A Great Decision...

In less than 2 days - on Wednesday - the NHL trade deadline will happen. It is a time when teams either decide to be buyers and pick up players whom they think will help them in the playoffs, or will decide to be sellers and trade away players for future draft picks and prospects.
Usually, it is the weaker teams who decide to be sellers and in a sense, give up. It is the buyers who see what could be and make the necessary changes to improve their position.
It has been suggested that 90%+ of churches have either plateaued (stopped growing) or are in decline. There can be many reasons for this - declining population base; changing demographics between the church and the community, ie: old church, young community, or vice-versa; or even churches that have turned inward focused rather than remaining focused on their reason for existing - sharing the Good News with the unchurched.
To go back to my hockey analogy, I'm not suggesting that churches in decline are giving up, but instead may not be realizing what could be and are therefore failing to try something new (different than what they're doing) in an effort to grow the Kingdom of God, and therefore make new disciples (believers).
As I think of our own church - Central Nova Wesleyan - we are currently considering how we can take those next steps to make inroads into our community and reach new people. It is a daunting task and it will not always be easy. However, if we allow God's vision to guide us and we are intentional and committed to what could be...then we can find ourselves in the 10% of churches who are growing.
Truro offers so much potential...will we do what it takes to make a difference? "Without a Vision, the people perish" - Proverbs 29:18
Have a great week - Ken