Have you ever visited a church where everyone wears their "Sunday best", the pastor smiles and is cleanly shaven, but when it comes time for the call to salvation at the end of the service, you can hear the crickets chirping? Perhaps things are going too well at your church, or running too smoothly.


Paul Alexander has a great post talking about churches that run too smoothly, and why you should be worried if yours is that way.

The book of Proverbs puts it this way in chapter 14, verse 4…

“Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.”

The Scripture is clear that one of the by products of an abundant harvest is a mess. Yes you can have a nice, clean, explainable ministry but it means you’ll miss out on an abundant harvest.  Here are 4 indicators that you may be avoiding a messy ministry:

1. Infrequent Risk Taking

2. You have Church full of Nice Church People

3. Your Church Growth is more easily explained through strategic planning than it is a move of God

4. Messy People are looked at as an Interruption instead of an Opportunity

So which would you rather have, a nice, clean, explainable ministry or an abundant harvest?

Source: paulalexanderblog.com