2008
William Carlin
What Can Shake Thy Sure Repose? Maintenance Church Or Mission Church? Can One Model Work Without The Other?
The idea for writing this thesis began when reading two books, Reclaiming The Great Commission by Claude E. Payne and Hamilton Beazley and From Survival to Celebration by Howard Hanchey. After reading these books as well as other volumes and articles, I felt compelled to write about the maintenance and mission models in churches as a thesis topic. This thesis attempts to critique the books by Payne and Beazley and by Hanchey in showing that there are elements of both the maintenance and mission models in any church, In order for the church to survive, elements from both schools of thought are essential in the running of a church. In writing, I am looking at the church in general and not at any specific denomination. Current strategies which use elements from both the mission and maintenance models successfully contribute to many congregations being not only able to succor, but to feed and inspire long-time church members, as well as to draw and retain new people. Writing from a personal, realistic and practical standpoint, derived from serving as a parish priest for over a decade and being highly involved in church congregations as a lay person for two prior decades, I do not feel that any church can operate totally in only a maintenance or a mission model. Elements of both of the models have been used and must continue to be used for the successful church to survive in the twenty-first century and to remain a vital part of its surrounding and nurturing community. This thesis is written in advocating a middle ground that would select and combine elements of both the maintenance and mission schools of thought in order to come up with a realistic and effective model for the contemporary church to operate within.