Holy moly—time to share a pastor’s heart on this…

A religious mindset is one of the most subtle and dangerous things that can operate in the Church—because it rarely presents itself as wrong. It presents itself as right. Confident. Certain. Even “righteous.”

It loves to call balls and strikes. It evaluates, critiques, and measures others—especially other ministers—often under the banner of discernment. But many times, what’s being called discernment is actually something else entirely. It can be insecurity. It can be comparison. It can be jealousy. And sometimes, it’s simply a “small mind” with a small way of thinking that has lost sight of the bigger picture.

In Proverbs 21:2 (NLT), it says, “People may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their heart.” 

That’s the sobering reality. You can feel completely justified in your position, your opinions, your judgments—and still be off at the heart level or core. God isn’t just listening to what we say. He’s weighing why we’re actually saying it.

A religious mindset rarely turns inward. It’s always looking outward—at what someone else is doing, how they’re doing it, what they are saying, who attends their church, and whether Jesus is in it or not. This is actually very sad. 

Jesus confronted this directly.

In Matthew 7:1–3 (NLT), He said, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged… Why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” 

He wasn’t saying we abandon discernment. He was exposing the hypocrisy of correcting others while remaining blind to our own condition.

This becomes especially dangerous in ministry.

It’s amazing how quickly a heart can shift from “How do we reach people?” to “How do we keep people?” From a harvest mindset to a fear and control mindset. From having open hands to help others, to having closed fists.

You’ll see it when pastors become uneasy about their people attending another meeting or gathering. Instead of trusting God, they begin to subtly—or sometimes directly—discredit another minister or church. They may frame it as protection, but underneath it’s usually fear. Fear of losing people. Fear of losing influence. Fear of losing control.

But that raises a deeper question… who do the people actually belong to? Are they really your “sheep” or your “people?”

In 1 Corinthians 3:6–7 (NLT), Paul writes, “I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.” 

That one passage totally dismantles ownership in churches. We don’t own people. We don’t own the harvest. We don’t even control the growth. We are simply servants playing a role in something that ultimately belongs to God.

When we forget that, ministry becomes territorial. We start building our ministry kingdoms instead of serving His holy purpose.

We start comparing instead of collaborating. We start guarding instead of giving. 

We give false “prophetic words” or “revelations” regarding the lives of other ministers, and whether they are in the will of God or not. Truthfully, that’s a scary position to be in. 

This is a tragedy because that directly opposes the heart of Jesus.

In John 17:21 (NLT), Jesus prayed, “I pray that they will all be one… so that the world will believe You sent Me.” 

Unity is not a side issue—it’s central to our Christian witness. The world is meant to see something different in us. Not competition. Not division. Not slander masked as spirituality. But genuine unity rooted in truth, grace, and love.

A religious mindset destroys that unity. It draws lines. It creates camps. It elevates itself by putting others down. And over time, it can actually hinder what God is trying to do in an entire region. Because instead of a collective effort to reach the lost, it becomes fragmented pockets of isolated work with limited results.

A Kingdom mindset looks completely different. A Kingdom mindset celebrates when someone else reaches people you couldn’t. 

It rejoices when another church grows. It blesses what God is doing—even if it’s not happening through you.

It understands that the harvest is too big to be concerned with who gets the credit. It’s not threatened by what God is doing through another, but it’s encouraged by it.

It doesn’t ask, “Are they coming to our church?”
Instead it asks, “Are they coming to Jesus?”

That’s a completely different lens or heart perception.

If we’re not careful, we can drift into thinking we’re defending truth or defending God, when in reality we’re defending or “territory.” 

We can convince ourselves that we’re protecting the “sheep”, when we’re actually trying to control and manipulate them spiritually. We can believe we’re being faithful, while slowly we’re losing the very heart of the Father.

The Father is not insecure. He is not competing. He is not threatened by another man’s work, another church gathering on the same island, or another voice that is lifting up Jesus.

And if we are truly about the Father’s business, then our lives—and our churches or ministries—should reflect that exact same confidence the Father has.

We are family. We are co-laborers together in His harvest.

We are part of something far bigger than any single church, pastor, or platform.

The moment we lose that perspective, we don’t just limit ourselves—we risk working against the very One we claim to serve.

This attitude isn’t just unhealthy. It’s dangerous. Because it can look right on the outside… while being completely rotten at the core.

There’s a move of God hitting this planet. We don’t have time for these religious games. There’s a harvest to be reaped. 

Let’s all do our part.

From my heart‼️