This Might Not Work (For Much Longer)

It’s true: this might not work. 

Or . . .

It might work. For now. Before it works a little less well, then still less, then not at all.

Now you have something that once worked but doesn’t anymore, which is a very different animal from the thing that never worked from the start.

The Youth Summer Bizarre never worked. Student’s summer schedules did not allow for enough regular participation, and my availability was not consistent enough to lead it. I’m fine with admitting it didn’t work.

Lots of other church components used to work but now don’t. That’s harder.

Worship attendance steadily declines. People stop participating in the Walk For The Hungry. The Young Parents group gradually dissipates. They worked until they didn’t. Nostalgia and a feeling of failure are all that’s left.

Some things need to be allowed to gracefully expire, but surely there are plenty that can be revived or tweaked or  re-calibrated. It won’t do to scrap everything that ceases to work.

It feels like a critical church leadership skill these days to play with the programs and rituals that aren’t working anymore to make them work again.