Overcoming a Negative Culture in a Declining Church

July/August 2019 Vol 6 Issue 4

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Overcoming a Negative Culture in a Declining Church

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From The Editor Welcome to the Church Revitalizer Magazine: Have you been in a church that the moment you entered the sanctuary there was something that you could sense was amiss with the church body? What you are experiencing is a negative culture and what you are sensing is the hurt that has surfaced. Often new members who have become disheartened will state that they never saw the negative cracks in the churches culture until they had been around for awhile. This is usually because most of the regular attenders in a negative culture church will seek to mask their eternal unhappiness with just about everything in the church in an attempt to get you and your family aboard. There are toxic churches everywhere because there are toxic individuals in these churches that are allowed to get away with non-biblical practices.

Here are ten telling signs you may be in a toxic church culture: • You are told to feel “fortunate you are part of their church and received so well by the long-time members.”

• There is poor communication to most members but the inside crowd knows everything.

• Most of the longtime members are suspicious of new members and visitors. They have a general bad attitude towards those not part of the church powerbroker families.

• There is always a degree of drama around the church body. Such drama causes tension for the new membership while the longer members have grown accustomed to it.

• There’s a group of the “cool-church-folk” that have inside jokes, whisper in the corners, and only do things together. Sadly, you have not been invited to be part of their group and are left as somewhat of an outsider.

• The church is so negative in its culture that dysfunctionalism reigns supreme.

• There are certain patriarchs that operate towards the membership as tyrannical overlords.

• You feel within your gut that something is off and wrong about the church. The alarm bells sound.

• The newer members are dropping like flies. Most are not even hitting the one year mark before jumping off the sinking church ship.

• One day you simply cannot stand staying there any longer because you desire a better church experience. The joy is gone and you are out of there.

Within this edition we want to look at:

Overcoming a Negative Culture in a Declining Church Stay connected, more is coming!

Dr. Tom Cheyney is the Founder and Directional Leader of Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference and Executive Editor of the Church Revitalizer.

Contents

How a Negative Culture Hurts Revitalization Efforts Tom Cheyney

p. 10

Centrifugal Buzz: What’s in a Name?

Ken Priddy

p. 16

The Church Revitalizer and Pastoral Succession–Part 1 Lee Kricher

p. 20

Diagnosing a Negative Church Culture 7 Ways to Beat Discouragement Ron Smith

p. 26

Pete Tackett

p. 28

Dealing with Resistance and Opposition George Thomasson

p. 32

Also in this issue: The Revitalizer

Book Review Rob Hurtgen

p. 78 4

•Peterson, Eugene H. Run with the Horses; The Quest for Life at Its Best.

Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1983. (Note, the second edition pictured was printed in 2009).

•Rutland, Mark. Relaunch; How to Stage an Organizational Comeback.

Colorado Springs, Colorado: David C. Cook, 2013.

July/August | Vol 6, No 4

We’re Gonna Die! Steve Smith

Revitalizing Church Culture

p. 36

3 Ways Turnaround Mountains and Pastors Can Mole Hills Overcome a Negative Mindset...

Jim Grant in Themselves Bob Whitesel

Bill Tenny-Brittian

p. 38

p. 52

p. 46

Watch Where You’re Stepping p. 44 Bud Brown

THE LEADERSHIP LINK: Leading Revitalization Efforts Despite a Culture of Negativity

The Toxin of the Culture of Pride in the Church

Michael Atherton

p. 63

Steve Sells

p. 68

Seven Scriptural Steps for Starting Strong and Sustaining Strength p. 74

Remaining Confident in a Caustic Environment p. 54

Rodney Harrison

Tracy Jaggers

Rob Myers

Overcoming Wendy Winer p. 80

Five Ways to Overcome a Negative Church Culture p. 58 Rob Hurtgen

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How a Negative Culture Hurts Revitalization Efforts

By Tom Cheyney Visitors to churches in need of revitalization or renewal often speak of the feeling of negativity in the churches culture when they visit and further contributes that sense as to why they choose to not join the church but search for another. The prospects usually enjoyed the preaching by the pastor but were highly turned off by the passivity of the laity. Negativity in a declining church sends the message to potential prospects that the membership simply does not care if they join their church or not. The membership when confronted simply replied that that was the way they were and would always be.

It was part of their church culture. The effect that a negative church culture can have can be huge. Often contributing to increased membership turnover and decreased motivation of those who remain to do the work of the ministry.

You can have the most godly and dynamic preacher of all time and if the negative culture of the membership is not changed, it paints a sorrowful display of the Lords work to those who could be part of pulling it out of the doldrums. A negative culture will eventually affect your staff, the deacons, Bible Study leaders, worship leaders, and most everything else in the church if you do not address the issue quickly. Many pastors report feeling powerless to the influence of a negative organizational church culture. Pastors attending our Renovate regional conferences were asked if they had the power to create change and many said that they thought they did when they arrived, only to discover later that they did not. If you are pastoring a declining church with a negative culture you might feel like a butterfly blowing in the wind. Your efforts, regardless of how good a church revitalizer you are, may do little to negate the negative influence of the churches culture.

In churches like this, a beginning place is to start developing a positive culture within your staff. If your team is not part of the solution to overcome such negativity in the church, they are part of the problem. Often negative church cultures begin with the laity and they quickly discover who on staff is willing to sacrifice their calling in order to be liked by the power brokers. Usually they realize too late that these negative individuals will turn on them when they are no longer needed.

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Scripturally Harmful to Others Negative church cultures are usually fueled through gossip, rumor mongers, ridicule of others who are not of the same opinion, seek to harass and humiliate fellow church members or staff, bully those who seek change of negativity, aggressive towards weaker members, wiling to retaliate, and supportive of church cliques.

Here are some examples of negative church cultures which hurt the revitalizations efforts of a church:

Distrusting of Outsiders or Newbies Declining churches with negative cultures are full of an “in crowd” that is distrusting of the “new crowd” or the “at large” crowd. Even fellow members sense the rift that exists in the church because of this distrust. Members in these churches distrust one another, and church staff in general. Individuals with this mentality are continually looking for the perceived injustice and have a we are the victim mentality. They are withdrawn and often dishonest. Adversarial posturing is the norm in these churches.

Unmotivated The members avoid taking initiative and responsibility. There is more of an attitude of blaming others, avoiding doing any work of ministry, procrastinators, and an unwillingness to accept the blame for the negative culture.

Have a Blatant Disregard for Rules Churches with a negative culture have members who actively take advantage of the churches system of operation. They exploit the rules, take unethical shortcuts, and promote sinful corruption in the house of the Lord.

Poor Internal Church Communication A lack of team spirit in the church and ministry teams can be toxic to a church seeking revitalization and renewal. This is why it is no surprise that poor internal communication is an undeniable sign of a negative church culture. If your church desires to overcome this issue, friendliness and being supportive of one another is a critical fulcrum for eliminating sloppy or non-existent communication. When speaking to one another becomes difficult, forced, and un-enjoyable, this is when a problem arises.

Micromanagement of Staff by Pastor When under perpetual scrutiny from the pastor, staff of declining churches face the creation of an atmosphere filled with tension. For some reason these pastors believe that such practices help the church keep focused, when in reality all it does is raise a level of pressure that is unhealthy. Ask yourself this question: How many staff have left your church in the last ten years under your ministry? If the number is high, the problem is with you as the leader and your degree of micromanagement you assert on the staff. Micromanagement keeps the staff from taking the risks necessary to bring about renewal.

Staff members work better in their area of expertise and often are undermined when a novice offers unwanted advice.

Lack of Commitment Churches that possess a negative culture lack the willingness to share knowledge with others and seek to horde information that should be shared with others. Their lack of commitment to the main vision of the revitalizing church hurts the chances of renewal. They lack the willingness to help others, share resources, help the church get better. They also lack innovation and creativity.

Dissatisfied with the New Direction Members within churches that possess a negative culture are often dissatisfied, disappointed, and disgruntled with where the declining church is headed and the future direction of a turned around church. They cite their individual lack of fulfilment stating their low confidence in the direction the church is headed. Their fear of a new thing affects the willingness to allow the Lord to do a new thing. There are many other examples such as fear of change, reluctance to embrace change, and high membership turnover.

Warning Signs of a Negative Church Culture

Beware of the warning signs that demonstrate weather your church has a negative culture or not. Here are the key warning signs:

Hyper-Competition Some degree of competition works well in the church staff when the end goal is the church winning. Evangelism campaigns and Bible Study enlistments are a two examples of where friendly goals advance the church. Unfortunately, when it turns into unfriendly competition is when things can begin to drive wedges between staff members as well as church members. When competition gets too competitive, things can turn south, and fast.

Bad Habits Bad habits can often start from the top. If the pastor and deacons have bad habits when it comes to work, they can then bleed over into the staff and volunteers believing that this is the correct way of going about the work of the church. Being late for work for instance tells the other staff that it is alright to lack discipline in this area. Bad habits often come from staff not being managed well.

Church Office Gossip Gossip is negative regardless of the environment. When in the churches staff office complex, it can be detrimental to the atmosphere, causing a shift in the culture. Church office gossip can be hurtful, spiteful and leave everyone closed off and guarded. Influencing a negative church culture can be easy when gossip starts with the office staff venting to listening ears.

Lack of Empathy When it comes to human interaction, empathy and understanding are imperative. Yet, when it is not there, it can appear to be even more important. Engaging the entire church staff,

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as well as having empathy for them and their lives, is fundamental in creating relationships as well as a positive church culture. We all have strengths and weaknesses, so acknowledge that we are all together in this journey.

Poor Leadership from the Pastor There is an appropriate standard of conduct for the work of the Lord. When these standards are dismissed, the church culture can become negative quickly. You will not get the best out of others if you, as the leader, are a lazy and poor leader. You must be your best so your staff can be their best.

I am sure that there are others that the parameters of this article do not allow me to address, but these are the low hanging fruit. A negative church culture can be an absolute disaster for any church trying to be revitalized. Thankfully, there are often many warning signs to be seen which can prevent you from falling victim to some of the pitfalls of such a negative church culture.

How to Turn Around Your Churches Negative Culture

Now you must assess whether or not your declining church has a negative church culture. Look around. What do you see? Is the staff tired and worn out? When you walk into the room does the fun stop? Does discouragement abound?

How many of your church staff, and deacons for that matter, are burnt out? If you see these symptoms in more than one or two staff members or church leaders, then there is a strong chance that a negative church culture may have crept into your ministry. Unhappy staff members do not work together for the betterment of the work. The staff you need to keep will leave you because you have left them already. A negative church culture is a reputation that is hard to shake once you get it. It is vital that you act quickly to turn around the negative church culture before productivity lags and staff, as well as members, start leaving for sunnier shores. Here is a brief checklist to consider: 1. Identify Problem Behaviors of Staff and Leadership Your church culture is unique and when it negative it is on the road to destruction. As a result, there is no one-size-fitsall solution for repairing a damaged work culture. The first step is always to examine your business’s culture to identify your specific challenges.

2. Assess the Churches Support System If your church is opposed to negativity there is nowhere for a negative church culture to flourish. It will not be able to take root. Take away a negative church infrastructure and it has nowhere to go, except perhaps to another church. A positive church culture for revitalization is fostered through the pastor and leaders in a local church.

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3. Develop and Plan Your Negative Church Culture Repair Strategy If you understand its destructive nature, you can now strategize your treatment plan to reclaim your church culture for the side of good. And remember that change is hard work, so don’t try to fix everything all at once. Once the wheels of change are in motion, the smaller issues will likely begin to right themselves.

4. Implement Your Plan to Bring about a Positive Culture in the Church As the pastor of the church attempting renewal remember that you have a powerful platform from which to motivate and lead towards positive change. Just realize that you will need to live and model the changes you want to see if anyone is to take those changes seriously. Actions speak louder than words – it is not enough to simply tell people at church that the culture needs to change. Church members will change their behavior only if they see the new behavior as easy, rewarding and normal. Be willing to protect your new church culture. If there are a few casualties along the way, it is a price worth paying.

5. Reflect and Adapt Allow your new plan the needed time to take root. Change in any church takes time. Even more so in revitalization.

But, do not expect to get everything perfect right away.

After a few months, take stock of where you are. What has changed? What hasn’t? Meet with those influencers that you enlisted to help with your implementation. Reflect with them on how things have gone. Different perspectives can offer useful insight. Assess your progress and adapt your efforts as needed. Be willing to keep asking the questions that matter and change tactics where appropriate. Changing a negative church culture is a huge task but it is one worthy of the church revitalizers effort. Your determination and perseverance will lead you to success.

Tom Cheyney is the Founder & Directional Leader of the RENOVATE National Church Revitalization Conference (RenovateConference.org).

Some of Tom’s books include: The Church Revitalizer as Change Agent, Slaying the Dragons of Church Revitalization: Dealing with the Critical Issues that are Hurting Your Church; and Church Revitalization in Rural America: Restoring Churches in America’s Heartland. Tom lives in Orlando, Florida with his wife Cheryl and travels all over North America assisting declining churches by bringing revitalization and renewal to the congregations.

Make Disciples while Making History A Message from Dr. Ken Priddy

The GO POWER Project Has Arrived!

26+ years of ministry over the difficult and often unchartered terrain of church revitalization have led me to this moment, the launch of The GO POWER Project, and I’m inviting your church to be among the 32 American Evangelical churches that will form the pilot group.

During this 24-month commitment to holistic church revitalization, these pilot churches will partner with me in following the ROADMAP to Missional Vitality* as their congregations are energized through engaging their neighborhoods and communities. The Great Commission will come alive in these churches, bringing new life to both congregation and community. I will personally be your guide, your trainer, your consultant, and your coach, bringing all I’ve learned and all the resources I have developed or discovered over nearly three decades of revitalization ministry into the heart of your local mission outpost.

Let’s do this – together!

Ken Priddy

Ken Priddy, DMin, PhD Executive Director – The GO Center

BONUS: David R. Dunaetz, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Leadership and Organizational Psychology at Azusa Pacific University, will gather, analyze and curate research data mined from The GO POWER Project’s pilot campaign to add insight for groups of churches that will be formed in subsequent GO POWER Project campaigns, an expected 1000+ churches over a span of 10+ years. Your church’s commitment to the pilot will blaze the trail for dozens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of churches that will follow your lead. See your church revitalized as you leave a legacy for others. In other words,

Make Disciples while Making History!

The GO POWER Project – Pilot Campaign Launch Date: January 1, 2020 24-Months to January 1, 2022 32 American Evangelical Churches from Multiple Denominations Personal Direction & Interaction with Dr. Ken Priddy Enrollment & Preparation during Summer/Fall 2019 *For Info regarding the ROADMAP to Missional Vitality and All Details of the Project

Contact Ken Priddy at kenpriddy.com@gmail.com – 804-306-7942 – www.gocenterinfo.com

Centrifugal Buzz

What’s in a Name?

By Ken Priddy Welcome to the launch of my new column, Centrifugal Buzz.

As is often the case in going public with a new venture, part of the challenge, part of the fun, is coming up with just the right name. I’ve lived many decades, now, and I’ve had my share of opportunities to come up with what seemed to be the right tag or handle for a start-up venture at the time.

I’ve named businesses and church plants; I’ve titled articles, books, projects, dozens of songs and a few record albums.

Along with my wife, Sharon, I’ve named four children. Perhaps the most fun of all was coming up with names for musical groups I performed with in my first career before moving into local church ministry. My favorite is All the Fish You Can Eat for $1.98 Funk, Junk, and Rock Band featuring Steve the Sleeve and the Shirts. It was a short-lived band, but it was a dynamic band with two of almost everything – two drummers, two lead guitarists and two keyboardists, of which I was one. If ever there is a contest for Best Names of Bands You’ve Never Heard Of, I’m submitting this one.

The Force of Centrifugal

So, what’s a name such as Centrifugal Buzz all about? Let’s start with definitions. Webster gives us this: centrifugal means “directed outward from the center.”1 The word is most often used in the phrase, centrifugal force, defined as “the force…experienced by a body moving along a curved path and appearing to propel the body outward.”2 We feel that force when we take a corner too fast in an automobile or when we whip around a turn on a rollercoaster. The opposite of centrifugal is centripetal, defined as “directed toward the center,”3 and used in the phrase centripetal force, “the force, acting upon a body moving along a curved path, that is directed toward the center of curvature of the path and constrains the body to the path.”4 Friend and colleague, Bill Malick, a seasoned ministry multiplier and purveyor of the newly minted Fresh Start Churches Network, often highlights the distinction between a centrifugal church that pushes ministry out from itself into its surrounding domestic mission field and a centripetal church that implodes with ministry to itself and fails to connect with the plentiful harvest that lives, works and plays outside.

1 Costello, Robert B., Editor, Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, Random House: New York, 1992. p. 221.

2 Ibid, p. 221.

3 Ibid, p. 221.

4 Ibid., p. 221.

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The 20th century church could get away with being centripetal and still remain in operation, albeit an operation that was largely ego-centric if not self-serving. However, the 21st century church cannot sustain with a centripetal approach to ministry but must embrace centrifugal ministry to establish viability and truly make a difference in terms of reaching the lost.

Theologian Michael Horton makes this observation, “In its typological-theocratic form, Israel was a centripetal community, separated from the nations; in its fulfillment, it becomes a centrifugal community, sent out from the Holy of Holies, through the Holy Place, out to the court of the Gentiles. This is the force of Christ’s Great Commission.”5 But has the American church truly become a centrifugal community? Evidence suggests not.

This column, in issue after issue of The Church Revitalizer, will sound a clarion call for the American church of today to Go Centrifugal, to go out from center into the harvest. The church is to equip and empower the saints as messengers of the Gospel and agents of transformation, mobilizing and sending them outward to gather the harvest of souls that is the eternal family of God. This call is a Great Commission call, a call to put the Great Commission into action, moving it from being a theological proposition to being a strategic 5 Horton, Michael, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims On the Way, Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 2011, p. 986.

mysterious, but what I’m talking about is actually quite simple: person-to-person communication about someone or something.”7 Consider the idea of generating buzz in light of the observations of Chester and Timmis, “Being gospel-centered actually involves two things. First, it means being word-centered because the gospel is news, a message.

Second, it means being mission-centered because the gospel is a word to be proclaimed – the gospel is good news, a missionary message.”8 What message are we talking about?

We’re talking about the message of eternal life through Jesus Christ delivered in winsome, informative, compelling ways through the testimony of God’s people.

plan with legs, feet, hands and voice. We know the WHY – Jesus said to go and make disciples and to love our neighbors as ourselves – but we need to amp up the commitment and search to understand the HOW of growing an American evangelical church that seeks to serve God faithfully in the secular, pluralistic, relativistic culture that is 21st century U.S.A.

The “Buzz” Word

Buzz draws inspiration from The Anatomy of Buzz: How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing (2000) and its update, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited: Real-Life Lessons in Word-of-Mouth Marketing (2009), written by Emanuel Rosen. Please don’t get distracted by the word marketing. That’s not the source of this inspiration. Rather, the source is the value placed on multiplying a message through word-of-mouth.

Note that expanding word-of-mouth messaging, or buzz, centers on what Rosen calls contagious attributes. He writes, “The best buzz comes not from clever PR or advertising but rather from attributes inherent to the product itself.”6 Though the Gospel is not a product, it is laced with inherent attributes. David refers to them as benefits in Psalm 103 (ESV). Take a look.

Rosen adds, “Some people think buzz is complicated and 6 Rosen, Emanuel, The Anatomy of Buzz: How to Create Word-of-Mouth Marketing, Doubleday: New York, 2000, p.

104.

As a strategy, word-of-mouth itself possesses at least a half-dozen inherent attributes. First, it’s organic, bubbling up in an “I can’t wait to tell you” excitement. Second, it’s relational, an opportunity to share our thoughts with someone we have come to know and with whom we have routine opportunities to engage. Third, it’s intentional. Though our message might “bubble-up,” we’re in control, not simply blurting or blasting while being sensitive only to our need to speak and not to another person’s need to hear. Fourth, word-of-mouth is intelligent, founded on truth and accuracy and delivered at times that are optimum for engagement.

Fifth, it’s heard as we recognize that a message is truly a message when the person or people on the receiving end are able to hear it. Finally, word-of-mouth is viral, or at least has the potential to go viral. It’s clear, it’s simple and it’s readily able to be passed on by the recipient, to generate buzz.

Centrifugal Buzz, the column, is here to inspire, encourage and inform the body in taking the sacred into the secular.

Spread the word! Go Centrifugal!

7 Rosen, Emanuel, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited: Real-Life Lessons in Word-of-Mouth Marketing, Doubleday: New York, 2009, Loc. 204.

8 Chester, Tim and Timmis, Steve, Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community, Crossway Books: Wheaton, 2008, p. 16.

Ken Priddy (D.Min., Ph.D.) is Founder and Executive Director of the GO Center, a training and consulting ministry committed to church vitalization and revitalization. Ken also directs LEADERTOWN: A Laboratory for Organization & Leadership Development. His thirty-plus year journey in church planting and revitalization has grown into a national presence among evangelical leaders. He’s an effective trainer and consultant, but perhaps his most significant contribution is his extensive development of training curricula.

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The Church Revitalizer and Pastoral Succession–Part 1

By Lee Kricher At some point in my pastoral ministry, I became convinced that it was not just my responsibility to oversee the revitalization of our church. It was also my responsibility to pass the leadership of the church on to someone who would continue the work I started.

That is what I had in mind on April 19, 2019, when I commissioned my successor as Senior Pastor of Amplify Church. The handoff took place at our Good Friday service, one of our best attended services of the year.

While I will always hold the title of Founding Pastor of Amplify Church, the role of Senior Pastor is now held by my successor, Jason Howard.

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He then fulfilled God’s destiny for his life under the leadership of Joshua. The people of Amplify Church served God, moved mountains and lived God’s dream for their lives under my leadership and now they would do the same under Jason’s leadership. Even though many of the people in the church were there because they had a strong connection to me, I encouraged them that “The best is yet to come.”

On the night of the handoff, I read from Deuteronomy 31 about the commissioning of Joshua 3000 years ago.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “The time has come for you to die. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tabernacle, so that I may commission him there.” Then the Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun with these words: “Be strong and courageous, for you must bring the people of Israel into the land I swore to give them. I will be with you.” (Deuteronomy 31:14-23)

Every church leader that is serious about the long-term health of their church must also be serious about pastoral succession. In their book Next: Pastoral Succession That Works, William Vanderbloemen and Warren Bird argue that while there is no single scriptural template, succession planning must be a priority in every church: Sooner or later, unless Jesus returns during your lifetime, there will be a pastoral transition. Thinking about that transition ahead of time might make all the difference in your and your church’s legacy. . . [Creating a succession plan] is something any pastor or leadership team in any church can do at some level—regardless of age, church size, or denomination/tradition.

Although I was not about to die, I knew that it was God’s timing to commission my successor. I had sensed a call from God to revitalize Amplify Church and to mentor the next leader of the church. That night I felt that God was saying, “Mission accomplished.” I challenged each member of the church to think like Caleb. Caleb fulfilled God’s destiny for his life under the leadership of Moses.

Whether or not your church belongs to a denomination or tradition that has a formal process for replacing the senior pastor in the event of a vacancy, it is wise to make effective pastoral succession a priority. Everything possible should be done to influence the process so that the next Senior Pastor is a good fit for the congregation.

A pastor or interim pastor who is not a good fit can stall

a church’s momentum - or do far worse.

I have observed a number of best practices when it comes to succession planning. One of those best practices is this - Don’t wait too long to start planning.

I know of one pastor in his late 70s who refused to discuss succession with his board. Instead, he ended up starting a new church a short distance away and recruited people to join his church plant. In order to avoid succession planning, he split his church in half and planted a new church while in his late 70s.

Another pastor in his 80s was convinced by his board to set aside his plans for naming a successor. His board members, many of whom were elderly, insisted that “no one can replace you.” It is foolish to fall for the idea that you are irreplaceable. At minimum, consider naming an emergency successor if something unexpected happens to you. It is no different than carrying life insurance as a safety net for your family.

There is a prevalent theory that, like Moses, every pastor should only leave their role due to death. That way of thinking tends to lead to aging members and declining churches. Few would argue that a person’s energy and stamina is not the same in their 70s and 80s as it was in their 30s and 40s. Nor would many argue that a pastor’s energy and stamina affects the vitality of the church. In today’s rapidly changing world, entrusting the role of Senior Pastor to a younger leader with a fresh vision at the right time may be a necessary part of your church staying connected to the next generation.

Researcher David Kinnaman writes: Today the influences of technology, pop culture, media, entertainment, science, and an increasingly secular society are intensifying the differences between the generations. And many churches, leaders, and parents— the established generation—have a difficult time understanding these differences, much less relating to the values, beliefs, and assumptions that have spawned them.

So we need younger leaders. . . Young leaders who speak the language of their peers are sorely needed because today’s twentysomethings are not just slightly or incrementally different from previous generations.

What is the right age to hand off the church? For me, the right age to implement my formal succession plan was a couple months before my 65th birthday. The “right” age will vary in each situation, of course. One thing is for certain, we all know stories of pastors who would have avoided a bad ending to their ministry if they had transitioned sooner. Don’t wait too long to start planning.

What about the great wisdom you have acquired over the decades? Why hand off the church to someone

without the wisdom that comes with age? Certainly, God wants to leverage that wisdom in your next season of ministry. I’ve started a not-for-profit organization called Future Forward Churches with a focus on guest speaking and coaching pastors committed to fully engage the next generation. My new season will leverage the wisdom I have gained over the years without demanding the same energy and stamina that the role of Senior Pastor required. Ironically, a common topic I am asked to cover is succession planning.

You can be genuinely excited about a new season of ministry! Don’t give in to a fear that you can’t have a meaningful ministry unless you hold onto your position as Senior Pastor. God’s plan for you is bigger than that. And don’t give in to a fear that God can’t provide for you financially unless you hold onto your position as Senior Pastor. God’s love for you is bigger than that.

In the next edition of Revitalizer Magazine, I will cover a couple of other best practices in pastoral succession.

Until then, consider these words from the book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell: Just about anybody can make an organization look good for a moment—by launching a flashy new program or product, drawing crowds to a big event, or slashing the budget to boost the bottom line. But leaders who leave a legacy take a different approach. They lead with tomorrow as well as today in mind. . . . When all is said and done, your ability as a leader will not be judged by what you achieved personally or even by what your team accomplished during your tenure. You will be judged by how well your people and your organization did after you were gone.

Question for your consideration: What do you think is your responsibility as a pastor and church revitalizer when it comes to creating a pastoral succession plan?

Lee Kricher is the Founding Pastor of Amplify Church in Pittsburgh, PA, a church that experienced a dramatic turnaround from an aging, dying church of under 200 people to a church of over 2,000 people with every generation well represented. Lee is the author of For a New Generation: A Practical Guide For Revitalizing Your Church and founder of Future Forward Churches. You can contact him at lee@futureforwardchurches.com

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7 Ways to Beat Discouragement

By Ron Smith 1. Expose the Lie and the Liar

has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” How much authority did Jesus have? All. Where did it come from? Heaven and earth. That covers everything. “All authority is given to Me.” Then He says, “Therefore go and make disciples…” Do you see the transference of authority? He says, “I’ve got all authority, therefore you go. Go and make disciples.”

Ephesians 6:16 “In every battle you will need faith as a shield to stop the fiery darts aimed at you by Satan.”

It says that Satan is going to have some fiery darts to aim at you particularly as you’re involved in ministry.

Jesus says “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” That’s strong authority. I don’t understand all of what this scripture talks about, but the Bible says if you are a believer you are given the authority of Christ in spiritual warfare. You have the right to fight back.

Realize that he’s real. 1 Peter 5:8-9 “Be alert, be on watch.

Your enemy the devil roams around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Be firm in your faith and resist him because you know that your fellow believers in all the world are going through the same kind of suffering.”

What are some of the fiery darts that Satan throws up against Christians in ministry? Discouragement. Failure.

Opposition. Rumors. Put-downs. Misunderstandings.

Distractions. Temptation. Low self-esteem. Compromise.

Deceptions. Sin. Competition. Fatigue. Illness. Fear.

Does Satan ever throw a dart of fear at you? “What do you think you’re doing in ministry? Who do you think you are?” Doubt. Division – Does he ever get Christians working against Christians? Ridicule. Half-truths. Materialism.

He’s got quite an arsenal. He’s going to throw these things at you. If you’re going to be effective in ministry, you’ve got to learn how to fight back with faith. Acknowledge the adversary.

2. Recall The Call

Matthew 28:18-19 “All authority in heaven and on earth

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3. Defer to the Wisdom of God

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5,6 Trust the God that led you here to be the God who will lead you through. Sometimes we need to listen to our own sermons!

4. Get Back To Your Assignments

Avoid all distractions. This is one thing I think the Lord has taught me and is teaching me over the years. If you’re going to be effective in ministry, and in battle, you’ve got to focus yourself. 2 Timothy 2:3-4 (Living Bible) ”Take your share of suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Do not let yourself become tied up in worldly affairs for

then you cannot satisfy the One who has enlisted you into His army.” Don’t get distracted.

No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs. He wants to please His commanding officer. There are a lot of good things I could be involved in and a lot of ways I could spend my time, but I have one person to please and only one – the Lord Jesus Christ. And if I’m pleasing Him, that is what will count at the end of my life. The question is, what’s distracting you from the ministry?

5. Reach Out

Sometimes you just need someone who understands. The challenge is that many leaders don’t know who to call. You shouldn’t always complain to your members or staff, because they work with you. And seeking affirmation from the people who work for you can be a critical mistake.

Calvin Coolidge said, “Press on. Nothing can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are the overwhelming power.”

Leadership Law: Leaders model persistence. They are the last to give up. They are the last to jump ship. They refuse to quit.

What does the devil want you to give up? What has he been tempting you to give up on? Reading through the Bible in a year? A career?

A dream? A marriage? An idea? A ministry at church?

“The secret of success is to simply outlast your critics.”

When I’m deeply discouraged, I often call a friend who will understand because he has been in a position like mine before. And someone who doesn’t work with me directly so it doesn’t create a funk in the organization.

Pray about and pick out the one God leads you to – someone who honors confidence and understands the heart of a person.

6. Get Some Rest

Never underestimate rest. We all need to rest. Learn how to create margins in your life. God always sends an angel of rest. Go back and re-read 1 Kings 19.

Rest provides focus, calm, energy, and clarity.

All of these things help us hear God’s voice – and not the voice of fear, doubt, hurt, temptation. He ministers to him physically (touch, food, nap), spiritually (dealing with the wrong view of God), and psychologically (listens to him). Sometimes you don’t need a prayer you need a nap.

7. Don’t Quit

When you’re being opposed there are always two oppositions. They want to hinder your work and they want to stop your work. When you know that the opposition’s goal is to get you to quit, what do you do? Don’t quit!

You keep on working no matter what.

Satan may not get you to commit an immoral sin, but he can get you discouraged! A discouraged Pastor is an ineffective Pastor. That means that we’ve taken our eyes off the Lord and put them on the circumstance.

Whenever we give up, the devil wins. One of the fundamental principles of the Christian life is Don’t give up!

Persistence is the ultimate test of leadership. This is the acid test. How do you handle it when the going gets tough? When somebody laughs at you or criticizes you for being a Christian, that may hurt, but it cannot stop you. The secret of success is to simply outlast your critics.

How do you get to be an oak tree? An oak tree is just a little nut that refused to give his ground. It doesn’t take a lot of intelligence but if you just hang on you’ll outlast the critics. There is nothing the devil would rather do than stop us and move us into neutral. So, resist discouragement and keep on.

Ron Smith is the Lead Pastor of WaterStone Church in Longwood and serves as Co-Leader of Renovate One Day Training as well as serving on staff of the Renovate Coaching Network.

Follow Ron at RonBSmithJr.com for leadership material and sporadic blogs.

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Diagnosing A Negative Church Culture

By Pete Tackett Churches rarely die as a result of one event, but instead go into a death spiral of one small step at a time until it gains momentum, and like an airplane in a dive, passes the point of no return and is unable to pull out of it. Likewise, churches rarely go from being healthy, forward-leaning, and productive to having an atmosphere of failure and death overnight. Like our airplane, there are many small events along the way and most of the members will have a hard time isolating the exact event where the church passed the point of no return. In fact, most of the remaining members can point to a time when they attended church expectantly, knowing that God was working in their midst and that their church was growing. The problem with a negative culture is that most don’t know when it happened and if they can’t isolate when it happened, find it difficult to understand how or why it happened.

When something goes wrong in a flight, the National Transportation Safety Board immediately swoops in with one question to answer. What went wrong?

In church world, we are torn between the tension of dwelling on the negative and wanting to do things that will leave positive memories and make positive Kingdom impact for the church. It feels like the health-

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ier path is the path of least resistance. In the words of an old song, we choose to “accentuate the positive.”

Yet, failure to understand and isolate the core problem means everything else we do is just treating the symptoms. If we don’t isolate the problem, it will lurk under the surface, dormant for a while, and then when the excitement of initial revitalization is waning, burst out again. It is imperative that we understand the root cause of this negative culture.

Just like there are a million things that cause an airplane to dive unexpectedly, there are an endless number of events, people, and attitudes that can cause a church to take on that atmosphere of death and failure. It can happen because of a series of failed, short term pastorates; because of a major financial initiative coming up short; due to a series of missteps in lay leadership selection; or can be just the result of a leadership team that gets an embattled complex and begins to focus on the negative all the time. A longterm “sky is falling” mentality from the stage or moderator will eventually begin to infect the entire group. Unfortunately, no one wants to go to church where they are constantly being told things are bad and getting worse.

There are many tools out there for getting to the root cause of church conflict, but I have found a couple of processes particularly helpful in isolating the when and why of a negative church culture. Again, it is important to isolate generally when it began so that you can look more closely at the events of that season to understand the root cause. While I will not deal with it in this article, you need to know before you start trying to understand the when and why, that information comes with a mandate to deal with it. After all, you may find it began when a particular person took over as chairman of the board or when a major program shift was implemented without doing the proper homework. Worse yet, it may be discovered that as the comic strip character, Pogo, once said, “We have met the enemy, and it is us.”

The most effective tool I have found for discovery in a declining church is the History Night event. There are a number of different iterations of this event out there in revitalization literature, but the one I first saw is published by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board in their Revitalization Manual.

A history night is a gathering that includes a fellowship meal and a 90-120 minute meeting afterward.

During that meeting, in my decidedly low-tech way, I begin by having newsprint on the wall with the name of every pastor for the last 75 years (if the church goes back that far) on the wall along with their years of service, such as 1999-2009. I also include the average small group and worship attendance plus the giving numbers for their last year of service. During the meeting, I begin with the most recent pastor and work backward, asking those present to brainstorm the highlights of those years and then ask for any hiccups that might have occurred during those years. I begin by covering some ground rules about keeping the conversation impersonal and not being defensive.

We work backwards until no one in the room can remember the pastor listed.

Once that is finished, I ask the people to break into inter-generational groups and make some observations based on the data on the wall. Invariably, the church can identify at least the season, if not the event, where things began to change. If there is honest evaluation, you can typically see the downward trend and where it began. As a leader, your job is to help them celebrate

what God has done in the past, but also to note for further work, when things began to turn negative.

You probably won’t even talk much about it that night publicly but just note it.

When you have identified the season or event where things turned negative, it is time to investigate deeper. I use a series of interviews with key stakeholders during that season if they are available and willing to meet with me. That has included in the past discussions with former members, the leaders of a church that split off during that time, and former lay and staff leadership that had left the church, as well as people who were still there.

During those interviews, I ask their opinion about why events happened; what they wish had been done differently, and what they would do differently if they could get a mulligan. I don’t defend or rebut, but just ask clarifying questions and take copious notes.

From the data gleaned from those two events, I work with the revitalization team to isolate the issue that sent the church into that negative “dive” in the first place and then decide what, if anything, needs to be done to address it. It can be as simple as a service of repentance where you lead them to address unconfessed sin from that season. It can be a public apology to a pastor or staff member or other leader who had been mistreated during that season. It can be an acknowledgement that the church acted too quickly, even doing the right thing but at the wrong time.

Whatever the need, the leadership team needs to be prepared to address it so that when a warning light flashes in the revitalization season, it won’t unleash that negative spirit again.

Pete Tackett is Lead Pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Johnson City, Tennessee, and a Pastor Connector for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. He regularly partners with churches and pastors engaging in revitalization. He is the author of re.Vital.ize: Lessons Learned in a Recovering Church.

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Dealing with Resistance and Opposition

By George Thomasson

Perhaps the most challenging things you may face as you partner with the Lord to revitalize your declining church will be resistance and opposition. Resistance because you must lead the church in massive changes.

And no one likes to change. However, wasn’t it Albert Einstein who once said, “To keep on doing the same old thing in the same old way expecting different results is insanity.” Opposition is the natural overflow of resistance. Often someone who resists change will garner support from others who also disagree, and they will “gang up” on you. I have learned that no matter how small or great the opposition may be, it always hurts.

Unthinkable and hurtful things may be said and done that can leave gaping, emotional wounds.

The question is, “When resistance and opposition occur, how should we respond?” I want to offer some suggestions from Scripture and personal experience.

1. Don’t be surprised.

Jesus said in John 15:20, “…If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” And Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:11, 12, “…What persecution I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” Unfortunately, it is inevitable that leading God’s church to fulfill its redemptive mission will be met with resistance and opposition. So, don’t be surprise!

2. Identify the source.

The late Adrian Rogers spoke to this. “Be warned! From Satan’s viewpoint you are a pawn in his game of cosmic chess. Plans have already been made in Satan’s underworld to sabotage you, your loved ones, and your family. How does he plan to gain the upper hand over you?

He uses two chief weapons – the world and the flesh.

Together, with his orchestrations, they make up a trinity of evil – the world, the flesh and the devil. They are interactive forces in a three-pronged attack.”1 Often the primary and most hurtful opposition comes from within the church family. Since the unity and oneness of a local church is a powerful evidence of how Jesus Christ can transform lives, Satan will do all he can to bring division resulting in disunity. Jesus knew this well and addressed it in His high priestly prayer on the eve of His crucifixion as recorded in John 17.

1 Adrian Rogers, The Incredible Power of Kingdom Authority (B&H Publishers, 2002), p. 3

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“I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one…I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in you; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent me.” (vv. 15, 20-21) Jesus prayed to the Father that disharmony would not infect His Church.

Jimmy Draper said, “Christ knew there were already tensions and a tendency for divisiveness among His disciples. Some were jealous of James and John, some fought their own insecurities, and some were given to their own egos and mostly concerned with looking out for themselves…It is no wonder Christ was concerned about the group’s unity after He was gone and petitioned God to bring them together.”2 When church members resist and oppose necessary changes, often it is because of carnality. Paul addressed this in the Corinthian Church in Chapter 3 of his first letter to them. “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you are not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where 2 Jimmy Draper, Don’t Quit Before You Finish (Clovercroft Publishing, 2015), pp. 78, 79

and protect them. If that means resisting the temptation to get even or not engaging in heated arguments with my most vocal opponents, or not reacting impulsively when confronted, I am all for fighting the battle with kindness and restraint.”3

4. Lead in maintaining unity.

Paul drew a graphic picture of what this looks like in Ephesians 4:1-3. “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (emphasis mine) Notice – it is the unity of the Spirit and we are encouraged to keep it in the bond of peace. I guess you could say it is the unity produced by the Spirit and preserved by the saints! The word “keep” means to guard or to build a garrison around. As you deal with the resistance and opposition in a spirit of kindness, always remember that your God-given responsibility is to fearlessly and relentlessly guard the unity of the Spirit.

It could be your most valuable commodity toward revitalization.

5. Move forward toward God’s vision.

there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” (vv. 1-3) Then he gets specific. The Corinthian believers were at odds over whom they wanted to follow. Some followed Paul, others Apollos and still others pretended to be super-spiritual and said they followed Jesus Christ. As a result, disharmony and negativity impacted the church family, because church members were in the flesh and not in the Spirit. The same will happen when you begin the journey of revitalization. Mark it down. Expect it!

3. Respond with kindness.

Jimmy Draper again offers wise counsel: “Make every effort to respond to your critics with kindness. Be the example Christ was to His persecutors – not repaying evil for evil, but kindness for evil. Paul quoted Proverbs 25:21-22 as an example of this when he said, ‘…If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.’ (Romans 12:20-21)…When you show love to all those you are called to serve and ask only that God’s will be done, you will always please God, even if your opposition may not be pleased…

The threat of Satan bringing harm to my family and my church are serious fighting words! It makes me want to do everything within my power to defeat the enemy

Remember, your church is declining and in desperate need of revitalization and new life. Without it, it will surely die! Keep your eye on the ball. By now you have probably helped your key leaders come to grips with the crises in your church and you may have also identified some of the factors that are holding you back from realizing God’s vision. You are attempting to cast a vision for a game plan to move the church forward toward God’s amazing vision. You must facilitate the implementation of the plan. The eternal destiny of many depends upon it. Do not allow the enemy to use others to derail you through resistance and opposition.

Encourage yourself and your leaders with the words of John in 1 John 4:4. “…He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

3 Draper; pp. 74-75; 77-78.

George Thomasson is a native of Arkansas but spent most of his ministry in Florida and Texas. He holds degrees from Palm Beach Atlantic University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Sandra. They have two grown children, Angie Gould and Greg Thomasson, who blessed them with two grandchildren each. He presently serves as Mobilization Pastor for Christ Place Church in Flowery Branch, Georgia.

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We’re Gonna Die!

By Steve Smith

A scene in the first The Incredibles movie has Helen, alias Elastigirl, and her kids falling into the ocean after their plane is shot down by missiles. Her frightened son, Dash, starts shouting, “We’re gonna die! We’re gonna die!” This same reaction can be found in many churches. Believers in the congregation sense that the worst is happening to them. The outcome of their fear produces a pretty negative culture. In their own way, they begin to chant, “We’re gonna die!”

Some living examples where I have seen congregations in the clutches of this kind of negativity include ones that: • Have long experienced no conversions and little growth potential and feel threatened by an attractive, growing church plant down the street. Some of their members have migrated to the newer church.

• Sit dazed by the departure of a popular staff pastor who took many families with him.

• Swim in over-the-top debt, using most of their monthly church income just to pay the crushing mortgage.

• Shrink in size as they grow old together, with no next generation in sight.

•Face changes that require people to give up their comfortable way of ‘doing church.’

“We’re gonna die!”

They don’t necessarily express it that way. Instead, they may say, “Our church isn’t very spiritual anymore.” Or, “I’m not getting fed.” Or, “We’re wasting church money on something we don’t need.” Or, “Why are we doing things that way? It will never work.” Or more likely, “When we did ______ in the past, it was a sign that we were spiritually alive. So why did we stop?” They complain about the worship style. They complain about the lack of church leadership. They complain about you, the pastor; your faults, which are glaring, and the way you use your time or fail to meet people’s needs.

My experience is that negative people are few in number but can feel like a battalion. Their influence can diminish hope in others and distract them from God’s leading.

But the bigger issue with which you need to grapple is: Why are they negative? Why do they prefer to be unhappy instead of joining with others in prayer and service to revitalize their congregation?

In reality, there are only two reasons why believers become negative.

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The first reason is they may be inwardly consumed with their own personal problems. Their brokenness, unresolved conflicts and hurts from the past color their outlook on life in general. Negativity is not just aimed at you or the church, but at everyone in their world—at work and home as well. They don’t know how to surrender their unfinished spiritual business to God so He can free and heal them, so they wallow in their unhappiness and want others to join them.

The second reason is they are looking at problems instead of at God. He is able to use them to overcome the challenges before them. But they have stopped trusting Him. Probably it has been some time since they have allowed themselves to be used by Him to advance Jesus’ kingdom. As a result, they complain like the children of Israel in the wilderness, longing for the leeks and onions of Egypt.

As a revitalizing pastor, knowing why people become negative gives you the keys to overcoming the pessimistic culture they create. You have to evaluate each person individually, but once you know by which of the two reasons they are stuck, you can pastor them back to a trusting outlook.

Here are four steps to take with negative people.

1. Love them. This is not always simple. Their negative rants may have caused you sleepless nights and cost the congregation some members who moved on to a healthier

pursue intimacy with God, knowing Him and His love in a fresh and life-giving way.

3. Affirm truth without conceding the future. Sometimes there is a kernel of truth in their negative talk that you have ignored. Be humble enough to learn from them as well as instruct them. Face it, we pastors are not omniscient. Our ideas can lead to a bad decision that needs to be righted.

That does not mean we are wrong on everything or that we need to give up on where we know God wants this congregation to go. Being teachable can deescalate negative talk.

Prepare yourself to ask them helpful questions about their unhelpful thoughts, such as: • What is the good that has come out of this situation?

• What’s one thing I can do differently the next time to likely have a better outcome?

• What’s one thing you think I can learn from this as the church goes forward in its calling to sow the gospel in this community?

church. Remember that these people are the ones that God gave you to pastor.

Start by remembering that God loved you first. Maybe you think that He got a bad bargain. If so, that kind of humility can help you understand your role as Jesus’ undershepherd.

He loved his sheep. He left the 99 to recover the one. As difficult as negative people can seem, Jesus died for them too.

Ask God to make you a channel of His mercy and love to them if you struggle with this. This has to be the first thing you do if you are going to see them abandon their negativity. If you deal with them out of frustration, anger or a desire to see them leave, you will never be able to offer them a way back to spiritual health.

2. Help them see and address what is going on inside them. You cannot just write them off. Nor can you shrink from this aspect of being their pastor. I am coaching someone right now who would rather let the person go out the door than attempt to speak into his life. I remind him that this is what God has him there to do.

Are they hurting inside? Or are they focused on the temporal? Either way, you need to help them regain their walk with God. Part of that is helping them explore why they are negative in order to discover the root of their misguided thinking. But more importantly, they need to

4. Point to positive things God is doing in your midst.

One of the greatest tools in your toolkit is the dynamic work of God’s Spirit in your congregation. What has God already done to move you back towards being a healthy congregation? Has someone come to faith? Are people growing in grace? Has a problem been overcome? Are people praying with greater faith? If God is at work, then you can confidently remind them that “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6) God is also doing positive things in their lives, even if they have lost sight of His work in them. Challenge them continually to allow the Spirit to develop gratitude in their lives towards God. Thankfulness is the best way to displace a negative spirit.

Churches do die. We have seen in the last several decades thousands of churches close their doors. But death is not a given as long as the people are willing to be used by God and pastors are willing to confront negative people before their unhealthy thinking kills the congregation.

Steve Smith is the founder of Church Equippers Ministries, serving churches by training them in transformational discipleship and church systems. He is the author of several books including The Key to Deep Change and The Increasing Capacity Guidebook. He is a strategic thinker, a relational networker, a mentor and coach to pastors and young leaders. For more information, go to: www.ChurchEquippers.com

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Revitalizing Church Culture

By Bill Tenny-Brittian

E

ven before my first day as lead pastor, I’d been warned by several different people. “The church is known for its church bullies, with one in particular. I just wanted you to know.” No one offered any advice on how to deal with the bullies, but from the moment of the first warning, I knew there was trouble in River City – culture trouble.

Here’s the setting: (1) The church had been in decline for over thirty-five years, losing over 600 members during those years. That meant none of the church leaders had a recent memory of what it felt like to be a part of a growing church. Decline was the norm.

(2) The church was over $1 million in debt and had been living on dead-people’s money for many years. Thankfully, there was about a million in reserve to draw from so we weren’t against the wall… yet.

(3) The church bullies had been running rampant and unchecked since even before the initial loss. No one could remember a time when there weren’t bullies going up against the pastors.

(4) There had only been seven ministers during those thirty-five years. All but one of those ministers engaged in some sort of a church growth initiative that worked … for about a year, and then the bullies emerged and undermined the growth. Every minister left the church in worse shape numerically than when they arrived.

(5) When I arrived, the church was averaging 155 between two worship services.

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Not everything was dire, however. The church board wasn’t small, but it wasn’t unwieldy, and it was a policy board, not a management board. Staff and teams were free to make decisions within their ministry scopes, so long as they stayed within budget. In addition, I had been called specifically to turn the church around. Before they called me, I led an all-church seminar on what it takes to turn a church around today. I was candid – no, I was blunt. I told them they only had about a twenty percent chance of turning around (and between you and me, that’s on the generous side) and that there would be significant changes taking place, especially in the culture.

And that brings us to the point of this article. In less than three years we went from a church known for its conflict and became a church where visitors today comment about how they can feel the presence of God in the building, let alone in worship – sentiments that hadn’t been spoken about the church in decades.

Band-Aid Theology

If you peel off a Band-Aid a little at a time, the pain may be less, but it’s certain to hurt longer as it slowly peels off a layer of your skin bit by bit. On the other hand, if you snatch the Band-aid off, it hurts like the dickens for a few moments and then you move on.

As the leader of a declining church, you have a choice… conflict that drags on and on or conflict that flares up and then dies down. Either way, you’ll make friends and you’ll enemies. Either way, there’s going to be a church fight – guaranteed.

Which brings me to what is undoubtedly the very worst advice a new pastor gets from senior pastors: “Don’t make any changes in the church for at least a year. Get to know your people. Love on them. Build some trust.” (BTW, most pastors giving this advice are in churches that are in decline.)

That’s not just dumb advice, it’s a recipe for continued decline. If you wait for a year, you’ve not mitigated any potential conflict – instead, you’ve given the antagonists an extra year to undermine your leadership, to get to know your personal weaknesses, and to build additional alliances with those you’ve managed to alienate in spite of yourself. (And for the record, even if you make zero changes, not everyone is going to become one of your fans … some will be just not be that into you, regardless of your personal charm.)

During your first few weeks get to know the lay of the land. Spend some time figuring out who you can count on and who’s lining up against you. Start memorizing names and identifying who the key leaders are, both the formal and informal leaders. Especially explore your community. Get to know the mayor, city council members, Chamber president, the school superintendent, the chief of police, the fire chief, major CEOs, non-profit executive directors, and business owners/managers.

Find out what the city needs for the community to thrive (here’s a hint: it’s not another food pantry or clothes closet … think community organization, economic development, and wholesale spiritual transformation). Determine the church’s strengths and it’s weaknesses. Put together an Excel spreadsheet on attendance patterns over at least the last decade. Get ahold of a good set of demographics and psychographics (MissionInsite or Percept). Figure out who your most likely target audience is. Pray, dream, and plan what direction the church needs to go over the next five years.

And do all that in the first month. That’ll give you enough information to figure out the most important and strategic changes you’re going to have to make on the front end.

And then … work within your church’s polity to make those changes within the first six months or so.

When you walk into a church as the leader, you’re figuratively walking on water for the first few months. John Maxwell, and others, call that Positional Authority and you’ll never have more positional authority than you do during your first year. Some call that the Honeymoon Period. Well, what good is all that good will and willingness to offer initial trust if you don’t leverage it?

Yes, you will likely create conflict, especially if you do like I did: (1) Changed worship service times; (2) Displaced a number of adult Sunday school classes; (3) Reorganized the children’s Sunday school from classes to a kid’s worship experience; (4) Changed the order of worship in both Classic and Modern services; (5) Repurposed the small chapel by removing the pews so the space could be used as multipurpose; (6) Cancelled the after-church fellowship in favor of a between services fellowship; (7) Reworded the official Mission Statement; and (8) Took my coffee cup into the “sanctuary” every week over the protests of “no food or beverages” and chose not to wear a robe in the formal service. Actually, the list goes on, but you get the idea. Was there conflict? You betcha. My honeymoon was over by the end of the second month. But six weeks later, and with a strategic exodus of a couple families, everything was back to “normal.” And that’s where the story truly begins.

Change the Culture by Dealing with the Foundation

Normal for the church was whine, complain, and bully. If the Holy Spirit was present at the church, it must have been in hiding somewhere in the labyrinth of dusty, unused classrooms.

The level of conflict was literally palatable when you walked through the doors. It was clear to me that overall, Jesus was a good historical figure, the Bible was an interesting book, and prayer was something the pastor did. Spirituality wasn’t dead, but it was largely dormant… even in my leader’s lives.

Of course, a dormant faith is the common state of affairs in almost every declining church. The solution isn’t great preaching, but deep discipleship. The problem is, Christian Education is disguised as discipleship … and adult Christian Ed doesn’t make disciples. At best it makes educated scholars.

What the church needs, especially turnaround churches, is disciples of Jesus whose behaviors reflect a kingdom mindset and commitment.

To change the negative culture of a declining church, I began by focusing on personal discipleship practices. From the first board meeting, even before we prayed, I went around the room and asked each person, “So, Bob, what did you read in scripture this week that intrigued you?” Then we waited for Bob to answer. Regardless of his response, I then asked the person sitting next to him, “Carol, what did you read in scripture this week that intrigued you?” Person by person, everyone was given an opportunity to share what they’d read … or hadn’t read.

To this day, every formal meeting in the church begins with the Bible question and, for the most part, every one of my leaders hunkers down in the Word several times each week (some even daily!).

In addition, I launched every sermon by asking if the congregational members had brought their Bibles with them.

For some of you, this might not seem like much, but in a Mainline church, almost no one carries a Bible. (Of course, now when I ask, most people hold up their cell phones and tablets, but whatever “version” they’ll read is okay with me!) The point was to remind them that scripture reading is an expectation.

The third prong of foundation building was developing a discipleship mentoring ministry. I selected an eighteen week workbook that required daily Bible study and reflection, but then implemented a mentoring process rather than a small group or class format. I presented the plan to the Church Board and asked that they approve a proviso that required all prospective church leader nominees would have to have completed the discipleship process and led another person through the process. We agreed to a two year implementation process, but within a year all current board members had completed the course and most had led another person through the process.

Currently, over half of the attending congregation have completed the course and about a third have taken others through it.

These practices have had a positive result on the culture. Our leaders stay in the scripture, they model faithful disciplines, and they’ve become biblically conversant. For some, this foundation building has been life transforming and for many it’s been a pleasant reminder of their faith.

But a good discipleship course can only do so much, especially in the midst of a negative church culture. There’s more that must be done.

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Change the Culture by Bully Busting

Remember point three above? The one about the bullies? Before I was called to the church, but during the interview process (there were many interviews), I stopped by the church campus to take a look around. I met with the interim pastor and was introduced to the office staff, as well as a couple of church members who drifted in and out of the office while I was there. Do you know what I remember most about that visit? During that half hour, no less than two people took me aside to “warn” me about the church bully – a bully who’d bullied every pastor over the previous thirty-five years.

I suspect every church has a bully or two, which is to say that during my thirty-eight years in ministry and eighteen years as a church consultant, I’ve never visited or worked with a church that didn’t have at least one. Bullies aren’t just a pastor’s bane – they can be the death of a church when they undermine ministry, mission, and vision.

The sad reality is, most churches not only tolerate their bullies, they enable them – especially churches that are in decline. Let’s be honest, when you’ve been experiencing significant worship attendance losses, there’s a genuine fear of losing even one more member. And so churches make excuses for their bullies: “Oh, you know Barbara. She’s just like that. She really has a good heart. She just gets sideways now and again.” We make excuses and we excuse their behavior. But what’s worse, is we choose nice over kind, death over life.

Nice isn’t a word you’ll find in the Bible anywhere. Not once. And if we’re honest, Jesus was about as far from “nice” as you could get, especially with his fellow religious leaders. He called his disciples faithless, his best friend “Satan,” and publicly harangued the Pharisees by calling them names… white washed tombs, blind guides, greedy, self-indulgent, snakes, and hypocrites. He made a whip and used it to drive out the authorized Temple merchants. And when a rich, young, ruler walked away dejected, Jesus didn’t chase him down or offer a compromise.

On the other hand, even with Jesus’ lack of “nice” he managed to be kind. Kind is not related to nice. Nice makes excuses for someone’s bad behavior. Kind cares enough to confront bad behavior and invite people to become a better version of themselves (like stop being a blind guide hypocrite… or even a bully).

But nice or kind aside, the reality is that as a church leader, you have a responsibility to the church first and foremost. Your job is to protect the church, to lead the church, and to grow the church. And though it’s definitely not nice, the welfare of the church outweighs the desires or even the needs of any individual or group. Jesus was serious about dealing with problem people in the church (see Matthew 18:15–17). Paul repeatedly advised his churches to be less tolerant of those who represented the faith badly, and even advised Titus to disfellowship those who sowed seeds of dissension (Titus 3:10).

With that in mind, when it comes to your church bullies, you have three choices in how to effectively deal with them: (1) Convert them; (2) Neutralize them; or (3) Remove them.

Convert Your Bullies

Hopefully, your vision for the church and the community is so compelling, that once your bully has listened, they’ll quickly get

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in line as a supporter. It does happen. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to happen very often.

When a bully can’t be converted into a supporter, then the next step is to try a ameliorate their behavior. Of course, the whole point of grace and forgiveness is to find a way to convert them from their less than savory ways. That’s pretty much what Jesus’ plan of reconciliation is all about with his “Three Strikes and You’re Out” instructions for dealing with bad behavior in the church (Matthew 18:15–17). Try kindness to gently confront them and encourage change, even to the point of giving them multiple chances to rise to their potential. But in the end, it’s Warn them once; Warn them twice; And the third time they’re out – disfellowship them.

Neutralize Your Bullies

If you can’t convert them, your second option is to neutralize them. By that, I mean, find ways to sideline them and remove their ability to be an influencer in the congregation. The first step is to get them out of leadership – not always an easy task.

The second step is to get them off of any teams or committees.

And the third step is find ways to negate any negativity they bring. Typically, you do this by being an influence on those who influence those the bully influences (try and say that three time fast!). What I mean is, get someone into the bully’s circles of influence who have the ability to undermine the bully’s negativity.

This was the way I managed the church bully in my congregation. When I got there, she’d already given up most of her leadership and committee positions, so my primary response was to insert positive influencers into her circles. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t an overnight process, but in the end, the negativity was contained to a very small group, and most of those in the group took the bully’s tirades with a grain of salt.

Remove Your Bullies

The last resort, and it really is a last resort, is to separate the bully from the church … to disfellowship them. Whenever I mention this option, the pushback is more than palpable, it’s both visceral and verbal. “You can’t throw someone out of the church, that’s not Christian!” To be honest, the fact that we’ve stopped practicing church discipline is, in my opinion, one of the key reasons the church is in such trouble here in North America. In most declining congregations, almost any behavior is tolerated, sin is overlooked even in leadership, and bullies reign and rule.

A reminder about disfellowshipping: I wasn’t the one who first recommended it. Jesus was. “… and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” (Matthew 18:17)

How did the church treat pagans and tax collectors (who wouldn’t repent as did Levi and Zacchaeus)? They refused to have fellowship with them. They didn’t eat with them. They didn’t associate with them. They disfellowshipped them. And how did the church interpret and apply Jesus’ words? The clearest example is found in Paul’s words to Titus: “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them.” (Titus 3:10) I hear someone saying, “But Jesus said not to judge.”

Paul has a pretty good answer for that: “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?

Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. ‘Expel the wicked person from among you.’” (1 Corinthians 5:12–13)

We’re not to judge… those outside of the church.

However, we’re repeatedly and explicitly called to judge those who are inside the church because outsiders see our behavior and judge the body of Christ based on those behaviors. Don’t forget, the number one reason outsiders give for not wanting anything to do with the church is because they see that the church is full of hypocrites… and tolerating the church bully or bullies proves their point.

There are a variety of ways to remove a person. The least hurtful way is to help them self-select their way out of the church. This may happen when you remove them from leadership or in your work to isolate them from within the congregation. However, some bully’s respond even more vocally when you do this, so in some cases you simply have to snatch the Band-Aid off and intentionally exit the bully. I’ve only had to do this twice in my thirty-eight years of ministry and I hope I don’t have to do it again… but if necessary, I have no problem doing so.

To exit a bully from the church, make sure you’ve practiced steps one and two of Matthew 18:15–17… if you’ve got to do this, do it biblically. When you have to Step three the bully, set up a meeting with the wisest and most influential leaders of your church (make sure they’re on board with the process), and then invite the bully to the meeting. Explain the what and the whys of the disfellowshipping and outline what they can do to be included in the fellowship again (Godly sorrow, public confession, demonstratable repentance, and understanding that any role of leadership will be long in coming). And then invite them to leave and not return to the church or to any church activities.

I’ve only known of one occasion when the disfellowshipped bully tried to return to the church. The bully was met in the parking lot by a pair of church leaders and asked to leave … and the bully complied. However, they were prepared to dial 9-1-1 and ask the police to escort the person from the premises, which the church has the right to do.

In general, most bully’s lose their bully ways when the church stands up to them. And most of them leave quietly and don’t return, when asked.

Whether you convert, neutralize, or remove your bullies is irrelevant. In a declining church, you cannot afford to allow the bullies to continue to undermine the ministry, the vision, and the culture of the church. It took us a little over two years to exit one bully and to fully neutralize the other. Between building the discipleship foundation and dealing with our bullies, we negated our negative culture. But that’s not enough to turn a culture from negative to positive. And that’s why I’ve included the last section.

the years, it seems we’ve largely forgotten how to unify the church. Indeed, I’ve worked with a number of churches who have stuck “Church Unity” as one of their core values, as if unity happens in and of itself. This may sound counterintuitive, but the truth is: Focus on unity at your peril.

In general, when a church focuses on trying to achieve unity it achieves anything but unity. Why? Because when you focus on unity, you naturally focus on one another. And when you focus on one another, you will invariably notice other’s imperfections. When you do, you’ll get annoyed at them. And when you’re annoyed at someone, you’ve guaranteed that unity will be nowhere to be found.

So, if you want to have a unified church, follow the examples of Jesus and Paul rather than getting hung up on their words.

Their example? Absolute commitment and devotion to their mission and their vision, which is exactly the opposite of looking inward and trying to establish unity. When a church has a compelling vision for reaching into the community and making disciples, unity follows of its own accord. Indeed, when a church is absolutely committed to its vision, there’s literally nothing that can create disunity (because they’ll not allow anything or anyone to get in the way of their ministry).

I won’t go into vision creation in this article, but invite you to check out the website and the book If You Have to Herd Cats, You’ll Need a Bigger Mouse (http://BigMouse.Vision).

When you have built a discipleship foundation, have dealt with your bullies, and when the church has adopted and become committed to a compelling vision, it’s virtually impossible for a church to maintain a negative culture.

These three steps are those that we have followed to turn our congregation’s negativity into one where our visitors proclaim they experience God when they walk into the building. It’s been a long slog and a lot of work, but I outlined the plan with the church’s leadership from before I was called. It’s not easy, but it is possible to turn a church’s negativity into a forward thinking, excited, positive church culture.

Bill Tenny-Brittian is the managing partner of The Effective Church Group. For over thirty years, The Effective Church Group has been equipping churches and church leaders so they can be successful in reaching their mission. He is the co-author of The Role of the Senior Pastor and also teaches Pastoral Leadership for Phillips Seminary with an emphasis on leadership.

Don’t Forget: Unity is Overrated

Jesus talked about unity. Paul talked about unity. And the church has been trying to become unified ever since. But over

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Watch Where You’re Stepping!

By Bud Brown “Look at where you want your feet to go, not where they are now.”

That sage advice protected me from numerous falls—well, most of them. I nailed boards together to work my way through seminary. One of the carpenter’s more precarious tasks is laying out where the trusses sit on the exterior load-bearing walls. It involves walking a narrow top plate, 8’ up in the air, with a framing square. Every 24” you bend over to mark where the truss heel sits. The quickest way to get it done without falling is to fix an eye on where your feet will be, not where they are. Glancing down increases your chance of losing balance and falling off. That sudden stop at ground level can be... jarring. Gazing ahead makes the job faster and safer.

Isn’t that a great metaphor for how turnaround pastors overcome a negative culture?

When churches plateau or decline, pastors tend to focus on what’s wrong. This is like focusing on your feet stand while perched atop that narrow wall. This misplaced focus often leads to an ill-considered attack on all fronts at once.

There are many reasons why focusing on where the church is rather than where it will be in the future leads to a fall.

The “here and now” focus…

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• Strengthens the prevailing pessimism and solidifies the “can’t do” congregational mindset.

• Produces conflict that forces people to defend things they like or have learned to live with.

• Falls into the “church health” trap of internal focus, blinding the church to the non-believing community it does not touch.

• Offers a piecemeal approach of swapping one program for another rather than installing the paradigm shift revitalization requires.

Desperate pastors rush headlong into ill-planned church revitalization efforts. Stop! Don’t obsess about where that church is; look at where it will be. Instead of focusing on the church’s negative culture begin living out a positive culture. Keep your eyes fixed four steps ahead. The path forward becomes clearer and you’re less likely to fall.

Step 1: Assert yourself

The revitalizing pastor’s job is to break the status quo and get things moving. Churches desperately need pastors to speak their minds clearly and give compelling directions that people hear and understand. Without assertive leadership troubled churches will continue to flounder. Leadership does not exist for its own sake. It is a tool to bring the next step into focus: getting the church back on the mission.

Turnaround pastors.... are significantly more likely to not only share their opinion, but “assert” their opinion in a group. Additionally, notice that non-turnaround pastors are less likely to provide verbal leadership than are the members of the general population. Could this be one reason why churches led by NTAPs [Non-turnaround Pastors] have such difficulty getting unstuck.1 Troubled churches will scrap and fight to keep things as is.

Many refuse to consider change until critical mass evaporates and death is inevitable. Don’t be surprised when people resist assertive pastoral leadership. This is the instinctive reaction of a sick patient struggling against the surgeon lancing that infected boil. It hurts like crazy, but it is the only way to drain the infection and heal the body. Assertive pastors are undeterred by opposition; they do what they must do rescue that sick church.

Step 2: Get on mission

This is not negotiable. It’s also tricky because stagnant churches obsess over things that prohibit revitalization.

Their consumer mentality watches for any interruption in the steady supply of religious goods and services they’ve come to expect. In addition, people focus on what’s wrong.

The net result is an attitude of entitlement in an atmosphere of desperation. Visitors get the message loud and clear: “Help us keep things the way they are.”

Stepping toward mission in the non-believing community bids church members to “die to self.” Rather than attacking the problem directly, a wise pastor initiates missional activity that provides church members an opportunity to set aside personal preferences and foray into the mission where Jesus is at work. Being God’s channel of grace and redemption slowly erodes their unwillingness to sacrifice, alerts them to the non-believer’s plight, reconnecting the museum to its mission.

The next two steps flow directly from mission.

Step 3: Network evangelism

Many believers imagine that evangelism is the church’s responsibility, not theirs.2 They look to church events to draw non-believers to hear a sermon. They assume, wrongly, that evangelism happens best when non-believers listen to a speaker in a mass meeting. Revitalizers discard this mindset in favor of a fundamental truth: more than 75% of conversions occur as a result of hearing the gospel from a friend or family member. If you want to break out of that negative church culture, lean heavily on this principle.

It takes a long time for people to grasp their personal re1 Brown, Penfold, and Westra, Pastor Unique, 82-84.

2 Fewer than 1% witness to their faith in a typical month.

Stephen Cable, Cultural Captives, 48.

sponsibility for evangelism. When it sinks in, it yields far greater results than church centered evangelism events.

It produces converts, improves morale, and nurtures positive culture. It also eases people away from consumers to ministers. In the “Aha!” moment they discover that what consumers seek is best gained by displacing the self. They position themselves to enjoy fulfillment, joy, and intimacy with God.

Step 4: Lifestyle discipleship

Discipleship is a noble but needless pursuit in negative church cultures. These churches stunt spiritual maturation by conflating spiritual growth with attendance in small groups or Bible study. Discipleship is the unending spiritual journey from disbelief to perfect Christian maturity. Matthew 28:18-20 is clear: “discipleship” begins when a disciple goes on mission, persuasively proclaiming the gospel and adding new believers to the church in baptism. Then we train them to obey Jesus. As a result, they enter into the process, reproducing their experience in the lives of others.

Conclusion

This morning I was on the roof installing a new A/C compressor. It’s a real labyrinth up there: gas lines, electrical conduit, solar panels, vent stacks and various other tripping hazards. I had to work close to the edge, so I was extra careful to avoid stepping on or tripping over things. “Don’t look where your feet are but where they will be,” was my mantra. I got the job done, none the worse for wear (other than a mild sunburn).

Don’t focus on what’s wrong with your church. Don’t lose sleep over that negative culture. It doesn’t get you anywhere and that mindset could lead to serious injury. See where the church needs to be and start stepping in that direction. Take positive steps to lead with authority, restore the church’s mission, place responsibility for evangelism where it belongs, and make discipleship the expectation for all.

It takes time. It feels scary. But it’ll get you that positive church culture, safely.

Bud Brown has ministered in a wide variety of settings, from small rural to mid-sized suburban to rapidly growing megachurches. He has trained and mentored international students, intentional interim pastors, doctoral students, and now serves as president of Turnaround Pastors (www.turnaroundpastor.com).

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3 Ways Turnaround Pastors Can Overcome a Negative Mindset…

in Themselves

By Bob Whitesel

O

ften pastors don’t attempt a church revitalization because they’ve heard many horror stories. Or perhaps they’ve tried to do it a couple of times and failed.

Yet with the need so great (73% of churches are plateaued or declining, LifeWay) and the opportunities so widespread, I believe as church leaders we need to reevaluate any personal negative attitudes toward turnaround churches and embrace God’s purpose for the church (Acts 2:40-48).

Thus, I’m going to modify the topic from “overcoming a negative culture in a church” to “overcoming a negative mindset in a turnaround pastor.”

I am preparing a Doctor of Ministry course I teach for Fuller Theological Seminary on “How to turn around a church,” so today this topic for me is appropriate. That is because though I’ve noticed many of the students readily grasp the mechanics of church turnaround, they often fail at a turnaround because they enter the process with some negative mental viewpoints. I’d like to address the three most prevalent and what the turnaround leader can do about each.

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I can’t turn around a church because I am not a great preacher. Guess what? Most church turnarounds I’ve coached experience a turnaround when it is led by someone who is not a great preacher. In my book “ORGANIX: Signs of Leadership in a Changing Church” Abingdon Press, research shows that good preaching, while attractive, usually only leads to shortterm growth. The church grows initially, not because of the community it provides, but because of the exciting sermons people hear. But when the pastor leaves, and most pastors will leave at some time, the people go with him or her … or they just go nowhere.

The result is that people come to church because of the quality of the preaching, rather than the quality of their relationships. We see in New Testament times, especially through the Apostle Paul who wrote such powerful and weighty letters, that people were often disappointed by his features and his speaking. “His letters are brawny and potent, but in person he’s a weakling and mumbles when he talks,” is how Paul describes reactions to his sermons (2 Corinthians 10:10 MSG).

Younger people today are discovering churches best grow when focused upon creating community. So rather than trying to be as good a preacher as a famous mega-pastor, spend your time developing community and commonality within the church. Create church-wide unity building events. And create a vision that all segments of your church can embrace and get behind. Research has found (Bruno Dyck and Fredricks Stark, Administrative Science Quarterly) that pastors who held unity events that united church around a common purpose, created a “community” that was attractive rather than a program or a pastor. So work on finding that mission that everybody in the church can get behind. And, spend as much time working on it as you do your sermons.

I can’t turn around a church because I’ve never done it before.

This may be the second most common negative mindset. And, this stands to reason, because we are always intimated by what we have not yet experienced. But Paul, who had his own series of challenges, states, “And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there.” (1 Corinthians 7:17 MSG).

So while prior experience is helpful, the proliferation of good resources like this magazine and other sources means that having experience turning around a church is not a requisite to doing an effective job.

I can’t turn around a church because I don’t like the traditional way of doing things; and I want to do things in a new way. There is nothing wrong with innovative and contemporary forms of worship and ministry. But traditional forms of worship and ministry are also valid for the people who connect through those aesthetic forms. Because you don’t like their styles doesn’t mean God doesn’t use their traditional liturgical aesthetics to connect them to God.

I learned this firsthand, growing up in a mega-church with traditional Gospel Quartet music. The Bill Gaither Trio were often guests at our church meetings.

I grew up to associate their country-influenced Gospel music with my parents’ church. But that wasn’t my style. My parents loved it. And I love my parents and the Good News they instilled in me.

But I yearned for a younger musical style, to which I and my friends could relate. African-American rhythm and blues and the resultant rock ‘n’ roll music resonated with me.

But it also led me to see the church as culturally different from the aesthetics I enjoyed. Subsequently, I found little relevance in the church and into the world of rock ‘n’ roll I journeyed.

Yet in that world, I found other young people who loved rock ‘n’ roll and also loved Jesus even more. As a result of their culturally relevant presentation of the Good News to me, I gave my life to Jesus and set upon a path of writing and leading contemporary worship.

However, because I saw the church as captive to traditional and Gospel music, I developed an unhealthy aversion for older forms of music. That was until I met a beautiful Lutheran girl, who was much more spiritual than me. Yet to her the Lutheran hymns of her church had provided a spiritual strength and wisdom during her youth. She showed me that her music was just a

“You learn more about a different culture by working on a committee with them, than by warming a pew next to them.”

Today there is a growing number of good resources that can equip the pastor to turn around a church, so that prior experience, while helpful, is not mandatory. Magazines like “Church Revitalizer” magazine and resources like Renovate Conferences offer church leaders the opportunity to learn from and be mentored by successful church turnaround leaders.

I allow each year a handful of potential turnaround coaches to shadow me and learn the turnaround coaching insights I’ve gained from doing this for 30 years and earning two doctorates on the subject (Fuller Theological Seminary). The shadowing program is called MissionalCoaches.com and dozens have graduated from this program and gone on to help turn around churches.

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different style than mine, but which for her was still relevant. She gave me an appreciation and love for classical music to this day. Subsequently I became a connoisseur of Charles Wesley and his great hymns.

Our family appreciates a healthy mix of both traditional music and contemporary music. My wife’s loving example of aesthetic flexibility led me to a more holistic life and allowed me to write several books on how to have both traditional and contemporary music in the same church.

Turnaround church leaders learn how to bring unity out of diversity. Often a dying church will have one form of music and worship aesthetic. It may be a traditional form, it could be a gospel music form, or it could even be a contemporary form. What happens is a church offers only one liturgical aesthetic. And because people have come to connect with God through that particular style, they strongly resist any changes.

Change means interfering with their communication with God.

But usually another generation or demographic will emerge that has a different musical appreciation and aesthetic style. And, they will usually go to a new church down the street that offers their liturgical aesthetic. The problem is that this new church down the street usually winds up being as homogeneous as the church that was left behind. What results is that our churches tend to focus on one liturgical aesthetic.

Then they rise and die with that aesthetic.

Many turnaround church pastors undertake a strategy I call “1+1 +1 = 1” (“A House Divided: Bridging the Generation Gaps in Your Church” Abingdon Press). This means allowing traditional congregants to keep their historical way of worship while adding a new worship opportunity. This can be done by hosting a 20-minute pre-glow (preservice) with a different style of music. Or it can be accomplished by hosting a postglow (post-service) with 20 minutes of a different style of music. Eventually this can emerge into two worship opportunities. I’ve helped churches do this even when they were small, just a couple dozen people.

The key is to move toward offering two or more liturgical expressions that can relate to both the existing church culture and the emerging culture of a neigh-

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borhood or community. Yet people often say, “You’re spitting the church part.” But you’re only allowing them to self-select the cultural expression of worship that they enjoy. And, the running of the church (e.g. its administration, mission, focus and health) should still be conducted by committees and boards made up of people from different cultures. I’ve often said, you learn more about a different culture by working on a committee with them, than by warming a pew next to them. It has been my experience as a missiologist that you gain more cultural understanding by strategizing, compromising, sharing and dialoguing in a committee setting than you do by simply sitting adjacent to them in chruch.

So though a turnaround church leader will usually prefer their own worship style, they must be careful to not inadvertently prioritize their preferences over those of others. Instead, multiple worship expressions can be valid means to connect the different cultures in a church to God. Even if you don’t enjoy their music, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn about it, understand it and help others connect with God through it. Subsequently, alongside a traditional worship expression you can create a second culturally distinct liturgical expression, that another generation or culture can connect with as well. Though everyone has their own preferred style of worship, a church turnaround leader will usually be the principle connector between the the different cultures God is sending to a church.

Bob Whitesel is an award-winning author/consultant on church health and growth. He has been called “the key spokesperson on change theory in the church today” by a national magazine, co-founded an accredited seminary (Wesley Seminary at IWU) and created one of the nation’s most respected church health and growth consulting firms: ChurchHealth.net

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The local church is the only organization that can facilitate eternal hope, lasting change, and total transformation in the lives of people and communities everywhere.

Even so, today’s local churches are often in desperate need of renewal and revitalization themselves. In The Revitalized Church, Pastor Michael Atherton uses his firsthand experiences to show how a local church community can once again become vibrant. The Revitalized Church shares Atherton’s eighteen-month journey merging two church communities with a common vision and discusses the challenges and the victories he encountered. In addition, he examines the key biblical leadership principles that were used to help sustain the church community.

Mountains and Mole Hills

By Jim Grant In ministry pastors and ministers are encouraged, almost challenged, to make sure they don’t lose perspective of what is most important. Clichés such as “Don’t sweat the small stuff; and everything is small stuff.” Another one would be “Keep the main thing the main thing.” These all sound well as long as everything is going well. When a revitalizer or minister finds himself in a negative environment it is difficult to remember that we were “suppose to drain the pool; all the while fighting the alligators!”

While I lived in Illinois, I encountered a nemesis, really a pest! It seems that my aggravation would come from a little creature called a mole! I would wake up in the morning and stroll around our two acres and notice these ugly places where the ground had been bulged; better known as mole runs. I then would try to set traps and various other means in an attempt to catch this little varmint. I found that if you wait long enough, the little critter will move and then I would pounce on its slightest twitch of the ground with a shovel to dig it up and expose it to the bright sun! Needless to say, the mole usually escaped my tenacious tactics to rid my lawn of these pests.

I say all that to give an illustration in ministry about making a mountain out of a Mole Hill! Yes, I have dug up great mounds of dirt to try and get rid of a pesky little rodent. If one is not careful you can actually do more damage than the mole does.

When there is a negative environment within the church, we have a couple of options. You could approach it with vigor and relentlessness to rid yourself and the church of the problem – but in the meantime do more damage than good. Like my mole problem, I had to understand that my issue was not the damaged lawn, but that which lie under the surface. Too many times we get so focused on the negative “surface” that we fail to take into account there is something bigger at work. Again, “Don’t make a mountain out of a mole hill.”

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In dealing with a problem, first IDENTIFY what the real problem is, don’t assume that you know what the cause of the conflict is all about. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood [Ephesians 6:10-18]. We often attribute the cause of our frustration as what we see; yet often it is what we don’t see below the surface that is at work. In Church Revitalization it is imperative that a proper diagnosis be made. If there is misidentification of the SOURCE of the problem, you are going to waste effort and resources fighting against the wrong culprit. Identification of the ROOT is necessary, for if we just treat the surface animal; the animal will have the ability to come back and repeat the destruction and havoc it did previously.

Secondly, SIMPLIFY the issue. We just make circumstances and personal issues bigger than they really are. I may think that my lawn is overrun with moles and that the entire yard of grass will be destroyed.

Now, there is a possibility of a lot of damage when a negative conflict arises – but the revitalizer must make sure He isn’t the one making the mess. Simplifying an issue often takes time and further investigation. For example, I had to talk to other people who had moles – yes there are people that are battling the same pesky varmints we are fighting! How did

lem to a positive. By rectifying a problem you turn the negative into a positive; which then can be useful in Kingdom work. How do you go about rectifying a problem? Know what you are dealing with up front; know what you need as a result or resource; then take leadership and managerial steps to switch the unusable into the useable. Obviously, one will have to experiment at times to get the best out of a bad situation. Rectifying takes more work that eliminating the problem. We all have people that have great skills and talents, but often seem like a pest or worse an adversary when you and I try to do the work of the ministry. Don’t shove the problem off to another church; deal with what you have been given. As a point – you may be the one that needs to be rectified!

they deal with them? Do I focus on eliminating the moles and thus dig up my own yard trying to get them; or do I eliminate them by taking away what is attracting them to my yard. Moles eat grubs; get rid of the grubs and the moles will move to another area – yeah, your neighbors won’t like you but you will be free from the pests. Now that really isn’t very Christian is it – because all we did was pass our problem off to another “church”, so we really didn’t deal with the problem, we just made it NOT OUR PROBLEM anymore. To work through a negative situation, break it down into simple stated facts. Deal with what you know, not what you have been told.

Make the problem manageable. Eliminate the “We and they; Us and them” language. Once you identify the various parts of the problem, simplify each prong and address the necessary action to resolve it. Which brings me to the third point. RECTIFY the problem.

Rectify is used in electricity. A rectifier is used to change an alternating current [A/C] into a Direct Current. [D/C] A lot of tools and other electrical equipment uses D/C, not A/C. It is rectified [changed] so that the power is useable. I think you get the point. If there is a problem environment, CHANGE the prob-

Finally, after taking the bull by the horns so to speak, you then can move to a GLORIFY position. God sends us people to be used for His kingdom. Often our struggle is that we don’t know how to use what we have been given. I did find out that the pesky mole was good for the yard, it aeriated it and ate all the grubs that would destroy my lawn. In conflict, there is the possibility that God meant it for Good what we thought was bad. I was a pastor for twenty-two years; there were many times that I would erupt over a small issue. I could explode inside with rage about how someone was unwilling to accept that I knew what I was doing – “Work with me here” seemed to be my lament. Scripture tells us that “Iron Sharpens Iron;” could it be that we have become dull and the Lord needed to send a sharpener? In the end by dealing with a negative situation, God gets the Glory. Neglecting or refusing to address the problem will only increase our frustration and desire to “Kill the Mole.”

Jim Grant is the Executive Director of the Galveston Baptist Association. He is an Air Force veteran, retiring with twenty-five years of service. His extensive travels allowed him the unique opportunity to serve in a full spectrum of churches with various styles and ranges of spiritual health. He has a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctorate of Ministry degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological seminary with a concentration on Church Revitalization.

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Remaining Confident in a Caustic Environment

By Tracy Jaggers

O

ne of my favorite books of all time has nothing to do with revitalization, but it has everything to do with renewal and forward thinking (so maybe it does have something to do with revitalization). Dr. Roger Campbell’s book, “Staying Positive in a Negative World,” has been my go-to resource for pulling my negative, complaining attitude out of the personality abyss. I have no trouble wallowing in my useless pessimism, but it takes the spiritual crowbar of repentance and obedience to give me the energy to leap out of my “pit of despair” (my nod to The Princess Bride).

This same character flaw can easily overpower a leader of revitalization. Therefore, with the help of Dr. Campbell, and my decades in ministry and involvement in revitalization, I offer these proposals to boost your spirit and your ministry. They are not offered in any order of importance.

A combination of many or all may be your prescription to a healthy, affirmative attitude. The kingdom of God calls for positive, confident leaders to rebuild the walls and plea for repentance and faith by His people.

Here are 16 considerations to safeguard your fervor and optimism: 1. Be assured of God’s great love for you and His desire for you and Him to be One – “Cast all your cares upon Him; for He cares for you!” (1 Peter 5:7); “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one.” (John 17:20-23) 2. Faith and trust in the Lord make us “God pleasers.” – “But without faith it is impossible to please Him…” (Hebrews 11:6; Mark 9:23)

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3. Eliminate the negative; “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the positive!” (a 1944 song performed by Dr. John – don’t judge me) – “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…” (Proverbs 23:6) We must remember that with God, nothing is impossible, and when God is with us, who can be against us? Keep looking up and never be dismayed (Philippians 4:8).

4. Don’t give into “stinkin-thinkin!” Stay focused on the Lord – “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” (Ephesians 6:10) 5. Money rarely resolves a problem. Doubt drains the believer, but positive faith rejoices in the assurance that God cares and has limitless resources to meet our necessities.

When you focus on what man can do, you will be disappointed, but if you focus on what God can do, you will be astounded! “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19) 6. Look for the best in others - avoid hate and blame. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) Avoid judging sinners – “And such were some of us!” Love them!

7. Testing is temporary. (1 Peter 1:6-9) “This too shall pass.” [a quote that appears to have originated in the writings of medieval Persian poets. Found 830 times in the Bible]

8. Keep looking forward and upward! There is a phrase that captivates my life and future planning - “Don’t look back; you’re not going that way!” This phrase reminds us that the past has passed, that’s why it is called “the past.”

I have observed many mature, church members who desire “The Good Old Days.” Were they really that good?

People had no chance of survival if they had a heart condition. Today it can be resolved by open-heart surgery.

Persons fraught with cancer had no chemo or radiation treatments. Cars moved at a blazing speed of 40-45 mph and most didn’t have air conditioning or power steering.

Do you really think the past was so great? “Do not say, “Why were the old days better than today?” This is not wise thinking (Ecclesiastes 7:10 – my paraphrase).

9. Learn to be content with what you have and where you are. Peace is not found in a bank account or in geography!

No amount of assets will give you freedom from financial concerns and there is no place so secluded or stately that will offer the security and solace as being smack-dab in the middle of God’s will. I must add this caveat, we should never be so satisfied with ourselves or our status that we forget the Lord or those who are in need. “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.” (Philippians 4:11) Trust in the Lord, not your bank account!

10. Strive to be healthy in body, mind and spirit. Physical health can contribute to a positive attitude. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, and is given to you by God, and you are not your own? You were bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, both of which belong to God.” (1 Corinthians 6:19) 11. Dream Big! Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG) encourage us to risk the impossible and attempt the incredible.

Think you cannot go on? Think you don’t have the skills or the energy to keep climbing? You would be correct! But, God has more than enough power to help you accomplish everything He has called you to. Paul said it this way, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

(Philippians 4:13) 12. Take on a hobby to distract you from negativity and avoid the doldrums! Seek the presence of the Lord to lift you up and encourage you toward effectiveness and victory for His sake. “Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight (emphasis mine), and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1) Try exercise; building with wood or metal; fishing; golf; etc. Anything that will distract you from constantly thinking about the difficulties and struggles of everyday life.

13. Get adequate sleep. For me, that is seven hours of unhindered slumber. For you, it may be more or less. If you are consistently tired, you will not be a beneficial tool for the spread of the Gospel and the enhancement of the Kingdom of God. “In peace I will both lie down and sleep,

For You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety.” (Psalm 4:8) 14. Keep your Focus Clear.

• Focus on others, not yourself. “Are we beginning to praise ourselves again? Are we like others, who need to bring you letters of recommendation, or who ask you to write such letters on their behalf? Surely not! The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you. Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts. We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

• Focus on His Kingdom and His Good News.

• Focus on His Bride – she is the one for whom the Bridegroom returns.

• Focus on being a great pastor, not a great orator.

• Focus on the plans of God, not the programs of the institution.

15. Habitually share praise testimonies from your life and from the church you serve. From eternity past to eternity future, our God is worthy of praise. Our testimonies give witness to the life-transforming power of Almighty God. It’s hard to be negative when you are counting your blessings from the Lord!

“He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen.” (Deut. 10:21).

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) 16. The Lord is not alarmed by our problems and He doesn’t need to rearrange His plans because of them. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) You can trust the Lord to bring you through the fire and the flood!

If the Lord is on your side and you are one with Him, remain confident and joyful - you’re on the winning team!

Tracy Jaggers is the Associational Director of Missions of Gateway Baptist Association, Edwardsville, Illinois. He has held the Senior Pastor, Associate Pastor, Minister of Music, Youth Pastor and Minister of Education roles. He is a contributing author for the book entitled, Practical Tools for Reinventing the Dying Church. His website is: www.churchoverhauler.com

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Five ways to Overcome a Negative Church Culture

By Rob Hurtgen As a church revitalizer, you are a catalyst of culture.

Yes, you have many things to overcome and numerous factors out of your control however, the one thing you can control is how you build the church’s culture by challenging a spirit of negativity. I want to propose five of many ways to combat a negative culture in a declining church.

Prayer

In Mark 9:14 – 29, a father brings his son to the disciples to be healed. The spirit he boy was possessed with caused him to convulse, foam at the mouth, grind his teeth and his body became rigid. Despite their efforts, the apostles could not cast out the spirit within the young man. Jesus however could. When the apostles asked why they were unable to do what Jesus empowered and authorized them to do, he responded, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

A spirit of negativity within the church is not equal to demonic possession (though they are perhaps related). A negative culture within the church can be changed by prayer. Negativity within the church is a spiritual matter. Spiritual matters cannot be addressed by strategy alone. Spiritual matters, heart change, must be addressed with prayer.

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Prayer is essential to everything you do as a revitalizer. You must not only diligently guard your personal prayer time but lead your church to pray. Leading your people in prayer to trust God for a future they cannot see; a future that is greater than the brewing negativity in the church. If Jesus can cast out demons who brought destruction on their hosts, the Holy Spirit can purge a church of its negative culture. Yet, like the deaf and mute spirit driven from a young boy, negative attitudes cannot be driven out “by anything but prayer” (Mark 9:29).

Guard Your Heart

Negative people are consumers. They devour people.

You must cautiously enter their world without being consumed.

A few years ago, some of my children and I took an introductory scuba lesson. We had our course on the dock going over all the equipment. How to use the regulator, inflate and deflate the vest, clearing the mask, all the techniques you need to enter into the underwater environment to survive and thrive. We had to put attention to the gear so we could enjoy the water and not be consumed by it.

To survive in a negative culture, you need to enter that environment but not be consumed by it. Proverbs 4:23 reminds us, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (NLT). Guarding your heart means both paying attention to what enters and minding what leaves your heart. If you are in a toxic environment, you need to seek someone out to regularly detox. Someone who will help you guard your own heart to ensure that you are surviving in the negative culture without being consumed by it. Your self-maintenance is critical to thriving in the negative atmosphere without being first absorbed and then becoming a contributor to that culture.

Be A Builder, not a Breaker

Not only must you guard your heart, but you must also commit to being a builder of positive attributes.

Philippians 4:8 challenges us in writing, “8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (ESV). The job of a revitalization leader is to transform the culture of the church. The practice described in Philippians 4:8 is penned from the same one who was imprisoned and whose ministry was being criticized by those who were envious and had become ministry rivals. Yet, by God’s grace, he chose to rejoice. Chose to dwell upon whatever was commendable and excellent.

Philippians challenges those of us who are ministering in a negative culture towards ministry practices that seeks out what can be praised and celebrated.

Adopting a mindset to celebrate and praise is choosing to build joy. Your tone will set the atmosphere of the congregation bringing the vitality, joy, and generosity you envision the church possessing. Build a culture of celebration.

Encourage Generosity

Generous people are contagious. People who are generous with their time, resources, and themselves encourage others to do the same. One of the quickest tools in your leadership arsenal in building a positive church culture is to be generous yourself while encouraging and celebrating generosity in the church.

A church that is intentionally generous and encourages others will be a blessing to others and them-

selves. “The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed (Proverbs 11:25, NLT).

In your corporate worship, thank your people for their generosity. “But they didn’t meet the missions giving goal,” you say. Does not matter. They gave one-dollar when they could have offered none. Celebrate what they have done without criticizing what they did not do. As a leader, you need to critique and evaluate, but with your people, you need to encourage and thank them for their generosity. By encouraging their generosity, you are instilling within them that they are big-hearted people and at the same time casting the vision to regularly outdo their generosity.

Celebrate

Lastly, celebrate. We do not celebrate enough. We do not say “Thank-you” enough. Cast a vision for an optimistic, faith-driven, positive culture by celebrating what the Lord is doing and what the Lord could do. A culture of celebration is energetic, exciting, and contagious. A celebration environment enthusiastically says, “This is what the Lord has done. I cannot wait to see what He will do tomorrow!” Attitude and actions of celebration change the culture and can work to increase your church’s faith.

Conclusion

There will probably always be negative people in your church. Negative people feed and are fueled by the negativity their attitudes create. As a church revitalizer realize you cannot control what others do but you can work to build the culture of abundance. If Jesus can cast out demons who brought destruction on their hosts, the Holy Spirit can purge a church of its negative culture.

Rob Hurtgen is the Pastor of First Baptist Church Chillicothe, Missouri. He holds an M.Div from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree in Church Revitalization from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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Leading Revitalization Eforts Despite a Culture of Negativity

By Michael Atherton As you lead a revitalization effort, please don’t be lulled into the false sense of security that everyone within the church wants to see the church revitalized. That is not the case. In fact, there are going to be some, maybe even many, who will actively work against any revitalization effort that is exerted. As a result, negativity begins to surface, and criticism becomes the norm. While leading a revitalization effort in Colorado, I dealt with some of my best friends starting a literal “stay the way we are” committee. Though I did not think it could get much worse, I was wrong! Over a period of months, multiple attacks were leveled on my leadership; people criticized my wife; lawyers were brought in to make threats; a lawsuit was filed; and I got to read an article on the front page of the Denver post, outlining a litany of lies concerning myself and the proposed merger. I must admit, the temptation to throw a pity-party was ever so strong. It was at that time that God gave me three principles from Exodus 14 to deal with negativity.

God affirmed, reaffirmed, and then affirmed His call again.

So, Moses reluctantly agreed to go back to Egypt and lead God’s people to experience freedom.

As the Israelites left Egypt, it did not take long for the people to begin grumbling about their new reality. Scripture says that Pharaoh had a change of heart and regretted allowing the Israelites to leave.

Therefore, he assembled his army and pursued them. The Israelites found themselves hemmed in by the Red Sea as the Egyptian army surrounded them. They turn to Moses and ask, “Were there not enough graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to the wilderness to die?”

(Exodus 14:11). Ultimately, the Israelites wanted to go back to Egypt. Can you believe that? They prayed for deliverance, yet they had come to the place where they had rather live in slavery then experience the prospects of freedom.

So, with a climate of negativity and with the spirit of grumbling abounding, in Exodus 14:13, Moses offered three thoughts to help everyone work through their difficult situation.

“If God has led you to your position and guided you to this crossroads, He has a plan for you.

Fear not!”

Exodus 14 is the story where Moses is leading the Israelites out of Egypt and out from under the heavy hand of Pharaoh’s oppression. The people had been praying for many years for God to send someone to deliver them from their bondage. God raised up Moses. Moses was not necessarily interested in leading God’s people. He offered many excuses to argue he was not the right person. Yet,

1. Fear Not

The shackles of fear are apparent. Fear can discourage, even paralyze. Christians today, like Israel of old, sometimes find themselves trembling on the shore of some uncrossable sea. The strength which dispels fear comes not from within us but from above us. It is the reassurance of

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the Lord of the universe, who ultimately told His children, “Fear not.” Only He can truly dispel fear. If God is for us, who can be against us?

For Israel, their fear was rooted in two obvious sources.

A.) They feared their past. The chariots of Egypt were on a tour of revenge. They were coming to round up those who had run away. When they returned them to Egypt, there would have been little chance that Pharaoh would have dealt with them in an honorable way. In fact, when Moses first came to Pharaoh requesting him to let the Israelites go, Pharaoh’s response was to make things more difficult for the Israelites. B.) They feared their future. They were facing an uncertain reality. It is challenging to live amid unanswered questions. How often do our churches engage in conflict and negativity, because the unknown details of the future overwhelm us? The work of revitalization is an exercise in leading change. Change is the conduit that will often bring about criticism and negativity in the church.

When people are forced to consider change, things can often get tense. In those moments, as a leader, do not fear.

If God has led you to your position and guided you to this crossroads, He has a plan and will not leave you. Fear not!

2. Stand Firm

Standing where the Israelites were standing was difficult.

I am certainly not suggesting it would have been easy to have walked in their sandals. The temptation to run, when they began to see this unfolding storyline would have been great. They could have run backward and retreated into the security of their past. Egypt had not been kind to them, but at least it was consistent. At least they knew where they would lay their head down. At least they knew from where their next meal would come. They could have chosen to run away, to scatter. Maybe it would have been better for everyone to try and make it on their own.

When a spirit of negativity descends upon the church, it is ever so easy to see people respond the same way. In situations like this, people tend to long for the good ole’ days.

They desire to go back to a place and time that they found to be particularly pleasing. Therefore, they will strive to halt the work of revitalization. They will try and impede the work of change. Often they will use any mechanism available to accomplish their goal. Therefore, churches will split, pastors will leave (whether voluntarily or involuntarily), relationships will sever, or financial practices will be abandoned (whether in the area of giving or spending).

The thought process is that the end will justify the means and the detractors are therefore doing everyone else a favor.

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Amid this perilous situation, what is the word from God? Stand firm. We, as leaders, may be surprised by what we are seeing unfold before our very eyes, but God is not surprised. He knows what the heart of man is fully capable of. He understands our plight. It is when we are taken right up to the brink of the sea’s edge, the armies of the enemy surround us, and there is nowhere else for us to go, that He does His best work in our lives. Does that give us the option to ignore all the leadership principles in life that help to ensure that we lead well; communication, servanthood, vision casting, conflict management, etc.? Certainly not. However, in that same vein, we must remember there are some battles that we face in ministry that are not ours to fight. Therefore, stand firm and….

3. See the salvation (deliverance) of the Lord

God had a plan for Moses. I am not suggesting that plan met the threshold of conventional wisdom, but who ever accused God of acting with conventional wisdom?

We must acknowledge, God’s ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts. Moses is to move forward by lifting his staff and stretching his hands out over the sea, and God will part the water so that the Israelites can pass through on dry ground. Not only that, but God would then drown the entire Egyptian army in that same seabed.

It was on this precarious precipice that the Israelites found themselves that ultimately God brought about their deliverance. It is never easy to walk through these difficult seasons of life. However, God often brings us as people and churches to these difficult seasons to demonstrate His power to save. The sea that once represented disaster now became the threshold of deliverance. Why? Because man’s extremity is God’s opportunity!

Leading God’s people to experience a better tomorrow is certainly not for the faint of heart. The journey may be long, tough, or arduous. However, it is ever so worth it!

Michael Atherton has served as the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of O’Fallon, O’Fallon, MO for 15 years. Leading a church in a church merger, he has learned firsthand the challenges of a revitalizer. Mike is the author of The Revitalized Church. Mike leads a Mentored Master of Divinity program at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and is past President of the Colorado Baptist Convention.

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The Toxin of the Culture of Pride in the Church

By Steve Sells It is important to identify what we mean as “culture”, especially as it relates to the church today. For all practical purposes, church “culture” can be defined as the way the church does things or how it carries out its activities as a church. Furthermore, it is why the church does not do certain other things. Dictionary.com says this about culture; “culture is defined as the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a social, ethnic, or age group”. For pastors, culture encompasses the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a church. Churches, at the present time, all exist in their own “culture.” A few exist in the positive dynamic culture of evangelism, discipleship and outreach. Many, if not most, exist in a negative culture of refusal to change or simply a “culture of pride.” This “culture of pride” is, as many church revitalizers have stated, the most toxic church culture that exists, mainly because of the far-reaching impact that it has on the work and stability of the church.

The writer of Proverbs clearly states that “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

(Proverbs 16: 18) These words are indicative of the personal life of a Christian. It is also a clear message to the church as well. Ron Edmondson, writing about church cultures in his article, 7 of the Most Dangerous Church Cultures, says that pride reveals itself by being “proud of their heritage - which is a good thing – but it

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is resting on their laurels. They refuse to realize that it is no longer the ‘good ole days’! Their pride in the past keeps them from embracing the future. They resist any ideas that are different from the way things have always been done.”

In his writing about “pride” the late scholar John Stott said, “At every stage of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend.”

He further stated, “Pride is more than the first of the seven deadly sins; it is the essence of all sin.” How does the culture of pride reveal itself in the local church?

What are the signs that this deadly sin has crept into the church? The essence of this discussion is simply that pride in the human life is elevating oneself above others but the “culture of pride” in the local church is the elevating of itself above Holy God!

A “culture of pride” in individual life as well as corporate church life always leads to disaster. The sin of pride in a church is seen when sinful people aspire to be God themselves, which will savage the church’s purpose and future. It reveals itself in the selfish behavior of the congregation, while ignoring the needs of a lost world.

The will and plan of God becomes subordinate to the “culture of pride.” Human pride always aspires to its

own agenda rather than God’s agenda whether it is in the life of the individual or the congregation. Ultimately, this behavior ends in self-glorification with a message of, “look what we have accomplished” attitude instead of glorifying God for what He has done. When a church is overwhelmed by the “culture of pride”, it acts as if it knows more about what the church needs than God knows. There is a clear scriptural warning about the “culture of pride”. In 1 Corinthians 1:27, 29 the Scripture says, “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;…that no flesh should glory in His presence.”

The “culture of pride” in the church causes the church to become hypocritical. Pride is unwarranted self-esteem, ascending out of self-centeredness. It always has its focus on extending self rather than elevating Jesus. Decisions that are made within this kind of self-centered church are almost always selfish. Money is designated for the comfort of the people in the church. Activities are planned to meet the entertainment needs of the congregation rather than to reach out to a needy community. Moreover, the church is structured for the benefit of the existing congregation with little thought about those outside the church or what God desires for the church.

Pride invariably leads the church down the road of exclusivity. The church becomes so pre-occupied with itself it fails to be inclusive of those it should be ministering too. Everything becomes about the existing congregation to the exclusion of those outside of the church. As a result, the needs of people in the church field are excluded from the sphere of influence and care of the church.

The church that is steeped in pride tends to ignore serious sins within their own fellowship. Sin reflects the fleshly desires of the human heart. The primary goal of any church should be to serve God, but many churches have replaced that goal with a goal of serving their own desires which inevitably generates a disregard for sin. When pride enters a congregation, it is then very difficult for the congregation to view sin for what it really is. It becomes very difficult for the members to admit their own sin and seek forgiveness through repentance. The church must rid itself of self-centeredness in order to rid itself of pride. A plain and simple truth is that if a church actively serves God, it cannot serve itself!

As a result of this “culture of pride,” the church always isolates itself from others and God…herein lies

the problem. Proverbs 18:1says, “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment.”

What is the remedy? A church that has settled into this toxic “culture of pride” is difficult to change. It is, however, possible to bring about the change from toxic dying to spiritual health, but it will take time and hard work. Usually, the church that finds itself in a toxic culture arrived there through years of abnormality as a church. There are some definite actions that must be taken to reverse the trend of toxicity in the church.

First, the Senior Pastor must step up! He must become a transformational leader. He must not be easily intimidated. He must be strong and visionary. He must understand what the problem is and lead the congregation to understand the problem as well. This can be accomplished only when authentic humility prevails.

That humility must seek a realistic self-appraisal that includes a severe and astute self-examination. Healing and change will only begin when the pastor and congregation can clearly say, “This is who we have become, and this is who we are.”

Secondly, when this self-examination takes place, and the church understands what their “present reality” is, then they must plan and work toward much needed solutions. The pastor should preach messages of concern about how the toxic culture in the church can be changed and these messages call for a “holy boldness” on his part. The sin of pride cannot be easily corrected in a person’s life. The Pastor’s messages must confront the problem head-on, with compassion and love, but with boldness and authority. It may be profitable for the church to seek outside help from an experienced church revitalizer!

No church should ever have a toxic existence. If a church is dying because of a toxic culture, it needs to realize that there is help available to intervene and lead the church back to the healthy life that God intends for His Church to have!

Steve Sells is the president and CEO of Operation Transformation church revitalization ministry in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Steve has served in ministry for 43 years in North Carolina and Georgia. Dr. Sells is the co-author of the book With Greater Power. He seeks to help churches of all sizes experience new health and growth.

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Seven Scriptural Steps for Starting Strong and Sustaining Strength

By Rodney Harrison Let me start by admitting that any article with a title alliterated with seven S’s should be regarded as suspect…unless the content is biblically grounded and practically beneficial. As a seminary professor in the areas of practical theology, I have worked with hundreds of students who find themselves called to serve a plateaued or declining church. I am frequently asked by these students, “Where should I start?” To that end, taking time to reflect upon the following seven steps will provide any church leader with the necessary insights and information to formulate a plan for revitalization.

1. Recall your call. In Joshua 4 the Israelites are commanded to place stones of remembrance along the path to serve as a sign of God’s faithful provision into the land he called His people. In a similar way, it is imperative that the revitalizer reflect upon his call. Take time to recount the evidence that affirms a clear call to your church or ministry. This evidence will help to sustain you when the times get tough. It is beneficial for your personal resolve to revisit your call regularly, least you forget God’s providential placement.

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2. Don’t Listen to your Distractors. Nehemiah faced opposition both from without in the persons of Sanballat and Tobiah (Nehemiah 4:1-8) and from within through the actions of the nobles and officials (Nehemiah 5:1-8). It is easy to let distractors “get under our skin.” Their words and actions can easily fester if we allow their words to distract us from God’s call and purpose. King David restrained Abishai from retaliating against Shimei, who was cursing the King. Rather, he committed the words of his distractor Shimei unto the Lord (2 Samuel 16:5-14). Not listening to our distractors does not mean “don’t hear what they are saying.”

Rather, it means not to take their words to heart and instead, to take them to God. 3. Know where you are going, and don’t get side-tracked. Popular opinions are often wrong.

Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The first four answers--John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or another prophet—were commonly embraced, but dead wrong.

It’s easy to get sidetracked—especially when the voices seem authoritative. It is imperative to know

where you are going as well as where not to go.

Sixty-two times, God declares his plan to take His people “out of Egypt.” And yet, from Numbers 14:4 to Stephen’s testimony in Acts 7:39 we are told the people continued to turn their hearts towards Egypt. Where are you going as a leader and as a church, and what feelings or experiences, such as nostalgia or a better paying job, might pull you away from God’s purpose?

4. When inevitable failures come, own up to them (2 Samuel 24:10-14). The phrase, “I have sinned” was used frequently by King Saul, but failed to reflect true repentance or acceptance of God’s discipline. In contrast, David uttered these same words, acknowledging his inequity and his foolishness, as well as the appropriateness of God’s discipline. Why do leaders hesitate to own up to our failures? Jonathan Edwards notes pride as the root of the problem, as manifested through fault-finding, a harsh spirit, superficiality, defensiveness, presumption before God, desperation for attention and neglecting others. If any or all of those characteristics are present, failure to take responsibility for a failure may be at the heart of the problem. This could be true of you or one another church leader, and be hindering growth.

5. Focus on being over doing (1 Samuel 15:22 and Psalm 46:10). Religion focuses on “doing.” True faith focuses on being. Do not let the functions of leading mask the character of leadership. It is relatively easy to fall into a trap of assessing faithfulness or effectiveness through statistics such as baptisms, attendance, counseling sessions and giving. A better barometer is obedience. Are you a man after God’s own heart, as was David (1 Samuel 13:14 cf. Acts 13:22)? Does the friend of God description given to Abraham (James 2:23), Moses (Exodus 33:11) and Christ’s disciples (John 15:1415) resonate with you?

6. You will reap what you sow (Galatians 6:7).

When I was in seminary, a neighbor, who was also a seminarian, frequently stayed home on Sunday morning to catch up on reading or to work on a paper. After graduation, he was called as senior pastor of a medium size church. Ironically, his greatest frustration as a pastor was—to no one’s surprise--unfaithful church members! Be sure that you will reap what you sow. If you have sown

seeds of unfaithfulness, laziness, evangelistic negligence, prayerlessness, unilateral decision making, deception or misplaced priorities, repent of those sins and begin sowing faithfulness. This will take some time to correct, but you will eventually reap the fruit of faithfulness.

7. Engage—don’t disregard—the data! (Luke 15:1-7). I wonder how many pastors of a church running 100 would know if one person was missing? The exhortation to engage the data is not in conflict with a focus upon being. Effective leaders know and understand the implications of the data. The pastor or educator who disregards attendance, prospects, baptisms, small group attendance and giving information can miss the story the data tells. This is most often observed in churches that define themselves as “plateaued” when in reality, they are in decline. A wise pastor will receive and review the data weekly and engage the data at least monthly. What are the trends—especially year-to-date. If you do not currently have that information, prioritize obtaining the data.

Taking the time to reflect upon these seven steps will provide a tool to triage your ministry. Most of these steps are personal, and will not require a church vote or budget reallocation. All will, at some level, require honesty and transparency with yourself, God and others. The best time to start this process is now.

Dr. Rodney Harrison

provides oversight to Midwestern’s doctoral programs, extensions, online programs and accreditation.

He came to Midwestern following a fruitful ministry in church planting and missions in California, the Dakotas, and Minnesota. Prior to coming to Midwestern, he was New Church Extension Associate for the California Southern Baptist Convention. Rodney is the author of four books and has written material for LifeWay Christian Resources, The Revitalizer, and several academic journals.

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Revitalizer LIBRARY

Peterson, Eugene H. Run with the Horses; The Quest for Life at Its Best. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1983. (Note, the second edition pictured was printed in 2009).

When Eugene Peterson stepped into heaven in the fall of 2018, I came to realize that the only works of his that I was familiar with were two; The Message and his interview with Bono. At the time of his death, there came across my social media streams quotes from books he had written and many speaking about how influential his writings have been in their life and ministries. My ignorance of Peterson’s writings was something that I needed to correct.

I turned to the book that I had accessible, a book I borrowed from my father, Run with the Horses; The Quest for Life at Its Best. After reading, highlighting, and writing copious notes in the margins, not only do I need to buy my dad a new book, but I am ready to dive into Peterson’s other works. This column, however, is a book review not a homage to an author therefore what I would like to share with you in this edition of the Revitalizer’s Library is how my accidental discovery of Peterson’s Run with the Horses not only spoke to my soul but had many parallels and insights for the work of Church Revitalization. Parallels that will challenge, encourage, and spur you on in your own revitalization work.

Run with the Horses is a study in the life of Jeremiah. Not an academic research, though academics are employed, but it draws to the person and work of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah was a man who knew God. Was set apart by God. Was called to issue a summons to the people of God to return to the Lord. A people who so spiritually ill that they

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did not know they were sick and rebellious. Run with the Horses encourages the revitalizer to seek the Lord. To rest in the calling of the Lord in their life. And to be ready for the difficult tasks of calling the people of God to return.

A church revitalizer can play the role likened to a prophet. Speaking to a people who are discouraged, dependent, and many times disobedient. Though not every church in need of revitalization is comprised of rebellious, hard-hearted people, who are harboring their sin. Yet there are many parallels between the revitalizer as a prophet and the church in need of renewal as the hardened people of God. Peterson writes, “The work of the prophet is to call people to live well, to live rightly – to be human” (48.) He further writes, “A prophet makes it difficult to live a sloppy or selfish life” (49). The revitalizer is a prophet calling their people to return to the Lord, to know the Lord and then live in excellence for His glory.

Run with the Horses also calls up the endurance necessary to lead a revitalization work. Jeremiah endured tremendous hardships. The type of hardships that revitalizers will never face. Because his hardship was worse than yours does not, however, make your difficulty any less significant. What Peterson does is reveal Jeremiah’s hardships. Peterson’s revelation calls out revitalizers to endure, to work hard, even when – especially when – it seems that no-one is listening, no-one cares, and the people will never return to the Lord.

Run with the Horses is not a handbook for leading a revitalization work, it is a calling to be a revitalization leader. Peterson’s work will speak to your soul and affirm your calling in the tasks of church revitalization. A great addition to the revitalizers library.

Rutland, Mark. Relaunch; How to Stage an Organizational Comeback. Colorado Springs, Colorado: David C. Cook, 2013.

Relaunch; How to Stage an Organizational Comeback is one of those books that I was unfamiliar with but it continues to come my way as a recommended read for anyone leading a turnaround. Rutland’s work did not disappoint. Relaunch; How to Stage an Organizational Comeback is a personal, practical, transparent work that equips its reader and gives them hope for the organization they are turning around.

Rutland communicates all his turnaround principles from his ministry and education experiences.

After founding his own non-profit working in Africa, Rutland served as an Associate Pastor, Senior Pastor and President of two prominent Christian universities. He relates his turnaround principles through his church and education experiences. Rutland’s principles are practical from the non-verbal ques a leader communicates. The need for visible progress to encourage people that invisible work is occurring. His work is transparent. You cannot possibly have all the answers all the time and effectively lead a turnaround. He writes, “But I don’t necessarily know what I’m going to do to [the organization] an hour from now.

The twenty-first-century flex leader must figure it out. …

Creativity and flexibility combined with a servant’s sensitivity make a powerful alloy for meaningful change” (68).

Finally, if you have ever questioned your ability to lead a turnaround work, Rutland’s work will be hopeful for you.

He writes,

I believe turnaround leadership is a skill – or, rather, a set of skills – that can be developed. It is a matter of vision – of seeing opportunity where everyone else sees an unmanageable mess, of tireless communicating a defining vision, and of making that vision a reality on the ground. It’s complicated and difficult and usually exhausting, but it doesn’t have to be out of reach for most of us (19).

Rutland’s work is personal, practical, transparent, and hopeful.

Critiquing the book, there are a few principles glossed over. The chapter on communication, while good, lacked some practical steps in the process of communication. Additionally, this reviewer would have liked to have seen more practical training on leading volunteers in a turnaround work. Rutlands’ experiences were all with larger churches with staff or in an academic setting with employees. A solo-pastor may have difficulty leading his church to turn around precisely as Rutland did. That solo-pastor should be encouraged to embrace the transferable principles and not be afraid to transfer what he thinks might not work where he is.

Overall, Rutland’s Relaunch; How to Stage an Organizational Comeback is an excellent work to gain practical revitalization skills. A good addition to the revitalizers library.

Rob Hurtgen is the Pastor of First Baptist Church Chillicothe, Missouri. He holds an M.Div from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree in Church Revitalization from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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Overcoming Wendy Winer!

By Rob Myers

The phone rings and I hear, “They are ruining my Church, Rob. What do I do about them? I feel like they are trying to run me off. I can’t take any more of this. I think I will quit and go somewhere with positive people.”

You cannot believe how many times I have received similar calls over the last thirty-six years of pastoring. Why do they call me? Because I have a reputation for overcoming these situations. So, I want to break it down for you as I would for someone who is calling for advice. First let’s evaluate the problem.

1. How long have you been at the church?

What we are honestly looking at now is the issue of whether the Pastor is the true cause of the problem to begin with. Most pastors understand and know their personal weaknesses and short comings.

Take a minute and write them down, but whatever you do, do not share them. Some pastors pride themselves in their confessional openness. Keep in mind that no one can read your mind, unless your own shortcomings gush out of your own mouth.

The reason I say this is, is to evaluate, whether or not they are negative about your real issues or they are negative about things that have nothing to do with you.

If the issue is yours, own it and list out the changes you need to personally make. Then find an accountability partner who will keep your confidence and work with you for your betterment.

If the issue is outside of you, study it; study the source. For instance, ask yourself if the negativity existed before you arrived. When people hire you

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knowing they have a negative environment, they will expect you to address it. Remember, they hired you to lead.

When I arrived at my current church, the intentional interim Pastor had left a few things for me to deal with. The church had a renegade youth minister who overspent his budget, who decided that the church should be King James only and who had the church divided over how to deal with him. There was no honeymoon period because within the first month I had to fire the youth director, heal the youth group and stop the former pastor, who had committed a sexual offence from coming back to preach. The interim Pastor apologized to me for not dealing with the problems before I got there. The inner turmoil was huge and once I began to deal with the “problems,” the anger quickly shifted to me personally.

balances out the couple’s personality extremes and reduces gossip. The results of the Counsel go to the church for a vote codifying the new leadership pattern. The Deacons role was reduced to the Biblical guidelines of service which are to enable the Pastors to do ministry more effectively. Deacons work for the Pastors and at their pleasure. If you need to remove the Deacons who are negative, check to see if any have overstayed their service period in the bylaws and eliminate them for at least a year, and do not automatically allow their reappointment.

4. Develop your leadership team with a new vision that is tied to the Great Commission.

When people complain, they will have to complain against God’s plan.

5. Don’t allow congregant’s negativity to gain a footing by dealing with it quickly and Biblically, combining grace and love with straightforward integrity.

Compromise on sin should never be an option but remember Matthew 18 does not apply to differences in views or opinions…just sin.

6. Ask God to give you a positive attitude in the face of opposition and negativity.

Proverbs 15:1 gives us Solomon’s guide to angry people: “A soft answer, turns away wrath.” Let them have the problem; don’t let you be the problem.

2. The hard moves have to be made on spiritual and Biblical basis. I evaluated who the spiritual leaders were and who the negative people were.

It is a proven fact that most of the negativity that drives pastors out of churches rarely exceeds 5% of the church’s population. If that 5% consist of people who are just attenders, then that gets dealt with by unifying the spiritual to deal with them. Can they be redeemed or are they the quarrelsome people described in Titus 3:10?

3. Develop a sounding board by empowering your leadership of all the areas of your church.

If the 5% is in your Deacon body, then shift your power to the Church Counsel with the deacon chairman present.

Take a vote on it and let the chips lay where they fall. We decided to require the Church Counsel to be made up of husbands and wives, because that

7. Remember, If you run to another location, you will eventually have to learn the skills to deal with problems, or you will join the ranks of the pastors who have a move every two to four years.

Rob Myers is the Pastor of Miami Baptist Church a turn around church located in the multi-lingual community in South Florida. Rob has been in ministry for more than 39 years.

He has been in church planting and pastoral leadership for 36 of those years, which includes 15 years as the Senior Pastor of Miami Baptist Church. His is Adjunct Professor of Indiana Wesleyan University and President of Baptist World Charities. Rob has an earned Doctorate in Ministry Leadership from John Wesley University, a M.Div. from Southwestern Seminary and a B.A. From Palm Beach Atlantic University.

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