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One of the topics I'd like to see addressed in blog posts this week or next week is the question of what "maintenance" looks like in congregations. I see it most clearly when (1) people talk about what they fear and (2) when I listen to people pray for the needs of their congregation. So I'd be happy to see some of you address these questions: What are the fears that are often expressed by people who view maintenance as the major role for congregations today? What are the kinds of things people pray for when they are most concerned about maintenance? And you may want to address the related questions of what do people fear and what do they pray for when their concerns are missional?
You may have many other ways to illustrate what maintenance looks like in a congregation. I'd love to read your observations.
Here's another topic I'd like to see addressed in blog posts: What is the church? And how does your proposed definition help us connect with missional church issues?
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6 comments:
I think that one of the fears that contribute to a maintenance setting in the church is the need for security. I like how Mike Riddell calls this “a preoccupation of the middle classes” (page 62). Here we see a clash of worldviews. Those who believe that security is found through the vehicles of this world and those who believe that security is found in Christ. Safety and control are the goals but so often worry and stress are the results. The more we try to create this safe environment the more maintenance orientated we become. In the Gospels Jesus encourages us to be released from these fears but as Riddell puts it, “there are few in the west willing to take him at his word” (page 62).
I was a little worried about Minatrea's dichotomy of missional and maintenance (mission minded), particularly when on page 11 he discusses three differences. The third of these is mission-minded churches see mission as one expression of its ministry and missional churches see mission as the essence of its existence. To me it seemed he was saying that missional churches are something new! My mind recalled the explosion of churches and mission organisations within the last 200 years whose very birthing was in response to mission being the essence of their existence (Sally Army, CMS, Baptist, Apostolic... to name the tip of an iceberg). Perhaps what may have happened is that over time these early missional churches and mission organisations have moved from having this focus to one of maintenance...
I am still thinkng about "maintenence" so far....it seems two side of one coin..
"Maintenence something for which is the things people pray for" the other side is "maintenence something against which is the things people fear about"
Both are one coin which is "to want to live as a Christian".(apologize my poor English though)
I am also having trouble getting my head around some of the readings meaning of "maintenance". For me writers seem to set one against the other, missional against maintenance. It is as if to be focussed on maintenance means you are not focussed on mission (being mission-minded) or missional (having mission as essense). I suspect that these relationships are much more fluid than binary (on/off, true false, in/out)...
I have had the course notes only a few days: so this is post 1!
Like Craig (March 3) I also have not read Steve Taylor’s book. I love the idea of “ wonderfully messy church on the margins”. It conjures up images of missional church centred on “being and doing” rather than a church in maintenance (battening down the hatches mode). I tend to agree with Seti (March 3) that although many if not most churches in NZ are in maintenance mode, Christianity as a whole has been here before: and usually in a period just before one of tremendous growth. God is actually in controlhere and is likely to get His way in His grand plan. J
I liked Minatrea’s definition of church ( p 8) “ the body of Christ created in His image to accomplish His purpose” . Imprinted with God’s image we are to love, live and pursue a life after Christ’s own heart. There is tension between the classic centred set model of the spiritual side of church and the outward looking missional church evident also in the life of Christ
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