I was recently in the Pittsburgh area working at a church. Once again, I’m faced with a church that has a dilemma: it has been plateaued in worship attendance for ten years. There’s nothing overtly bad about this church that anybody can put their finger on. They have gained some members, but about equal to the natural attrition of those who move away, die, go into nursing homes, etc.

I call this a diagnosis from the perspective of the missing piece of the puzzle. In other words, there are no overt issues that keep this church stalled. Therefore, no one can “get it.” Here’s the deal in this case. We see it often:

1) The church lacks any vision or mission. It doesn’t really excite anyone enough to want to bring anyone to church.

2) Both worship services are blended. Blended services–regardless of what a few experts say–are bland, but they are subconsciously bland. In other words, they are good enough to be “holding tanks” for committed Christians who have the glue of the fellowship of the church. They aren’t, however, distinctive enough in style to ignite excitement for someone to invite a friend.

In interviews with people, if you press them hard enough and ask a lot of questions, ultimately you’ll get the same answer, “Well, our worship services are………bland!” You have to really dig to get this information. That is because it is subconscious. We recommended that they change their early service to a traditional service and their late service to a contemporary service. Eighteen months from now, in all likelihood, we’ll see this church in a growth pattern.