The squeaky wheel gets all the attention. This idiom is also true for the Church. The most noticeable problem gets all the attention. In the West, the squeaky wheel is now and has been for decades the inactivity of believers. What’s considered the unfortunate norm has now evolved into the greatest threat that needs to be addressed. This is not an exaggeration.  When people become believers, they are now expected to do a few central things for that local church of which they're members, and maybe 1 more thing if they’re serious about their faith — Attend church; Give to the ministry of the church; Find a place to serve in the church. The bonus for the serious believer is to go and make disciples. If one of those things are not being done in some faithful manner, it becomes the squeaky wheel for church leadership. For goodness’ sake, most churches give such a low bar as it is for their members. The least they could do is tend to those things, right? Church pastors are often given the expectation to work 40 hours at least. If a church is big enough to have a staff, they too are expected to work 40 hours. Then you have lay leaders who already work 40 hours for a living expected to spend time every week preparing lessons or something similar. Then you have the people in the pews or chairs. They typically work 40 hours with the expectation of meeting the low bar requirements.  Only when the mission of the church becomes the squeaky wheel does it then become the focus of sermons and agendas in church meetings. I’ve seen it.. I've heard this pattern. I want to bring attention to one area that’s often missed. If you were to ask people what the Bible says is the mission, then I think some would turn their attention to Matthew 28. (I would be severely surprised to hear someone mention Luke 16 even.) Yet once the answer is given, the next breath of reality goes unmentioned. What I mean is that the inactivity of believers in carrying out the mission to make disciples often grieves the pew people as well as the leadership. But grief doesn’t move many. And reflection rarely happens. Inactivity almost never morphs into consistency. In other words, the church misses the mission and far too often sees it as something for the serious believers to do.  Could it be that the church has reduced the gospel into such a formula that when someone gets baptized, people don’t know what else there is to teach them to obey outside of the low bar essentials? Could the gospel story of God be the very thing Jesus wanted taught to the new disciples? Planting a church in 2025 is just as unique as planting in 1995. We want to do it the right way the first time. All of that is well and good. But here’s another question to ask ourselves — would God agree with our ways?