LEAD FORWARD | Vol 1. Revitalization

VO L . 1 - R E V I TA L I Z AT I O N 1

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Copyright 2019

by The BC Yukon Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.

Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by PAOC provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The BC and Yukon Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC).

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INTRODUC TION

I am grateful for this opportunity to raise the profile of church revitalization in our BC & Yukon District. The book that you have in your hands is a book “by us, for us”. I appreciate the insights and thoughts from our fellow credential holders.

These friends are leaders in changing the culture of their congregations from being ‘preference driven’ to ‘purpose driven’, from being ‘inward focused’ to becoming ‘relentlessly outward focused’ and I honour them for the lumps and bruises they have suffered in persevering in their journey to lead a church that is laser-focused on fulfilling the Great Commission in their community.

These are exciting yet challenging days to be leading the body of Christ. I hope that the contents of this book help put some fuel in your tank for leading your congregation toward increased fruitfulness.

The future is bright, Phil Spoelstra Assistant District Superintendent for Revitalization

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TA B LE O F CO NTE NT S

Introduction

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Chapter One Darin Latham – Reset Your Thermostat

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Chapter Two Blair Phibbs – It’s Worth It

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Chapter Three Dave Funk – Consistency

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Chapter Four Ross Allen – The Simplicity of a Visionary Calling

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Chapter Five Shawn Robillard – Persistency

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Chapter Six Phil Spoelstra – Fishing Advice from a Stranger

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Conclusion

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RESE T YOUR T H E R M O S TAT Darin Latham

This brief article is being written in response to a request. The request was simple. I was assigned the task of finishing the following sentence: “If I had one thought to share with my peers in ministry to spur them forward in striving toward pastoring a healthy, missional congregation, it would be ________________.”

It didn’t take me long to fill in that blank. In fact, an answer immediately sprang to my mind. However, I decided to sit on that initial thought for a couple of weeks. I wanted to see if the thought would increase or decrease in intensity. As it turned out, my first instinct maintained its strength.

It passed the test of time; so, I’m going to share it with you.

“If I had one thought to share with my peers in ministry to spur them forward in striving toward pastoring a healthy, missional congregation, it would be this: set your thermostat to outreach.”

Let me explain what I mean.

My wife and I have raised four children into adulthood.

Over the last three decades, our home has been filled with children, pets, friends, family, neighbours, parties, conversations, projects, and almost every type of gathering you can imagine. Now that we’ve added grandchildren to the mix, the volume and intensity have only increased!

For decades our home has been a busy and active place. However, in the background, in the midst of all that busyness, tucked away on the floor of every single room, you will find... vents. These vents are connected to a network of ducts which is connected to a furnace. That furnace is connected to a thermostat which is attached to a wall. That one,

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single thermostat controls the temperature in every room. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of activity - quietly, in the background - that thermostat controls the environment for everything that takes place in our home.

Every congregation has a “ministry thermostat.” As the pastor, you are the guardian of that thermostat. As the pastor, you set the “temperature” for the congregation; you control the “environment”. It is my opinion that the thermostat of a healthy, missional congregation is always set to outreach.

What does that mean? First let me tell you what it does NOT mean.

“Setting your thermostat to outreach” does NOT mean that all that you do is evangelism. It does not mean that you ignore fellowship, worship, discipleship, or acts of service; absolutely not. These are all essential activities that the church of Jesus Christ is called to do and must do.

“Setting your thermostat to outreach” does NOT mean just doing outreach to the exclusion of everything else. Okay, that is what it does NOT mean. So, what then DOES it mean?

“Setting your thermostat to outreach” means the “atmosphere,” the “temperature,” the “environment” of your congregation should always be conducive to outreach. “Setting your thermostat to outreach” means that when you fellowship, when you worship, when you disciple, and when you serve, you should be doing these things with outreach in mind, with outreach factored in, with outreach on your radar, with outreach in the background.

Years ago, I was impacted by an observation Rick Warren made. He pointed out that, of the five biblical purposes we are called to do (outreach, worship, fellowship, service, and discipleship) only one of them cannot be done in heaven.

Of the five biblical purposes of the church, the only one that cannot be done in heaven is outreach. That gives us a strong clue as to the importance of outreach while we are here on earth. Outreach is the only purpose that has a limited shelf life that has a time limit attached to it. The “outreach clock” is ticking down, and we should steward that clock wisely.

We should fulfill the other four purposes, but we should fulfill them with outreach in the forefront of our minds.

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What does it look like to do the other four purposes with out-reach in mind?

How can we worship with “the thermostat set to outreach?” I believe that the Apostle Paul gives us a great illustration in his advice for the operation of the vocal ministry gifts in 1 Corinthians 14:22-25. In that passage, Paul encourages the Corinthian believers to flow in the vocal gifts, but he instructs them on how to do this with “inquirers or unbelievers” in mind. When your congregation worships, do you do it in a way that ignores or informs unbelievers? Do you worship (or plan your worship) in a way that focuses only upon a believer’s experience with God, or do you factor in the experience of the one who is seeking God as well?

How can we fellowship with “the thermostat set to Outreach?” Jesus modeled this His entire ministry. He traveled and mingled with His disciples, but His calendar was not taken up exclusively with members of His team. The Gospel writer observed that, “While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.” (Mathew 9:10). Jesus fellowshipped with lost people. Jesus mingled with seekers, sinners, and searchers. Jesus rubbed shoulders with people who were outside of His tribe. How many of your congregation’s social events are designed for, or sensitive to, the presence of the unchurched? When you gather socially, do you speak in a code that only the initiated can understand?

How can we disciple with “the thermostat set to outreach?” Jesus’ use of parables models how this can be done.

After recording Jesus’ teaching about the nature of God’s Kingdom through stories involving sowers, seeds and lamps, Mark concluded with this observation, “With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.” (Mark 4:33-34). Mark is telling us that Jesus taught disciples and seekers at the same time, with the same stories. Jesus taught in a way that met people where they were at. Those who wanted to dig deeper would follow up and pursue the truth even more. When you write your sermons do you write them with an unbeliever in mind, or do you assume that everyone in your audience is biblically

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literate? Something as simple as taking 30 seconds to say, “the Apostle Paul (a leader in the first century church) wrote the following...” goes a long way to achieving this goal. What kind of topics do you choose? Are you answering questions that no one is asking?

How can we serve with “the thermostat set to outreach?” Peter’s advice to women that are married to unbelieving husbands serves as a great template. In his first letter, Peter encouraged such women to serve their husbands faithfully “so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.” (1 Peter 3:1-2). Is your congregation known for what you contribute to your community? Are you seen as a place that is always giving or as a place that is always taking? For which is your congregation known more; a place that has much to offer or as a place that receives many offerings?

After spending well over 30 years of my life helping plateaued or struggling congregations return to a season of vibrancy, it has been my experience that the starting point for every successful turnaround has been (or includes) this; “set the thermostat to outreach.”

Now understand something; doing this will not be easy. Whenever you change the temperature in a room you are dealing with people’s comfort levels. It will unsettle everyone and everything; mind you, when things have settled into complacency, being unsettled is a good thing!

Are you serving a congregation that feels stuck?

Pastor, take my advice. Right now, get up from where you are sitting and “set the thermostat to outreach.” If you do this, be prepared to explain and defend the new settings. Be prepared to evaluate how and what you are communicating to the world around you. Be prepared to rethink everything – and I mean everything. Be prepared to set off a chain of unanticipated consequences. And be prepared for the most exciting season of ministry you have ever had.

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ITS WORTH IT Blair Phibbs

I’ve been the lead pastor of Christian Life Fellowship in Campbell River since August of 2017. In that time, I’ve had the privilege to see our average Sunday morning attendance in-crease by 50 people, including having over 300 people in a Sun-day service for the first time in the history of the church.

My wife Angela and I have been married for 26 years and we have four wonderful daughters.

“If I had one thought to share with my peers in ministry to spur them forward in striving toward pastoring a healthy, missional congregation, it would be ________________.”

Worth it!! The one thing I would want to say to any of my peers who are thinking about, in the midst of, or having second thoughts about all the effort involved with engaging in revitalization is that it’s worth it. Absolutely. Worth. It.

It’s worth every challenging conversation and necessary change. It’s worth seeing passion ignite in the hearts of God’s people as they catch a glimpse of what He wants to do in their community. It’s worth it as peoples’ lives are changed. It’s worth stopping the things that aren’t working and taking risks in something new. Go ahead and dream!

It’s worth it.

Here are some of the things I’ve found worth doing.

1. Create the right culture

Have you ever walked into a room where two people were obviously in a heated discussion and they went silent as you entered? You can likely feel the tension in the room even though you didn’t witness what was taking place. You are interpreting the situation based on body language, facial expression and the lack of verbal communication, and it creates a ‘feeling’ in the room. It’s no different when your church gathers on a Sunday. There is a ‘feeling’ in your build-

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ing that other people interpret, and it tells them whether or not they are wanted and welcome there.

Everything you do creates a culture in your church and teaches people what you expect from them and what they can expect from you. For example, when I arrived at CLF, the aesthetics were very dated. It looked tired, out of date, and out of touch. I immediately began telling anyone who would listen that the appearance of our building sent a message and it was saying, “We don’t care that much”. I had someone throw out every fake plant that was on the platform, only to find someone else had pulled them back out of the dumpster later that week. Not everyone is going to like the changes, but it’s worth it. (I’m happy to report that those fake plants are now resting in the local landfill!) We did some updating and not long after, I had people tell me they were no longer embarrassed to invite their friends to church. You can say it’s shallow or unspiritual, but the truth is, things like this make a difference to people.

It takes a lot of courage for someone new to go to church for the first time. They don’t know what to expect, so anything you can do to communicate to them that you value them is vitally important. It’s worth changing your building, signage, bulletin, service structure, and language to help someone new connect with your church.

Culture is more than how things look; it’s how you communicate, how you plan, what you do and don’t do. Your church may deeply care for your community and want to welcome new people but be unaware that their body language is sending the wrong message. Creating health will mean making healthy changes, so teach your people what health looks like. I remind people regularly that a self-centered attitude will not lead to health, but a self-sacrificing attitude always will. It’s a kingdom principle.

If you aren’t sure where to start or how to change your culture, let me encourage you to get help. Our BCYD Network is committed to giving you tools to make healthy change happen. It’s worth it.

2. Focus on leaders

I have found that empowering leaders is worth it and will help bring health. Of course, they have to be leaders that

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are moving toward health, so if you don’t have any of those, then start investing in the leaders you do have and ask them to move in the right direction. Buy them books to read, sign them up for podcasts and meet with them to talk about where you’re headed. Empowering your leaders to make decisions sends the right message to your congregation and creates the right culture in your church. I celebrate all leaders, but I intentionally look for younger leaders and move them into influential positions.

3. Speak plainly

It’s worth having honest conversations with people about the changes that need to happen. In board meetings, over coffee, and from the platform, it will help if you regularly communicate why you are making changes. It’s to reach more people with the gospel! Challenge the perception that only believers should benefit from a church service. That’s poor thinking that is usually rooted in selfishness. Creating the right culture means challenging poor thinking and bad attitudes, while simultaneously encouraging the correct ones.

On more than one occasion on a Sunday morning, I have described to my church how to interact with someone new. Smile!! Introduce yourself. Ask their name. Ask them to sit with you and invite them for coffee after church is over. It may seem obvious, but if it’s not happening, then it’s not obvious. Without fail, every time I’ve shared these simple things with my church, I have had someone approach me and say, “I attend here today because on my first Sunday, (insert name) invited me to sit with them and asked me for coffee after.” It’s worth it!

4. Pray

I know you’re praying, so don’t let me imply that you’re not praying enough. I want to encourage you to be strategic in your prayers. Hopefully, you’ve got some intercessors in your church. Ask them if they will pray for you and the church.

I meet with a small group of intercessors on a weekly basis because I need it. Often in those times, I have felt the Lord speak to me about how to help people receive the changes

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that are needed. We rarely pray against the poor thinking and bad attitudes we sometimes encounter, but rather ask God to create passion, change hearts and minds, and release more of His kingdom. I find that even as we pray, it’s best to focus on where we are headed more than what we are fighting against. One encourages me, the other wears me out. When you’re tired, it becomes harder to do the things that are worth doing. Find ways to stay encouraged.

I absolutely believe God has good plans for you, your church and your community.

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CONSISTENCY Dave Funk

I had the privilege (burden?) of growing up in a pastor’s home. Unlike many P.K.’s however, my dad didn’t move us around every 3-5 years like a military family. By the time I turned 5, we settled in Victoria where my dad ministered until he retired 28 years later. It was wonderful to have that stable consistency in my life as a kid.

Our Church (Colwood Pentecostal) was a young church in a growing community with about 150 faithful people attending on Sunday. 28 years in one place means plenty of ups and downs and lots of changes. When he started at the church, my dad was writing sermons by hand and then with a typewriter; that’s how long he was there! When he retired from Colwood in 2016, he left it as one of the healthiest and largest churches in the district. When I started my own journey as a lead pastor four years ago, I began to reflect more deeply on what enabled my dad to lead so well for so long (by the way, my dad is far from a perfect leader, and he knows it…and so did his church). The things I observed from him, I have tried to put into practice in my own ministry.

My Church (Bethel, Penticton) has experienced revitalization over the past four years. They were a faithful, generous and well-led congregation before I arrived, but was aging and in decline like so many churches across the country. Today, however, our kid’s ministry is overflowing, we have more than doubled in Sunday attendance (adding a second service along the way) and our impact on the community has grown significantly. Of course, we give all the credit to the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit works through flesh and blood leaders who are willing to do what it takes to advance the kingdom of God. I also give credit to one of the greatest lessons that I learned from my dad’s ministry; consistency is a critical key to fruitful ministry.

Let me tell you what I mean by consistency. It has been

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said that leadership is about moving people from “here” to “there.” That’s a very simplistic way to understand it. The problem is that we can sometimes forget about the middle bit. Leaders tend to be visionaries by nature, and we have been “there” in our minds for a long time before our people even understand that there is a “there.” Too often, we impatiently push our people forward, trying to convince them that “there” will be better for them. We may be right, but using force is not healthy leadership.

The goal of leadership, at least Christian leadership, isn’t just the journey to get “there”, but the goal of Christian leadership is also very much the process between “here” and “there.” That process is what we call discipleship. Shortcutting the process is shortcutting the second half of the Great Commission. Leading our people, then, is not about a big campaign or a major sermon series or a powerful visioncasting moment. Leading our people is about small, everyday decisions and actions that we do consistently over time to accomplish what God has called us to. How we lead over time is far more important than how we lead at any given moment.

It’s more important than an outreach event, a sermon series or any program your church may launch. Moments are fleeting, but consistency builds culture. Catch that; consistency builds culture.

I’ve noticed as I’ve reached my mid-thirties that I can tend toward being a grumpier person on average than I was in my mid-twenties. Of course, the differences in that decade include 3 kids and a mortgage, so you can’t blame me too much! Think about the potential impact on my life, and the lives of those around me if I grew consistently grumpier every year. What if I got 3% grumpier every year for the rest of my life? Year after year it wouldn’t be very noticeable, but compound 3% annual increase in grumpiness over 30 years. I will have become a frustratingly grumpy church curmudgeon.

Conversely, what if I become a 3% better leader every year? What if the people in my church were 3% more engaged in the Word? What if there were 3% more evangelistic conversations happening in my community? What if there were 3% more positive interactions between Christians and non-Christians? What if 3% more kids go to bed at night with two parents in the home? Over time, that consistent change will bring dramatic results. “There” suddenly becomes a lot

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closer.

On the day of Pentecost, the church grew by 3000 people. It was a dramatic increase in a short period of time. 300 years later, it is estimated that there were over 30 million Christians spread throughout the Roman Empire, changing the entire culture. Sometimes, we have the impression that the dramatic growth they experienced at Pentecost continued at that rate indefinitely. It did not. How fast do you need to grow to increase from 3000 to over 30 Million in 300 years?

Around 3% per year! As leaders, we often put so much pressure on ourselves to make a major impact in a short period of time. Sometimes that happens, and it’s wonderful, but it’s not the norm. Like the church in the first 300 years, if we want to change the world, one critical key to accomplish that is consistency.

What does consistency look like in church ministry?

Consider this; what would happen if you’ve been to a restaurant four times, but on two of those visits, the service was slow and the food was cold? You probably wouldn’t go back, and you certainly wouldn’t want to recommend the place to a friend. That restaurant has ruined your invitational confidence. What if the same stats could be said of your church?

Whether it’s your Sunday service, or your outreach events, or your small groups or kids ministry; what if every two out of four experiences are negative or weird? What if the worship music is good most of the time, but once or twice per month it’s awful? What if the kid’s ministry is great, but the greeters are unfriendly to people who don’t dress according to a certain standard? What if once a month, dear sister so-andso stands up in the middle of the service and prays loudly in tongues for two whole minutes with no interpretation and no explanation while people sit and cringe? You know what happens; people stop inviting their friends. Their invitational confidence is ruined. After that, it doesn’t matter how hard you plead, or how great your new program is. No one wants to risk inviting their friend… just in case.

The early church was built on the witness of regular Christians who consistently loved their neighbours and invited them into community. Today, our people will not feel confident to invite their friends to an event, a small group or a Sunday service if they worry that something embarrassing or awkward is going to happen. They don’t want to final-

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ly convince their friend to come, only to scare them away from church for good. On the contrary, if our people know that their church has a consistently friendly atmosphere, a consistently safe and well-run kids program, a consistently thoughtful and engaging message, a consistently skillful and Spirit-led worship time, their invitational confidence will soar.

One of the great benefits of consistency is trust.

Trust is the backbone of a healthy relationship between a pastor and their congregation. The changes necessary for revitalization cannot be made unless our congregations trust us. The small, everyday decisions and actions that we do over time build that trust, which can then be leveraged when bigger changes need to take place. Consistency doesn’t mean that things stay the same. In fact, we need to consistently make small changes in order to help our people get used to the idea of larger change. As people see the fruit developed from the small changes, they’ll trust us for the big ones.

So where is “there” for your church? What would it look like 5, 10, and 25 years from today if everything was as you dreamed it could be? What kind of culture are you creating with your leadership consistency? What are 2 or 3 small adjustments you can make today that are obedient to the great commission, and how can they be implemented consistently, in a way that bears fruit and builds congregational trust, enabling you to move closer to the goal?

From my observations, consistency in providing wise, relevant and Godly leadership over an extended period of time is a crucial key to fruitful ministry.

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THE SIMPLICIT Y OF A V I S I O N A RY C ALLI N G Ross Allen

How can we temper our tendency to over-complicate when it’s important to keep things simple? Better yet, how can we nurture a vision of our church’s future when the complexities of running a church are so intense?

It has been my experience, working in the business community most of my adult life, that with success comes complexity. And with complexity comes increased pace, higher stress, more responsibility and a blurring of purpose for those in leadership. It’s a natural process, but it doesn’t have to hinder your ability to lead.

A clear sense of purpose and an inspirational vision are two very different things, but go hand in hand. An effective vision of where your church is heading is fueled by your crystal clear articulation of the purpose or “WHY” of your calling and your church’s existence in the first place. Let me explain using a surprisingly simple but effective model of inspiration created by the clever business strategist, Simon Sinek.

Most organizations (churches included), understand WHAT they do. Churches preach the gospel, worship God through song and music, expand on biblical lessons, perform acts of outreach, etc. These are WHAT statements or results.

Some organizations understand HOW they do what they do. For instance, a church may say “We are seeker-sensitive and preach to the younger generations from the message”.

Or “We have three styles of worship to appeal to different generations.” These are HOW statements or methods. But very few organizations understand WHY they do what they do. What is the root, emotional reason for the work you do?

And why should anyone care? Let’s dig a little deeper into this WHAT, HOW and WHY concept to understand where this is going.

Throughout history, the most effective leaders have

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inspired humanity by following one simple rule: articulate WHY you believe what you believe in a way that others can understand and care about. Less effective leaders looking to inspire their followers, employees or future voters, focus on the goals or results of WHAT they plan to do. This is an easy and logical form of reasoning that typically falls flat when people are trying to make a decision to buy, get involved or change their point of view. Some leaders will try to inspire by focusing on the unique processes or methods they will take to achieve their goals. This too is a logical but uninspiring form of communication. Inspirational leaders consistently articulate their core belief (their WHY) to others and reinforce that message with actions that are in line with that belief. But in the end, they always lead with WHY.

This is not some magical management success formula: it is in fact rooted in our biology. Our brains are comprised of roughly three sections. The inner two sections make up our limbic system, where all our decision-making takes place, and basic emotions like fear, jealousy, and joy emanate. Unfortunately, this part of our brain has no capacity for language. The third section of the brain is comprised of the neocortex where many higher functions like reasoning, language, and compassion are centered. Often when we make “gut” decisions and someone asks us why we made that choice, it’s common to make the reference that “it just felt right”. This is your limbic system doing the best that it can to talk.

When leaders try to inspire with their WHAT and HOW statements, they are appealing to our sense of logic, but it is uninspiring. This is not how decisions are made. As Simon Sinek likes to say, “People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.”

So how can a harried senior pastor who is trying to run a complex organization like a church, create and present an inspiring vision for the future of their church?

The key is to get your well thought-out purpose articulated first, then the vision will naturally follow. It all comes down to asking four questions. But first some setup.

Give yourself permission to take time to think through your answers. You most likely already know your WHY, you just haven’t had a chance to put it into inspirational terms.

It takes time to articulate the really meaningful answers.

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Work in a small group of intimate friends if you can.

Your initial answers may come out sounding like WHAT and HOW statements. This is normal. Keeping working until you get to an emotional WHY.

1. Why do you believe what you believe as a Christian?

2. Why was Christ sent to Earth to live amongst us?

3. What does your community need that your church offers?

4. How would you say all of this in 1 or 2 sentences that a non-Christian would understand?

Once you’ve arrived at an answer to question #4, test it out with believers and non-believers to see if it resonates.

Once successfully tested, you have your purpose. And once you articulate this purpose, your vision will quickly follow, because purpose is the rocket fuel of vision.

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PERSISTENCY Shawn Robillard

Persistence. One simple quality that can mean the difference between surviving and thriving in ministry. When I think about the high calling of pastoring people, many images come to mind. Our Saviour Jesus is referred to in Scripture as the Good Shepherd, which naturally connects with farming. If any vocation requires persistence, it’s being a farmer.

So much time, energy and resources are poured into producing a good crop or a healthy, vibrant herd. Ministry is much the same, only our crops are people and our herds are congregations.

In recent years, we have seen a dynamic cultural shift take place in our nation and by extension, our churches.

What was once a reasonably simple and consistent formula for church ministry has irrevocably changed. We can no longer rely on outdated methods and one-size-fits-all approaches to ministry. Church plateau and decline should cause every leader concern. After all, pastors are called by Jesus to lead people to eternal life and spiritual vitality. It’s in the nature of our calling to produce and nurture healthy people and congregations.

I like to view these shifts in our culture and congregations not as problems, rather as opportunities to reinvent what it means to be the church in each community. To return to a simpler, more organic approach to church life and our mandate to fulfill the Great Commission. When I hear stories from other pastors who have led their churches to renewal, it encourages me to be persistent in ministry. That all the time, effort and care I sow today, will reap a harvest of healthy followers of Jesus in the future.

So how do we move our congregations forward when it seems like they are losing momentum? I will assume for a moment that our doctrines are fine, but I would say that many of our methods or applications need work. A problem I often encounter with people is their fear of change.

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People are naturally resistant to change, but the antidote to that is communication.

As pastors we get to lead change and help our people to dream big for Jesus, but we must be persistent in our communication. Jesus spent much of His time talking with the disciples, answering their questions. We need do the same and it is surprising how open to change people become when they’ve been heard.

Another area where our methods and models need work is in regard to inter-generational ministry. The Millennial Generation as a whole, does not share all of the same social values, interests or life experience that previous generations had. They have a different cultural perspective and less church/Bible influence to guide them. Technology and digital content carry far more influence in their lives which affect their views on faith and church in general. I believe that we as pastors have a wonderful opportunity to lead our churches to renewed health and vitality, when we encourage younger believers to step up and lead. The apostle Paul did this with Timothy.

I find it ironic that young people are leaving the church as it is plateauing and declining, as most pastors I know were called to the ministry at a young age. Clearly, God is not averse to raising up the young to lead His people and congregations, and this should translate into our ministry strategies. All generations have skills and value to contribute.

We should be cultivating young leaders today by investing in their spiritual development and connection. It should bring us great joy to pass the torch of ministry to the next generation.

With so many expectations, we as leaders have a tremendous amount of pressure to filter through. Everyone has an opinion or suggestion for us to consider and ministry is claiming more pastors every year. It is staggering how many leaders leave the ministry, never to return, because of burnout and discouragement among other things. Trying to revitalize a stagnant church is a noble calling, but it challenges and stretches us in every way possible. The key to surviving and thriving in this environment is persistence.

Whenever we hit a roadblock in our efforts, we are wise to remember that Jesus called us to this task. He will be with us when the doubters try to discourage us; but we do well

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by being persistent. Being persistent means that we don’t compare our ministry, church or results with someone else’s.

Persistence means we stay with our calling and continually rely on Jesus and the Holy Spirit for strength and inspiration.

Just like the persistent farmer, we need to remember that our mandate is to faithfully and obediently plant seed and water the ground (1 Cor 3:6-9) and never forget that God makes it grow and growth takes time. To develop a missionally-focused church that is healthy will require patience, endurance and skill. To thrive in this endeavour, we need to remember that we are in a marathon of ministry, not a sprint.

There will be rewards along the way, but more importantly we have the privilege to inspire people of all ages to grow in faith, serve in love and be empowered to live for Jesus.

Persistence is the key component that can take us through these necessary steps towards revitalization.

When we feel like quitting, remember that Jesus is with us.

Remember that church health is more than just the number of people that we have, it is about leading people to become more like Jesus. As we lead our congregations in the coming years, it will be more important than ever to get back to simple ministry. It will take long-term commitment from pastors and leaders to persistently push through obstacles and spiritual barriers. But when we get to harvest time, the fruits of our labour will be renewed churches and people who are reaching our communities, with the soul changing hope of Jesus.

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FISHING ADVICE FROM A STR ANGER Phil Spoelstra

I don’t know which statistic is more disheartening. Is it the fact, (based upon our 2018 ACLR reports) that 74% of our PAOC congregations have plateaued or declined, or is it the fact that our churches are decreasing in size categories at the staggering rate of 13:1? Not 3:1. 13:1.

Friends, please forgive this sobering introduction, but I think it’s critical to our future revitalization efforts that we wipe the fog off the mirror and see ourselves for who we really are.

For the most part, we are not strong, we are not healthy, and the 26% of our churches that are growing are mostly growing by transfer or nursery growth. We are barely making a dent in our culture with the message of salvation and hope that was entrusted to us to deliver.

Before we can paint a picture of hope, we must acknowledge the reality that is before us: we cannot fix something until we can admit that it is broken. This is the goal of the book that you hold in your hands today - that we would grasp how dire our straits are, that we would recognize our need for change, that we would have the courage to pursue a future that is obedient to the Great Commission once again.

Simply put, the modern Westernized version of what we call “church” is broken and needs to be repaired or changed.

The way that we are “doing church” is not effectively reaching lost people. This is the backbone of everything we are attempting to address with our efforts in mobilizing revitalization in our BC and Yukon District.

If there was ever an illustration that could help us wrap our heads around what revitalization can mean for us, it is fishing. Jesus called us to be fishers of men (Matt 4:19).

This implies action on our part, not on the fish. Fish are fish; they’re just trying to survive. It is our responsibility to catch

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the fish by whatever effective means possible. There are many different means of catching fish that are available to us.

There is fishing with a net, fishing with a rod and reel, choosing the right lures and selecting the right bait. It makes for a great illustration!

Some of us have wondered with concern that much of the growth that we have seen in our Fellowship for many decades could be likened to fish jumping into our boats. Leading church felt like growth because our attendance grew, our giving grew, and we built a lot of buildings with orange carpet. With the advantage of having 20/20 hindsight vision, the lingering question many now ask is this: was our growth predominantly genuine conversion growth, or did we grow mainly by transfer growth from other Christians attracted to our ministries? Asked differently, did we mainly grow because we were just better than the other churches in town?

For the purpose of this article, I’d like to shed some light on another fishing story with Jesus that is shared in the Gospels. Here’s the long and short of John 21. Professional, adult fishermen, doing something that they knew instinctively and have been doing almost daily since they were little boys, go fishing for an entire evening and catch nothing.

Tired and discouraged at sunrise, some guy yells out from shore inquiring if they’d caught any fish. That same guy tells them to throw their nets over to the other side of the boat.

“Thanks, pal!” I would have shouted. “What an idiot”, I might have whispered under my breath. Not exactly a great time to be offering suggestions.

What I find interesting is that their response wasn’t to tell him to throw himself over the side of a boat. They actually did what the stranger suggested, and as a result, they were barely able to contain their catch. In their celebration, they discover that the stranger was actually the resurrected Jesus! Peter doesn’t even bother trying to walk on water; he just jumps in and swims to shore leaving the other guys to tow the massive haul of fish to shore. It’s a great story.

As preachers, it’s fun and entertaining to extrapolate some teachings from this. Here’s my take. I see a lot of us faithfully doing something that we are very familiar with.

We’re very familiar with all that is involved with our mode of “fishing”. We know the boats, we know the nets. We know how to repair nets, we know how to read weather conditions,

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we know how to bail water if we have to and we know how to clean the fish. We’re professionals, after all. We’ve been doing it for a long time, and for the most part, it’s gone relatively well for most of us and success was predictable. Until now.

Now we find ourselves looking at the ministry equivalent of empty nets and our responses range everywhere from anger and resentment to bewilderment and frustration.

Like the disciples, the dangling questions for us are similar.

“Why is this not working anymore?”

“What changed?”

“Why should we change? We’re probably just in a slump.”

“Have the fish gotten smarter?”

“Do we need fancier nets?”

Let me go a little bit further with this. Gaze with me into the dark night of the soul of one of these disciple fishermen. My theory is, this wasn’t the first night that they’d fished and come back to shore empty-handed; in fact, my theory is that this was becoming unsettlingly common for them. Why? They took fishing advice from a complete stranger.

The bible makes it clear that they didn’t recognize Jesus on the shore, which begs the question, “Why on earth would seasoned fishermen take advice as ridiculous as ‘cast your nets on the other side of the boat’ from an unknown stranger”? The only answer that makes sense is ‘desperate frustration’.

This leads me to the heart of where I’m going with this: I think a lot of us are leading our churches in quiet, desperate frustration. For the most part, everything we’ve been doing for decades has worked fairly well for us and the church.

Now, we are experiencing a season of ministry ineffectiveness that is becoming a reality that can no longer be ignored.

It’s very clear that what we are dealing with is much more than a slump.

I see a lot of us working hard. We love Jesus. We love the church. We love the Word of God. We love the work of

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the ministry. But we have also lost much of our joy along the journey. We are tired, we are stressed, we are discouraged, and we really don’t seem to know what to do about it.

Sound familiar? It should. Sadly, it probably sounds familiar to about 74% of us.

Let’s turn this around. Let’s shine the spotlight on some hope for the future, shall we? This story in John 21 has a ridiculous ending of unexpected blessing and abundance, and you can be sure that joy was restored, the desire to keep on fishing was restored, and suddenly the future looked a lot brighter for them. I am confident that it can be for us too if we are willing to change direction. It’s a big ‘if’, but it’s an ‘if’ that carries with it a lot of hope.

Essentially the fishermen were told, “Do what you’re currently doing, but change the position in which you’re doing it.” For them, I think the 180-degree pivot in the hull says something to us more than the fact that Jesus wasn’t trying to get them to try a new net or a cooler boat.

The physical change in position in the boat reflects the philosophical shift or mindset that I believe we need to do in order to remain effective in doing ministry today.

Same net, same boat, but a very different approach.

How shall we teach, worship, fellowship and serve? From a radically different position.

I would urge us to be relentlessly outward-bound in everything that we do. To place the needs of the lost ahead of the preferences of the found. Said differently, we need to “do church” in such a way that reaches lost people.

I would urge us to shift our focus on how we are “doing church” by cutting in half our efforts spent on discipling our already-discipled disciples and instead quadruple our efforts in intentionally and strategically reaching lost people.

This doesn’t mean that we water down the Gospel. It doesn’t mean that we compromise the message of Christ. But like Jesus, it will mean that we need to discern when and how we serve spiritual milk versus spiritual meat. We simplify and clarify the message of life for those who are spiritually dead.

Jesus ministered comfortably to both believers and non-believers alike. He communicated practical, life-transforming truths with great sensitivity and cultural relevance. He also adjusted His content to who was before him.

He spoke with the devout Jews differently then He did with

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the Pharisees, or with those who did not know the Scriptures.

He modeled how to feed God’s sheep as He also taught us how to seek and save the lost.

Therein lies our hope. This is our equivalent to casting our nets on the other side of the boat. Our future is bright if we too can adapt our approaches to ministry in a way that reaches lost people. We are attempting to lead in a post-Christian society. Fish aren’t jumping into our boats. Our plateaued and declining churches bear the fruit of a ministry mindset that largely considered evangelism as simply one of the responsibilities of the church. It’s not. Evangelism is at the heart of the mission of the church. If we want spiritual life and vitality, the change is obvious; we’ve got to stop making church predominantly about us.

I think fishing became a lot more fun for the disciples after this crazy incident. I know they likely didn’t get that haul every day. I understand that they still had to work day after day, that they still got cold and tired and still had bad days. Friends, if we are willing to adopt this seismic shift in perspective, I can tell you that we will still have to work hard.

We’ll still have stress and bad days, but I am fully confident that ministry will be a lot more fun again. Take comfort in this: headaches that come as a result of leading a revitalized church are way better than the headaches that come with trying to keep Christians in a dying church happy.

Please. I urge you. Fish on the other side. Change your position or mindset in how you are leading in ministry.

For your sake and for the sake of those God has placed near your boat. You can do it. We’re here to help.

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CONCLUSION

I am grateful for the perspectives of our friends and the contributions to this booklet. I hope their thoughts will catalyze new thinking in leading our churches as we lead forward to a brighter future.

At our District Leadership Team meetings at the end of 2017, it was determined that we needed to strategically address the state of health of our churches by creating the new position of the Assistant District Superintendent for Revitalization.

We don’t want to sit back and simply hope that things will change. We want to openly talk about this and meet the problem head on. There are many ways that we are attempting to promote health and new conversion growth in our churches. One of the most effective ways that we are tackling this is with a Revitalization Weekend. Here is the structure of a typical weekend: • Church health assessment through an anonymous

and confidential online tool, supplemented by inter

views with pastor(s), staff, and key leaders.

• Teaching specific to various groups of the church

speaking to the need for Revitalization and what it

might look like for your congregation.

• Prescriptions that address the needs that have arisen

from the Church health assessment.

• Ongoing coaching to the pastor weeks, months and

if need be, years after the Revitalization Weekend is over.

The bottom-line goal for a Revitalization Weekend is to help our congregations get back to being laser-focused on fulfilling the Great Commission once again. This applies to every large church and every small church, every urban church and every rural church, every new church plant and every established congregation. How we fulfill the Great Commission may look different for each of us, but it is for all of us.

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Interested in Bringing a Revitalization Weekend to your Church?

Please contact Phil Spoelstra at phils@bc.paoc.org.

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CONTRIBUTORS

Phil Spoelstra Assistant District Superintendent for Revitalization Darin Latham Lead Pastor, Broadway Church Vancouver, BC Blair Phibbs Lead Pastor, Christian Life Fellowship Campbell River, BC Dave Funk Lead Pastor, Bethel Church Penticton, BC Ross Allen President at Partnerworks, Ltd Vancouver, BC Shawn Robillard Lead Pastor, Alexis Park Church Vernon, BC

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