Good Morning,
I once attended a Roman Catholic church which had a dynamic, Spirit-filled priest, who constantly challenged the parish as to whether they were "Settlers or Pioneers?" He was one of the most interesting persons I have ever met. Settlers are a sign of a dying church. They often whine, "We've never done it that way before." Pioneers push forward to confront the frontier and welcome change.
One recent topic was why Pentecostals are growing exponentially. I have never been to a Pentecostal church, but one side of my family went to a Fundamentalist church, where their primary objective was to "bring others to Christ."
Mainline Protestant churches have for a long time been "asleep at the wheel." That is why they are losing so many people to the enthuisiasm and dynamic preaching of Pentecostals. In this case, Pentecostals are the pioneers and Mainline Churches are the settlers and are slowly waking up this fact and fighting back.
So, we need to ask ourselves, are we going to be settlers or pioneers? If pioneers,we should emulate other pioneers in our society, where the number one objective of the church is "bringing others to Christ."