15 Signs That A Church Is In Trouble (Posted from MMI blog)
#1 – When excuses are made about the way things are instead of embracing a willingness to roll up the sleeves and fix the problem.
#2 – When the church becomes content with merely receiving people that come rather than actually going out and finding them…in other words, they lose their passion for evangelism!
#3 – The focus of the church is to build a great church (complete with the pastors picture…and his wife’s…on everything) and not the Kingdom of God.
#4 – The leadership begins to settle for the natural rather than rely on the supernatural.
#5 – The church begins to view success/failure in regards to how they are viewed in the church world rather than whether or not they are actually fulfilling the Great Commission!
#6 – The leaders within the church cease to be coachable.
#7 – There is a loss of a sense of urgency! (Hell is no longer hot, sin is no longer wrong and the cross is no longer important!)
#8 – Scripture isn’t central in every decision that is made!
#9 – The church is reactive rather than proactive.
#10 – The people in the church lose sight of the next generation and refuse to fund ministry simply because they don’t understand “those young people.”
#11 – The goal of the church is to simply maintain the way things are…to NOT rock the boat and/or upset anyone…especially the big givers!
#12 – The church is no longer willing to take steps of faith because “there is just too much to lose.”
#13 – The church simply does not care about the obvious and immediate needs that exist in the community.
#14 – The people learn how to depend on one man to minister to everyone rather than everyone embracing their role in the body, thus allowing the body to care for itself.
#15 – When the leaders/staff refuse to go the extra mile in leading and serving because of how “inconvenient” doing so would be.
This is certainly some good stuff that every church leader ought to look at seriously! Hope we can all learn from it.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Missional or Mission-minded
This past weekend was awesome! We took a team of 9 people from Bridges of Hope Fellowship to The Summit Church in Knoxville, Tennessee for a mission trip. www.thesummitlive.tv
The Summit is a new church plant that is one year old. They have leased a store building and needed help to pour new life into an old structure. They called it "Extreme Makeover: Church Edition." There were 100 volunteers who descended upon the building to serve the church through all types of construction. It was covered by two different television crews out of Knoxville, WBIR and WVLT. WBIR interviewed me about our involvement in the project and I was happy to obligue.
For our team, this was a first for about 4 of our people. We had the privilege of sowing into the ministry and community of others. I had never pulled wire before, but I have now. My crew (Natalie, Dwight, Cathy & Steven Clayton) pulled metal clad wiring throughout the walls for the entire children's ministry builidng. My knees are certainly feeling it after being on the hard concrete floors for two days. Next time I'll know to take some knee pads. Oh well, you live and learn!
The trip was great for our people. We had great fellowship down there and back. We had church as well as laughed so hard that we literally cried. I can't wait for the next trip.
So, in my opinion, missional is where you actually engage the community in missions hands-on and get outside of the four walls of the church. Whereas, mission-minded is where you talk about missions and give to missions, but never put it into action. I am working hard to model for the people at Bridges of Hope the servant leader model of a pastor. I want to serve along side of our people, not dictate to them how to serve.
Thanks guys for making it a great weekend of service to God and The Summit! I think everyone should go on a mission trip. Your life will never be the same!
The Summit is a new church plant that is one year old. They have leased a store building and needed help to pour new life into an old structure. They called it "Extreme Makeover: Church Edition." There were 100 volunteers who descended upon the building to serve the church through all types of construction. It was covered by two different television crews out of Knoxville, WBIR and WVLT. WBIR interviewed me about our involvement in the project and I was happy to obligue.
For our team, this was a first for about 4 of our people. We had the privilege of sowing into the ministry and community of others. I had never pulled wire before, but I have now. My crew (Natalie, Dwight, Cathy & Steven Clayton) pulled metal clad wiring throughout the walls for the entire children's ministry builidng. My knees are certainly feeling it after being on the hard concrete floors for two days. Next time I'll know to take some knee pads. Oh well, you live and learn!
The trip was great for our people. We had great fellowship down there and back. We had church as well as laughed so hard that we literally cried. I can't wait for the next trip.
So, in my opinion, missional is where you actually engage the community in missions hands-on and get outside of the four walls of the church. Whereas, mission-minded is where you talk about missions and give to missions, but never put it into action. I am working hard to model for the people at Bridges of Hope the servant leader model of a pastor. I want to serve along side of our people, not dictate to them how to serve.
Thanks guys for making it a great weekend of service to God and The Summit! I think everyone should go on a mission trip. Your life will never be the same!
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