Stuck

LT and I were chatting yesterday on how easy it is to stay stuck in our current situations, as intolerable as they may be. There are many of us who are not satisfied with the status quo. We know something needs to change in our churches and ministries, but it is hard, incredibly hard, to break away from the past and to move to something new. Richview is feeling a bit stuck right now. Our ministries are having a hard time recruiting workers. Finances are an issue. We have many new people, but we don’t do a good job of getting connected to them. The old ways are not sustainable, and yet it’s so tempting to continue trying the old ways in the hope that they might work again one day. There is a way forward. People are less excited about institutional and program maintenance. I’d love to move to our Sundays as a hub for our congregation, with relational connections taking place during the week, and – here’s the big change – with the focus on ministry switching from programs and meetings to more of an outward focus: less institutional maintenance, more loving the world, engaging our neighbors, serving the community. Now that I could get excited about.