Creating a Sense of Forward Progress You've heard it said, "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." So is an idle church. Unfortunately, this discovery is made when the church has idled and begins to atrophy spiritually. At that point, it's infinitely more difficult to get the church to make progress. It works like inertia. I'm not suggesting Christian workaholism or creating empty activity to create the illusion of movement. I'm also not suggesting the church never needs a rest -- a period in which the Body simply builds muscle tissue and recuperates from an intense period of ministry. I saying that many churches that don't create an ongoing sense of forward progress, defined in Kingdom terms, will struggle with spiritual dysfunction and decline. Churches don't become selfish and lazy by osmosis. They become selfish and lazy when leadership gets selfish and lazy. Let me explain: The two primary reasons churches simply keep shop are: 1) the ministry system they've created values " consistency " (put nicely) over the new. Put unkindly, they create a never-ending system of ongoing ministry activity that leaves little margin for new endeavors. For the church, this minimizes challenge, and makes life together predictable -- which is why so many love it and cling to it's perpetuity. The second reason is simply the laziness of church leaders. It's easier to maintain something already going and put some makeup on it now and then than to create something completely new. In churches that are change averse,