As I was reflecting on church ministry and leading change, the following thought came to my mind and I posted it on social media:
“Most church goers want their churches to grow. Few of them really want to reach people. Even fewer are willing to make any sacrifice to do so.”
This is the challenge in leading churches forward. It is the challenge in revitalization as well. We have taken a very consumer oriented approach to church and we think we can have a change in our effectiveness without a change in our behavior. We assume that we can have things be different without any sacrifice. This is just not reality. In fact, doing the same thing and expecting different results is the very definition of insanity.
It seems that churches simply need to be honest about who they are, what they want and what they are willing to do to reach people for Jesus.