{"id":414,"date":"2013-04-28T14:26:57","date_gmt":"2013-04-28T12:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/?p=414"},"modified":"2014-11-25T12:42:32","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T10:42:32","slug":"is-your-church-stuck-maybe-its-time-to-rock-the-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/?p=414","title":{"rendered":"IS YOUR CHURCH STUCK? MAYBE ITS TIME TO ROCK THE BOAT!"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nby Tony Morgan<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.churchleaders.com\/outreach-missions\/outreach-missions-how-tos\/166911-is-your-church-stuck-maybe-its-time-to-rock-the-boat.html?p=2<\/a><\/p>\n

When churches become inward focused and start making decisions about ministry to keep people rather than reach people, they start to die.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is an excerpt from\u00a0Stuck in a Funk: How to Get Your Church Moving Forward<\/em><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

These words from Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson\u2019s bookRework<\/em> keep reverberating in my mind:<\/span><\/p>\n

When you stick with your current customers come hell or high water, you wind up cutting yourself off from new ones. Your product or service becomes so tailored to your current customers that it stops appealing to fresh blood. And that\u2019s how your company starts to die.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s consistent with one of the key attributes of churches in decline.<\/span><\/p>\n

When churches become inward focused and start making decisions about ministry to keep people rather than reach people, they also start to die. In Luke 15:4, Jesus said it this way:<\/span><\/p>\n

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won\u2019t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Why do you think some churches slip into the mode where they\u2019re so focused on keeping people that they neglect trying to reach people who are outside the faith?<\/span><\/p>\n

As I was reading the Bible, I stumbled upon 1 Corinthians 10:33:<\/span><\/p>\n

I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don\u2019t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Fascinating perspective, isn\u2019t it? Typically, we don\u2019t operate like that. We put personal conviction or preferences ahead of what may be best for others. Think about it …<\/span><\/p>\n