Does your church have "it"?

Mike Lowery, pastor of Impact Community Church in Rock Hill, had a stirring message last Sunday.

Mike, who says the church ought to be in the business of serving and trying to get closer to God, noted that some houses of worship have all the makings or trappings of what they should be about--saving souls for eternity--but they fall short because they don't have "it".

You might wonder what "it" is.

It's tough to define this elusive, increasingly rare characteristic of churches. But we know, according to Lowery, that some churches have "it," and others don't.

The seven qualities of "it," he says, are:

•Vision. Churches with "it" know that their vision comes from God, not from man.

•Divine focus. A church with "it" does not try to do a million things. It only tries to accomplish a few things and ends up doing these very well.

•Unmistakable comraderie. Churches with "it" enjoy togetherness or connectedness with other churches or even with folks outside their congregations.

•Innovative minds. An "it" church is a creative church.

•Willingness to fall short. A church with "it" isn't afraid to make mistakes. It fails forward and learns from its errors.

•Focused outward instead of inward. (Nuff said!)

•Kingdom mindedness. In a a church with "it," it's not what the church can do for me; instead it's what can I do for my church?

Does your church or place of worship have "it"? Or is it "itless"?