There is a vast difference between attending a healthy church and one that is stagnant.

A different mentality greets those attending a healthy church.  It becomes apparent almost immediately that those attending a healthy church are not playing the typical Sunday morning game.  Church is anot a routine, a series of rote actions.  People do not attend the programs and activities for reasons that smack of duty or obligations, rather coming together with something they clearly enjoy and look forward to.  It was an active passion.  They attended believing that their attendance would bear fruit, and because they believed they would miss something valuable, if they stayed away.  They built their lives around the church program believing that there was no other place at which they would rather be.

The closest thing to heave while living life this side of the grave should be sharing fellowship with other Christians.  these are were:

• excited about ministry
• committed to outreach
• expectant of blessing
• positive regarding impact
• grateful for blessings
• focused on others and
• prayerful in attitude    *
   

They saw the church as a place to:

• exalt the Lord through vital worship
• edify the believer through transformational teaching
• evangelize the lost through innovative outreach
• equip the church through specialized training

Their core values included:

Integrity Consistency Credibility Reliability

The culture in which we live is one of the low loyalty and high expectation.  It is a culture that is experiencing mobility, coloring, graying, pluralism, segmentation, and cacooning.  To meet this challenge it is more important than ever before that we define our sense of purpose, that we seek spiritual renewal, that we reach people where they are and not where we would like them to be.  Like the men of Issachar (1.Chron 12:32) we need to 'understand the times and know what needs to be done."  to do this we need to guard the message while changing the method.  Keep the core while we understand the culture.

This will mean:

• the development of new ministries
• upgrading our facilities and equipment
• providing quality child care
• creating opportunities for belonging, and
• making guests feel welcome.

It short the church must be REAL (authenthic) RELEVANT (in touch) and ROCKING (exciting).  It is the failure of the church to be authentic, to stay in touch and to be exciting, which is the major reason people stay away.  If we re to leave our mark on the 21st century, we will need to find and plan out our part.  God has placed within our grasp an unique opportunity to impact our community.  We will need to consider our gifts and responsibilities when it comes to the following:

1. Outreach
2. Publicity
3. Creative worship ideas
4. Public relations
5. Excellent facilities
6. Welcoming of guests
7. Hospitality
8. Administration

 * Quoted from The Purpose Driven Life