As I find myself serving, training, consulting and working with pastors, search teams and churches, I personally see for myself what statistics bear out: A great percentage of our churches are either plateaued or in decline and thus "at risk." I also observe that many churches are living in denial of reality of that risk, refusing to recognize where they really are today!
My primary mission during the transitional period: To get God's people on mission!
My primary purpose and hope in the time that I get to spend with congregations can simply be put: "Get God's people on mission." While there are certainly secondary objectives, my mission is clear: To get the local church on mission more effectively than she was when I got there, in preparation for a new pastor!
““The world is profoundly different than it was at the middle of the last century, and everybody knows it. Even the church culture. But knowing it and acting on it are two very different things. So far the North American church largely has responded with heavy infusions of denial, believing the culture will come to its senses and come back around to the church.” ”