tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35889031.post1226064518955340916..comments2023-11-05T00:58:55.352-07:00Comments on A Peculiar Prophet: Pastors as Visionary LeadersWilliam H. Willimonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002821401928222858noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35889031.post-28732423855007732882007-06-30T08:46:00.000-07:002007-06-30T08:46:00.000-07:00Will,I would definitely agree with you that finall...Will,<BR/>I would definitely agree with you that finally we are recognizing our decline. After a couple of years at my current church (which was still in decline even though a merger had been affected 4 years before I arrived) in Falls Church, as people bewailed our losses as though they were a relatively new thing, I made the assertion that the decline was probably at least 25 years old. "Oh, no, not that long." A little research through the Journals discovered that the decline (in each church before the merger) had actually begun in 1964-5, just after each congregation had reached their peak membership in numbers. We began to talk more seriously about what we are, what we are called to be, and how things that had not worked in the past probably still wouldn't work today.<BR/>We can't be a "big box church" that offers everything to everybody. We need to be more of "Starbucks" were we focus on what we are (who we attract) and what we do best. We have developed a Discipleship Plan that focuses on those areas. For other emphases, we simply need to point (without guilt or anxiety) to other churches in the area that do those things well.<BR/>One other thing that, we think, is beginning to make a difference is that without changing any physical structure in our sanctuary, we have reconfigured it to seat fewer people more comfortably, closer together, and centered around the Table. It has changed the feeling tone in the sanctuary tremendously. <BR/>I know this is a long comment, but this discussion is vital. We are not interested simply in institutional survival. We are interested in being the followers of Christ making a difference in our part of the world.God's Weaverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06237927824434003341noreply@blogger.com