Dealing with Inward Drift

Ten Steps to Deal with Inward Drift in Established Churches

On my blog earlier this week, I noted some of the signs of internal drift in established churches. I noted that an established church could be any congregation that has existed for three or more years. The church has developed certain patterns or traditions while simultaneously forgetting its original purpose and passion.

By almost any metric, the majority of North American congregations are established churches. They often include discouraged leaders and frustrated members. Conflict in these churches is often normative.

So how does a church move from an inward drift to an outward focus? Though I provide ten succinct steps, I do not want to leave the reader with a false impression. I am not suggesting that these steps are necessarily sequential, nor am I suggesting that they are a quick-fix for any and every congregation. Read more