We observed yesterday how liberal Protestantism can kill a church, and I have a related example right from the pages of our local Colorado Springs newspaper, the Gazette. First the setup:

A friend of ours is serving on the pulpit search committee for a small relatively conservative church in a mainline denomination. Our friend is very conservative and was dismayed to find that one of her colleagues on the committee expressed hope that they might find a pastor who was “culturally progressive.” I advised her to ask that person why she wanted their church to get smaller since culturally progressive churches are hemorrhaging members while many Bible believing, Bible teaching churches are growing.

After reading a story in the Gazette, I have a better question: “Which vibrant evangelical church do you think will buy our facilities when we can no longer maintain them?”

First Christian Church of Colorado Springs is one of eight downtown churches established by Colorado Springs’ founder General Palmer, who wanted the city to be “Christian.” They’ve been in a magnificent building since the 1930s.

In the 1990s, they were hosting the men’s chapter of Bible Study Fellowship (BSF). I was part of it and was there every Monday night with hundreds of other men. The church would have had to have conservative leadership to offer their facilities to BSF. The church was doing so well that they were able to invest in a new pipe organ. BSF men were among the volunteers to help unload the parts. But…

Faced with declining membership and financial issues, 93% of First Christian’s members voted to sell the property in October 2023. – Gazette, February 13, 2025

Why? The theme of the article is about changes being made to the facility by the new buyer, Woodmen Valley Chapel, a multi-site mega church in the area. Among the changes was the sale of the pipe organ to a church in Albuquerque since Woodmen’s contemporary worship style had no need for a pipe organ.

The paragraph that grabbed me, however, was this one:

Rainbow banners won’t be on display, as was a focus of First Christian Church, a member of the Disciples of Christ Protestant denomination that since 2013 “affirms and welcomes LGBTQ+ people in all aspects of church life, including leadership roles.”

Can you say, “culturally progressive”? By contrast,

While nondenominational, Woodmen Valley Chapel takes a traditional Christian stance on matters of human sexuality, gender, marriage and clergy.

First Christian Church is now meeting in a small chapel attached to First Methodist Church a few blocks away.

Sad.

Apparently, it’s not a new problem:

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude, verses 3 and 4, NKJV)