By Thom S Rainer
On my blog earlier this week, I noted some of the signs of internal drift in established churches. I noted that an established church could be any congregation that has existed for three or more years. The church has developed certain patterns or traditions while simultaneously forgetting its original purpose and passion.
By almost any metric, the majority of North American congregations are established churches. They often include discouraged leaders and frustrated members. Conflict in these churches is often normative.