In the past week, I have been pretty excited about the direction we have been starting to take as a church - specifically in the leadership. I personally have spent a lot of time trying to get to the root of our problems and the more time I spend focused on the topic the more often I am able to get down to the lowest common denominator on any given issue.
Yesterday, I was asked to give an announcement - really more of a charge - at the end of church. We have apparently had problems getting the church cleaned in recent years. Each year, a list with about 10 different jobs is set out. When you sign up for any given job, you are put in a rotation with others to complete those tasks weekly for a month at a time. It is a pretty easy gig, but they have had a hard time filling the sheet. I could give a whole lot list reasons for that, but in preparing what I was going to say I stumbled upon a different and less contentious realization that I want to share.
In the process of exhorting people to sign up to clean, I took the opportunity to inject a note about helping with King's Club - our midweek ministry for PreK-5th grade students. Every year it seems we make progress with King's Club - the volunteers get better and more numerous, the program gets better organized and more purposeful, the students seem to get more out of it, and the number of students increases. Today, we are at a point where we need more adults in place to serve as leaders and mentors for the children who are attending before we can progress much further.
Maintenance is never enough.
When we simply hold the line, we fail to see new faces and kids begin to lose the excitement that keeps them coming back and bringing friends. We may always have a certain amount of kids coming up and replacing those who graduate out of King's Club into middle school - but quite often the Pre-K kids we get are the younger brothers and sisters of other students in attendance. When a 3rd grader brings his friend, that friend, if he sticks, eventually brings his siblings. Without the influx of new youth in attendance, the older kids will pass out of this age group and the numbers dwindle to about half of what they currently are.
In the sermon on Sunday, it was noted that something like 30+ people moved out of town from this congregation in the time the preacher had been in town (a bit more than 7 years). More than ten had died. I have personally noted that in some cases, one dying meant that a spouse slowed or stopped their attendance. Some have taken sick, have moved to nursing homes, or have become confined to their homes. At least one family has left amicably, and still others have left the church because they didn't like it for some reason.
By my count, the church has lost no fewer than 60 attenders in that amount of time. The number probably approaches 75. In a congregation of this size that is a staggering number. 60-75 people represents a massive percentage of current attendance. To be fair, this sort of turnover happens everywhere: people move, get angry, get sick, and die regardless of the church situation. Gladly, some of those people have been replaced in the pews here, but we aren't keeping pace.
Maintenance is never enough.
As I pondered all these numbers, I suddenly realized that it isn't merely some superficial numbers game we play. The desire to maintain is a failing attitude.
Spiritually speaking, when you seek to sustain the status quo personally, it is natural to regress, not progress. The goal is not to stay the same as you, but to grow towards being the same as Jesus. That is a goal that you can never personally attain, so there is never a point at which you can choose to merely manage your faith.
Viewing the Church from this same point of view can change to way we work in many aspects of church life. We would seek to constantly update and upgrade our facilities rather than merely keep them presentable. We would seek to promote financial stewardship rather than just pay the bills. We would seek make each aspect of our worship service more meaningful instead of only seeking not to upset anyone. We would seek to train more and better teachers and equip them with better and more functional supplies and spaces rather that to just keep the positions filled. We would seek to encourage serving and loving the people around us in our everyday life over only having that sort of connection with other members.
Maintenance is never enough.
It is the easy way out, it is a regression to the mean. It is a failure to be on purpose and seek progress.
Seeking more than to maintain requires us to meet and think and pray and work more. It requires of us more time and love and effort and discipline and accountability. Now, to sit and write those words and make that my charge is also not enough, it is almost cliche. Telling you that if you work harder, things will be better is pretty naive. This is different. This is saying to work harder in one direction, with a singular purpose, with a new motivation - that of progress over maintaining the way things are and have been.
Maintenance is never enough.
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