First, there are those churches – and very often they are very Reformed in their theology and doctrinally very sound – who do next to nothing in their community. There are many churches, they have no Sunday School, they have no visitation. They seem to have no concern. They seem to have accepted the situation – things are bad and there is nothing we can do about it. A good reputation, good doctrine, nice people, but it is a Sardis church. If it was suddenly picked up by giant invisible hand and transported to another community, nobody would miss it. It would not make much difference. Nobody is getting offended, nobody is getting challenged, nobody is getting helped. It is becoming introspective, and involved only with itself.
Then there are other churches that seem to be active sometimes, but actually they also come within the category of a Sardis church. Some of these churches that have got a name even for outreach and evangelism. They tone down the preaching about sin and the need for real repentance, and they try to make the church as near to the world as they can get it, and it actually comes under this picture.