I am not a church leader, pastor, or anything with any official title.  I simply am a member of a local congregation, and a part of a small group.
I think the quote (regardless of who said it) is pretty much right on.  My dad is a pastor, and I’ve seen my fair share of churches, so all I can say is that the quote feels right.  People who aren’t used to moving aren’t going to move.  And if you try to move them, chances are, they’ll conspire to vote you off the island.
Of course, the spirit can move and do something unexpected, but people are pretty darn good at quenching the spirit, and if they haven’t cultivated that openness (and have therefore plateaued), chances are, getting them off that plateau (for a pastor or for the spirit) is going to be quite difficult.
My two cents.

I am a lay leader in my church. I think this is probably true in this persons experience. I also think too often church’s try to make excuses why they are stale and not growing but the bottom line is change is part of the Christian walk so from the leadership down that needs to be taught and explored daily or the church will not be relevant and able to reach the world around them. Biblical truths change the world when they are walked in not just read aloud. As a church starts to grow it has growing responsibility to be a church of integrity and truth under ever growing watchful eyes so maybe it’s just easier to stay the same insted of having to walk into more responsibility and more work.

I am glad that the church I go to is always thinking of ways to reach more people, serve more people, build more lives and give to more people, it’s not comfortable, it’s not easy but it’s what we are called to do so we must be about our fathers business not just warming pews.

I’m Pastor of our church...been pastor for 8 years been with the church 14 years. I thought this and taught similarly at our church but perhaps not so brutally.

Our church was doing great through the mid 70’s. It grew from a church start in ‘61 to a church with more than 200 and all the programs. God provided all the church needed to take the next step and the church, or some in the church, said no. Then followed 20 years of decline.

I believe God judged the church just like He did the Israelites. They were supposed to trust Him and they didn’t so He withheld his blessings. There was a core group who faithfully worked and prayed. I won’t take time to tell the whole story but suffice it to say we recently moved into a new building in a new community with twice as much land and many more blessings and everything is paid for. We’ve picked up 20 new members in a year and a half, we’re a small church, 20 would be 200% growth ie double and we continue to have regular visitors. There are only two members at the church that were there when I came 14 years ago and they are two of the faithful ones. Many died, others moved on.

I’ve often thought that since two of the 12 believed they should follow God into the Canaan Land that there were probably a similar percentage of all the people who felt the same way, but God did not let any go in. It is an indication that the faithlessness of a few can hold back everyone.

When the right attitudes prevail in a church then it will succeed, otherwise, take off your shoes and relax it is going to be a long time before anything happens.  Music won’t change it, a new preacher won’t change it, a new board won’t change it. 

Again, unless attitudes move from the negative to the positive… get your life jacket on because pretty soon you’ll be in the water.

I am a senior pastor and the comment communicates a principle that has merit.  I don’t know if we can responsibly relate it to the Israelites nomadic adventures.  Human nature being what it is, churches of all sizes seem to want to turn inward and in doing so close off to reaching people for Christ.  This inward focus will inevitably kill all kinds of growth in the church.  It is why some churches stay small but have “Mature” Christians in them, mature Christians who never reach anyone for Christ that is.

Associate Pastor at a church.

Baloney.

I was a part of a church that had plateaued in a lot of obvious areas for the past 30 years. They brought in a new pastor who had vision and direction, and led with purpose, and the church exploded. The spiritual growth of the church is now (5 years later) immeasurably greater than it was before.

This quote is dangerous in the fact that it seems to place all the responsibility for growth on the key leader. Sometimes he can affect change, sometimes he can’t. If the church has plateaued for 6 months, it _might_ take 6 months to get it back. It might not. It might take 3 years. It depends on the reason for the plateau.

I’m a lay leader for 20 years now. My experience matches the one described. People tend to build inertia. Those that have invested the most and have been around the longest can be the biggest barrier to moving on. Sadly the majority leave rather than change.

The wilderness experience is part of our journey - individually and corporately. God’s overall intent is not to kill off a million people. His intent is to kill the thing inside that holds us back from Him.

We have to die to ourselves. Those that leave are those that resist death. I am learning to like having the junk in me killed but it is not easy.

Bottom line, God wants does not want us to leave, He wants us to transform. Unfortunately we often find leaving easier.

I am a senior pastor, in my current church for 6 years, having been a pastor for 25 years.

While I am not be as acerbic as the author whoever he or she is, I agree that if you have plateaued for a period of time it normally will take time, perhaps the same amount of time to get growing consistently again. If you have a stagnated for years, then something dramatic is going to have to happen. Will some people have to leave? Yes. The old saying of all that keeps this from being a great church is a couple of funerals has some truth in it. There are people who will not change, who will resist the movement of God and will not allow progress to be made. They see the church as being for them. They do not want to make any alterations to reach people. It is their church. And they are not going to change.

I’m the pastor of a church that had been plataued (or worse) for 20 years before I arrived.  It only took three years for profound changes and growth to happen, and then we got stuck there for a while before we had another burst of growth in spirit and numbers. 

The price of getting unstuck each time was huge conflict, and those conflicts took huge toll on me on others, and on the institution.  There were times when it didn’t seem worth it.  Some people will have to die or leave before they change, and they’ll thrash about signficantly when they do. 

In the end you plug along as faithfully as you can and pray for grace and guidence.  Some days you wonder if you should stay, and you try to discern among the many signs in your life, your family’s life, the church’s life as to the viability of this call. 

It’s been hard, but rewarding.  Many years in the desert for a few glimpses at the Promised Land.

Minister of Discipleship.  I believe his last statement is true.  There are plenty of people in this world who love God but will never change their views of how church should be done.  That is not to say there is no way God could intervene and change them but there are still probably some who will never change.  If he means there is no way they COULD change then I have a problem with the statement.  But there are some people who WILL not change.  I don’t know about the idea of God killing them off.  If that is the concept you are going with God was pretty inefficient in His efforts and lacking in His grace.  I see it as God allowed their influence to dissolve.  In that culture, that meant they had to die.  It means something different in today’s culture.  Influence is lost in many different ways today.  It can simply be a majority vote.  Or as great as a new minister being winning that influence.

I am a lead pastor of a 185 year old church.  I am in my 9th year of ministry in this congregation.

I can accept the reality that some people will never change.  It is true in the church, it is true in the work place, it is true in relaitonships and family...it is true!  Some people will never change. 

At the same time, I can’t imagine Jesus ever saying anything like this.  He said some pretty harsh things to the pharisees (see Matthew 23) but he never said, “Things will get better after you die or leave!” He did seem to teach the transformational power of the love of God.

To me, the quote treats people as the means to the end instead of the end in itself.  Too often it seems like church leaders only value people if they are helping to bring in more people.  In my church, some church members don’t agree with me.  They many never change.  Yet, they are valuable.  (In some cases, they have actually spared us from some pretty foolish decisions.) I don’t think I should show them disrespect just because they don’t always “go along with the program” so to speak. 

My two cents,

mdd

I am in my 30th year of full-time ministry and am serving as a professor in a Christian University.  My experience tells me that the author has a sense of perspective about potential turnaround times, but I believe it is a bit off (in general).  The longer any church is in decline the longer it will take for any turnaround.  The question is how long can you sustain the turnaround and maintain momentum?

I pastored a historic downtown church with a rich history dating back to George Washington. The church was built in the heydays of the “FIRST CHURCH” in the center of a growing (now metropolitan area) city.  It had been in decline for decades (30-35 years).  I spent five years and saw a turnaround and some sustained momentum (for about a year).  But once the church leaders and the church were off life support they began to assert their congregational rule and got ahold of the church that was soon to grow past them.  They did and began bucking and any further change.  I saw the writing on the wall and went to another state to plant a church.

That downtown church now is falling apart physically, all the “founders” left are gone.  Even sharing its facility is not going to save it from its inevitable death (Actually it is dead, they just haven’t had the funeral yet). 

The issue here is not simply about how to get a church in decline turned around, but how to KEEP it growing...how do you see SUSTAINED MOMENTUM? That means having a passion for change and to realize you’ve gotta keep “workin’ on it!”

The “Spiritual” version of this story has to do with issues of obedience, inwardly focused churches and people and allowing the Holy Spirit to TRANSFORM lives!  Salvation is a process, that is why we keep having to “work it out...” We must passionately embrace change if we are ever going to be the people God has transformed us to be.....that is the VERY THEOLOGICAL nature of this whole life change!

CHANGE
Come as you are
Leave different

That’s got to be our motto.