Maintenance mode can be a lethal cancer in the church. This could be the demise of a local church. I see it all to often. A church reaches a certain level numerically and financially and then gets comfortable. The bills are getting paid and the payroll checks are getting signed and as a result a false sense of security settles in. Usually unknowingly. As a leader you must identify and diagnose this cancer before it kills your church or stunts its growth. As the Pastor I have to have the guts to call it out in my team when I see it and so do you as a leader. If we don't it can mark the beginning of a slow agonizing death for your church. The church was called to take ground until Jesus returns! When maintenance is on purpose and planned or in other words part of the strategy thats ok. I'll talk about that in the next post. If maintenance is the result of laziness that is SIN and horrible stewardship! Below I will throw down a few thoughts on the subject!

MAINTENANCE MODE =

• It's the absence of innovation. The church should be the most innovative force on the planet! Lack of innovation in the church means the web site has been the same for years and is rarely updated. MTV Updates their site daily and changes the sites look regularly. Ministries are not growing. There is no sense of life in the house. New ministries are not being launched, we keep beating the same dead horse, ride the horse until it dies, then get a new one!
• It's the lack of execution. Some of the greatest ideas will remain on the page of someone's journal, because of the lack of execution! The church creates a false sense of advancement by talking about all it's going to do. Unfortunately this becomes an everlasting cycle.
• There is no advancement taking place. We were created to grow and to reproduce. The church was created to grow and to take ground until Jesus comes back. 
• Growth is minimal at best and accidental if there is any. There is no strategy for growth. Churches actually think if they just open the doors people are going to come. If it were only that easy. I heard someone once say if the Lord wants us to grow He will bring them in. WOW!
• Usually the result of a church getting comfortable and lazy