Maintenance vs. missional

In a talk on being missional and avoiding the slide into maintenance as a church at a GHC conference I had several thoughts:

We just came out of a very difficult time with our building and finances - really still coming out of that time.  Recognizing the desperation of the situation many have said that we need to focus on ourselves right now and nothing else - that is maintaining ourselves. We also had people telling us to be maintenance focused even when things were going great because we were young and needed to keep that growth going.  Although that is a reasonable and expected view point regarding our situation it forces us to ask the question of when is it ok to be maintenance focused?  When we first start up?  Anytime we get into a desperate situation?  Until we reach a certain level?  The contention at this talk was that we have to be missional focused at the very beginning, during every trial and through to the end.  It is especially important in the beginning because you are creating your DNA for the church. If it is started with a maintenance focus saying when we reach a certain level then we will be missional then the maintenance focus will become the DNA of the church and it won't matter what level you reach - it won't change.

I was told early on by some of my coaches that for the first 5 years your church is the mission and put everything there.  I have come to realize that doing that will establish a DNA we don't want.  If the right thing as a church is tithing to missions outside your ministry then it does not matter how old your church plant is or how stable - right is right.  If serving other ministries with your resources is the right thing to do as a church then it is right from birth to death.  The concept of tithing is trusting that God provides and He will honor our trust in Him by providing enough to be able to tithe.  Is that not true in the baby church?

None of this is to say either/or.  It is a battle against the natural slide toward maintenance - not to avoid doing maintenance all together, rather to stay on track being missional.  Maintenance can not be avoided - we have to feed ourselves, shelter, pay our bills etc.  Just like personal tithing of time and money though we have to plan intentionally to be mission focused or naturally our focus will become totally on self.  To maintain or grow a healthy church we must take a portion of our resources and time to be outward focused, missional - giving to something that has no way of giving back to us in any tangible way.  As we are approaching our 4th birthday at The Bridge we must continue to be missional and even increase that effort.  From planting other churches to tithing to our partner GHC to starting inner city ministries we must do more than we are capable of doing - that is when we see God show up.  He does not need to show up when we are doing what we are capable of - it is only when we are beyond our capabilities that God steps in and works miracles.  Scary? Yes! Faith based? Absolutely!