You will even wonder, “Why do we do what we do? How did we get here?” Breaking through these ceilings will liberate you and your church to join Jesus in His Kingdom work. Spiritual breakthrough allows Christians to impact their world.
Chapter twelve shows how to change your lifestyle and your church. It will speak about breakthrough through change, the way Jesus intended. It is the movement approach. It is at the heart of every revival in history. It is how God moves! He wants to move in you and in your church!
If you enjoyed this book excerpt from Who Broke My Church?: 7 Proven Strategies for Renewal and Revival by Kent R. Hunter, it is available in trade paperback and ebook formats wherever books are sold, including:
