Are We Just Maintaining?

Why are our American churches declining?

Peter Drucker, one of the brightest and best business minds of our time once said:

“Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right things.”

Todd Rhodes at mondaymorninginsight.com wrote “Could this also be true in our churches today? Could it be that while most churches are ‘doing things right, a smaller group of churches are ‘doing the right things’?”

“Their hypothesis that each of these churches (and if you take the conservative church count in the country of 200,000 churches, 90% would be a whopping 180,000 American churches!) have to be ‘doing things right’ to some degree. Doing things right means things like conducting weekend services, maintaining property and facilities, making payroll, and caring for their attenders. In essence, as long as there are still people attending most churches, the churches, by and large, are ‘doing things right’, at least from a management standpoint. Can you say EMPTY?

But what about the other 10% of churches in America that are growing and vibrant? Could it be that they have moved beyond ‘doing things right’ to ‘doing the right things’ (think culturally relevant). Every single one of the growing churches I’ve read about or experienced first hand are very outwardly focused (missional). Their specific target is to reach their communities. They move beyond ‘management’ to dare to try new things, new programs and new approaches.”

The church should not exist to support the church.

“They are not afraid of change. They are not afraid to confront the culture. They are leaders. And the result is a growing and community-changing church.” – Todd Rhodes

The same could be said of our daily lives. We should not be afraid of change…afraid to confront culture…scared to embrace the relevancy of today…for I don’t want to just maintain my Christian walk, I want to grow my faith and maybe, just maybe impact my community for my Savior.