About three years ago, I wrote the material for a training conference dealing with transferable principles for community engagement. A portion of the conference examined two kinds of churches: staying and sending. There are all kinds of churches in all kinds of places with all kinds of people with all kinds of activities and all kinds of strategies wanting to do all kinds of things. Many types of churches exist today. Churches may describe themselves as missional, contemporary, non-denominational, traditional, emerging (whatever that means), seeker-sensitive, established, simple, etc. At end of day, they are either staying or sending. I believe there are more staying churches than sending ones.

In my examination of these two types of churches, I offered 10 characteristics of each. Each day I become more aware of the condition of the church and I am burdened by that reality. Over the next few weeks, I am going to share in detail the descriptions of staying and sending churches. Let me be up front and honest. In my 19 years of pastoral ministry, I have pastored both staying and sending churches. What I offer does not come from a classroom and is not solely academic. Instead, what I offer comes from practical experience with real-life congregations involved in real-life ministry. My hope is to begin a conversation about the condition of our churches. I long for the “A-ha” moment when we realize the need for change. Please leave your thoughts in the comment stream below and we will talk about this. For now, allow me to offer my definition of staying and sending churches. I believe you will be able to see where we are heading with this series.

Staying Churches are those who devote the great majority of their resources, time, and energy to keeping those who are already a part of the church happy and satisfied. They acknowledge their community, but the acknowledgment doesn’t necessarily translate to responsibility.

Sending Churches are those who are externally focused and intentional when it comes to sending people and resources into their community for the sole purpose of introducing people to Jesus Christ. The acknowledgment of their community translates to responsibility and action.