One of the first vehicles I ever owned was a 1984 Jeep Cherokee. I loved that jeep, the only problem was the manual transmission. I had never really driven a 5-speed before. On the day I got it, I picked up a couple of friends and we decided to go to McDonalds (our local hangout). Getting there was a breeze…it was a straight shot and I didn’t have to navigate any hills.
The challenge came when we had to leave the McDonalds parking lot. In order to get to the main road, you had to drive up a steep side street. It didn’t matter that the jeep had four-wheel drive, given my inadequacies in using a clutch, this became a huge problem. As soon as I tried to pull out and head up the hill, the jeep started to rattle violently until the engine stalled. I firmly pressed the break with my right foot and the clutch with my left. After restarting the car, I released the brake as fast as I could, slammed on the accelerator, and let off on the clutch…only to have the jeep jump two feet off the ground and stall again. I quickly realized we weren’t going anywhere. The excitement of taking my buddies on a joy ride had been replaced with sick feeling of being stuck.
The same thing can happen in our churches. They start out headed in a clear direction. Lives are being changed. People are coming to know Christ. Then all of a sudden the pastor, staff, and leaders find themselves stuck!
I was recently reading “Dangerous Church” by John Bishop. In his book, John gives three signs that indicate that a church is stuck:
How about your church? Do you have a feeling that you’re stuck? If so, I challenge you to get with the leaders and have honest conversations about where you are and begin coming up with solutions to get unstuck. God wants your church to be a place where lives are changed, and people encounter a real relationship with Jesus. Don’t settle for being stuck!
If you’ve gotten your church unstuck, share with us what you did to get your church moving again.