Don’t Abandon Your Church

By Steve Clark

April 30, 2026

Haggai 1:4-5 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? 5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

It is estimated that in America, 4,000 churches close their doors each year. The reason that many close, is that the members have abandoned the church.

Some have even abandoned church, even though they attend every time the doors are open. What I mean is that some people attend the services, but they don’t support the leadership, they don’t encourage each other, they don’t give, they don’t participate, and they don’t serve. They simply walk in the door, sit down and warm a chair for a little while. We can start to get lazy in our walk with the Lord. I don’t want to see you slip and abandon your Lord and your church.

Here in Haggai, the people of Israel found themselves in a situation some 600 years before the birth of Christ. Instead of working on the Temple, the people went about their daily lives and sought to fulfill their wants and their desires. Their lives took precedence over the things of God!

Their story is a great illustration of the modern church. They did all their paperwork and had their meetings. God had delivered them from their adversaries, He had rescued them from their captivity, He secured their freedom, blessed them mightily, and now He is commanding them to accomplish a specific task.

In the same fashion, God has delivered us from our great adversary, He has rescued us from bondage of sin, He has provided us freedom, He has blessed us mightily, and now, He has commanded us to accomplish certain tasks for Him.

So the question is, what are you going to do? Are you going to “Consider your ways”?

Reflection—Take an honest look at ourselves and make sure that we don’t abandon Christ and our church.