Jump directly to the Content

RECLAIMING MAINTENANCE MINISTRY

A friend asked me about the church where he had just been invited to candidate. "I don't want to get stuck in a maintenance ministry," he said.

I cringed, as I had when hearing similar remarks on other occasions.

At seminary, I overheard student pastors complain that the churches they served offered nothing but "maintenance ministry." They meant the congregation was composed primarily of elderly people and showed little potential for numerical growth. Ministry there seemed to mean perpetuating the status quo, marrying and (mostly) burying. Pastors marked time until something better came along.

Later I heard a denominational executive entice pastors to consider church planting by offering them "more than mediocrity and maintenance." He implied that pastors face two options: significance or maintenance.

Yet maintenance, by definition, is "upkeep, support." To maintain means "to keep in a certain condition or position, especially of efficiency and good repair." That sounds good to me.

In most ...

March
Support Our Work

Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month

Homepage Subscription Panel

Read These Next

Related
What We Learned From a Failed Church Merger
What We Learned From a Failed Church Merger
It wasn't easy, but it taught us a lot.
From the Magazine
I Hated ‘Church People.’ But I Knew I Needed Them.
I Hated ‘Church People.’ But I Knew I Needed Them.
As I attended my second funeral in three weeks, two Christians showed me a kindness I couldn’t explain.
Editor's Pick
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
Understanding God and our world needs more than bare reason and experience.
close