Reflections From Brother Rudy

Reflections from Bro. Rudy –
April 18, 2012

MAINTENANCE OR MISSION?

Sometime back, Bishop Willimon shared a piece in his weekly
message entitled “Maintenance or Mission?”
It was an excerpt from an article by Harold Percy that had been shared
with him from the website http://www.crossmarks.com
The article has some important insights during this time of transition:
MAINTENANCE OR MISSION?
1. In
measuring the effectiveness, the maintenance congregation asks,
"How many pastoral visits are being made?” The mission congregation asks,
"How many disciples are being made?"
2. When
contemplating some form of change, the maintenance congregation
says, "If this proves upsetting to any of our members, we won't do
it." The mission congregation says, "If this will help us reach
someone on the outside, we will take the risk and do it."
3. When
thinking about change, the majority of members in a maintenance
congregation ask, "How will this affect me?" The majority of members
in the mission congregation ask, "Will this increase our ability to reach
those outside?"
4. When
thinking of its vision for ministry, the maintenance congregation
says, "We have to be faithful to our past." The mission congregation
says, "We have to be faithful to our future."
5. The
pastor in the maintenance congregation says to the newcomer,
"I'd like to introduce you to some of our members." In the mission
congregation the members say, "We'd like to introduce you to our
pastor."
6. When
confronted with a legitimate pastoral concern, the pastor in the
maintenance congregation asks, "How can I meet this need?" The pastor
in the mission congregation asks, "How can this need be met?"
7. The
maintenance congregation seeks to avoid conflict at any cost (but rarely succeeds).
The mission congregation understands that conflict is the price of
progress, and is willing to pay the price. It understands that it
cannot take everyone with it. This causes some grief, but it does not keep it
from doing what needs to be done.
8. The leadership
style in the maintenance congregation is primarily managerial,
where leaders try to keep everything in order and running smoothly. The
leadership style in a mission congregation is primarily transformational,
casting a vision of what can be, and marching off the map in order to bring the
vision into reality.

9. The
maintenance congregation is concerned with their congregation, its
organizations and structure, its constitutions and committees. The mission
congregation is concerned with the culture, with understanding how secular
people think and what makes them tick. It tries to determine their needs and
their points of accessibility to the Gospel.
10. When
thinking about growth, the maintenance congregation 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?"
11. The
maintenance congregation looks at the community and asks, "How can
we get these people to support our congregation?" The mission
congregation asks, "How can the Church support these people?"
12. The
maintenance congregation thinks about how to save their congregation.
The mission congregation thinks about how to reach the world.
The Mission Yard Sale
helps our Volunteers in Missions Teams reach out to the world. The resources raised will help with Team
member’s costs for travel, room and board.
The sale is this Friday and Saturday, April 20-21. They will
receive items for the sale this evening. If you would like to help, they will be
setting up the Fellowship Hall following the evening meal and working all day
Thursday. You can bring your items
tonight or Thursday or call the office if you need someone to pick up items for
the sale.

The CEC Golf Tournament is just two weeks away. The money raised will go toward the next
phase of making the playground handicapped accessible. You can go to the website www.gmvumc.org for registration and sponsor
information.


As always,
your responses to these Reflections are welcome. You can email me at rguess@gmvumc.org.