Questions I’m asking

This post is from the defunct blog “Dying Church”

Pastoring takes a lot of energy. I can put up with a lot if I believe in the mission of the church. The mission we're living, though, is not always the mission Jesus gave us: to make disciples. It's easy to lose sight of that mission and to think that the mission of a church is to keep its members happy, and to look successful. Spence Burke talks about how it's easy to move from being a minister to an ad-minister. I'm asking a lot of questions which make it harder to find that energy. I believe that other people – pastors and church members alike – are asking similar questions. A question isn't an answer. But here are some questions I'm asking:

Are Sunday mornings really accomplishing what we think they are? Why do they take such a disproportionate amount of the church's energy? Is anyone else noticing the number of godly people who are not backsliding, but are finding it increasingly harder to function within the evangelical church as it is? How much tweaking will it take to get back to mission? How do we move beyond tweaking to deep change and repentance? Is anyone else wrestling with these questions? Is it safe?

Update: LT posts similar questions.