A short blurb from an interesting article I stumbled across about the difference between Maintainance and Missional Congregations. The that reminded me most of something I’d seen before was #10:
10. When thinking about growth, the maintenance congregations asks, “How many Lutherans live within a twenty-minute drive of this church?” The mission congregation asks, “How many unchurched people live within a twenty-minute drive of this church?”
I think that churches are called to be community to one another (derisively called “Maintenance” in the article) and to reach out into the community to spread the Gospel (“Missional”). But Percy is right – too often our attitudes turn inward, and as we get caught up in our own internal issues, we lose sight of our mission in the community. It doesn’t have to be that way.
