I was watching videos of the magnificent churches around the world but the magnificent buildings seem to not match the spiritual growth and faith of their members.
I was watching videos of the magnificent churches around the world, especially in Europe. St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Notre Dame in Paris, Cologne Cathedral in Germany, Westminster Abbey, the historic Gothic Church in London, England, the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain,- buildings that took 100, 200, even 600 years to complete. Generation after generation laid stone upon stone, not for their own fame, but for the glory of God. What dedication. What consistency. Truly admirable.
But then the camera pans inside. The benches are empty. A few old tourists. A few nominal Christians lighting a candle out of habit. In England alone, more than 3,500 churches have been closed in the last 15 years. In Germany, over 500 Catholic churches closed between 2000-2023. In Netherlands, more than 1,400 churches turned into bookshops, apartments, shopping malls, nightclubs, and mosques. Their magnificent buildings do not match the faith of their members.
The building remained, but Christ left.
Why? Because they loved the church but forgot the Christ of the church. They preserved the architecture but lost the altar. And this should make us in Nagaland tremble.
We too have started building magnificently. The Kohima Cathedral - arguably the most beautiful in the Northeast. The Sümi Baptist Church, Zunheboto - the largest Baptist Church in Asia, with a seating capacity of 8,500 people. Mon Town Baptist Church with seating capacity of 10,000 people, Kohima Ao Baptist Church, Dimapur Ao Baptist Church, and many new ones coming up in Wokha, Mokokchung and Tuensang and elsewhere in Nagaland. We are building like Europe once built.
But I ask with concern - is our spiritual growth keeping pace with our church buildings? Our buildings are growing taller, but is our prayer life growing deeper? Why do magnificent churches become empty?
When Pastors become Sunday Pastors: If a pastor is only a Sunday morning preacher, not a shepherd who visits homes, prays for the sick, knows his sheep by name, the church will die. Europe’s clergy became professionals, not pastors.
When Leaders chase comfort, not Christ: Complacency kills. When church leadership becomes about position, title, honorarium, political influence, and foreign trips, the Holy Spirit departs. Revelation 3:17 –“Thou sayest, I am rich... and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”
When Members become nominal Christians: In Nagaland, 90% are Christian by census. But how many are Christian by conversion? We are Christian by birth, not by new birth. We are baptized in water, but not born of the Spirit. A church full of nominal Christians is an empty church before God.
Other faiths are not to be blamed for buying our churches. We are to be blamed for vacating them.
How to revive our Churches before they become Museums?
Our ancestors built thatched chapels with weeping prayer. We are building concrete cathedrals with dry eyes. We must reverse this.
1. Revival must start from the pulpit. Pastors must be born again, again and again. A pastor who does not pray 2 hours cannot make his members pray 10 minutes. Let the churches under NBCC and all other Christian groups call for a season of pastoral rededication, not for building funds, but for fasting, confession and weeping.
2. Bring back home visitation. In the 1970s, our pastors walked village to village. Today we have cars but no visits. A church grows not by announcement from the pulpit, but by prayer in the kitchen of its members. Visit them. Pray for their children. Motivate them in their daily work, their fields, their studies.
3. Teach faith, not only finance. Our sermons today are too much about money, projects, and jubilee celebrations. Teach people to trust God in unemployment, in sickness, in tribal hatred, in addiction. That is spiritual growth.
4. Keep the building simple, keep the worship spiritual. Let us not compete –“My church is bigger than yours.”A big church is not a sign of a big Christ. Let the money saved be used for missionaries, for poor students, for drug rehabilitation, for orphans.
5. Prepare the next generation. Europe lost because it failed to teach its children. If our youth come to church only for Christmas choir and Youth Day, we have already lost. Disciple them Monday to Saturday.
Conclusion
A magnificent church without Christ is just a magnificent museum. God is not impressed by our stained glass, our high steeple, our sound system. He is looking for broken hearts.
Deuteronomy 6:10-11 says God will give us houses we did not build. We have them now. But verse 12 warns –“Beware lest thou forget the Lord.”
Let Nagaland not be the next Europe. Let our beautiful churches be filled with beautiful faith. Let the world not come to Kohima 50 years from now to see an empty cathedral, but to see a living Christ.
May we build our spiritual lives as magnificently as we build our church buildings.For Christ and His Church in Nagaland.
S. Akho Leyri,
Upper Agri, Kohima.