The Church Revitalizer Oct - Nov 2015

THE

CHURCH

Oct/ Nov 2015 Vol 1 Issue 6

Revitalizer

“A Revitalization Retreat in Every Issue”

The 7 Pillars of Church Revitalization & Renewal “The only magazine dedicated to Church Revitalization.” ~ Tom Cheyney

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RENOVATE National Church Revitalization Conference

Speakers Include Tom Cheyney Bob Whitsel Michael Atherton Ed Stetzer Paul Borden Neil Franks Ron Smith Bruce Raley Terry Rials Paul Smith

November 2-4, 2015 Orlando, FL

RenovateConference.org Aloma Church

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THE

CHURCH

Revitalizer FEATURES

October / November | Vol 1, No 6

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Tearing Down the Barriers to Successful Revitalization

By Tracy Jaggers

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Twitter

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Revisioning for Revitalization: When Your Church Needs New Vision & Direction

By Joel R. Breidenbaugh

THE SEVEN PILLARS OF CHURCH REVITALIZATION AND RENEWAL

By Tom Cheyney

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Facebook:

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Vega 32 Silver Reaching the Next Generation Through Reinvention

By Lee Kricher

Re-visioning: Rediscovering God’s Preferred Future for Your Church

By John Kimball

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

What is Your Trajectory? Decline or Restart? By Mark Weible ReNEWed

By Ron Smith

THE LEADERSHIP LINK…

By Michael Atherton

Reinvention

By Greg Kappas

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Revisionizing the Church

By Jim Grant

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Culture Change: There Are No Short Cuts in Student Ministry

By Drew Cheyney

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Formula for Developing Critical Mass

By Tom Cheyney

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Elements Most Critical for a Church to Turn Around!

By Tom Cheyney

38 The Misrepresentation of Being

Agreeable to Change

By Tracy Jaggers 44

REFOCUS: Four Tools to Refocus a Turnaround

By Bob Whitesel

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Three Phases of Refocus for the Revitalizing Church

By Darwin Meighan

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Desired Attributes in a Strategic Leadership Team

By Tracy Jaggers

52 Church Revitalization and Realignment

By Estelle Myers 58 Reinvention & Re-engineering

By Kenneth Priest

“The only magazine dedicated to Church Revitalization.”

Are You and Your Church Evolving?

By Tom Cheyney

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Hearing the Voice of God

By Rodney Harrison

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revitalizer

LIBRARY BOOK REVIEWS

The Church Revitalizer Book Reviewer: Rob Hurtgen

57 The Nuts and Bolts of Church Revitalization

By Tom Cheyney 57 Turnaround Pastor: Pathways to Save, Revive and Build Your Church By Don Ross

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. He has been married to Shawn since 1995, and they have five children.

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THE

CHURCH

Revitalizer Volume 1, No. 6

The Church Revitalizer is published bi-monthly by Renovate Publishing Group 1906 West Lee Road Orlando, FL 32810 Email: ChurchRevitalizer.guru

PUBLISHER Dr. Tom Cheyney Associate Publisher Mark Weible Associate Publisher Circulation & Marketing Linda Goans Executive Editor & Brand Manager Tom Cheyney Magazine Designer & Format Editor Gerald Brown Executive Director of Advertizing Linda Goans Web Ad Traffic Director Mark Weible For subscription information contact this office at: www.churchrevitalizer.guru/subscriptions.

Subscriptions donatins are $30.00 per year for six issues, $52.00 for two years (12 issues).

Outside the U.S. add $10.00 per year prepaid.

Stock images from ISTOCK Photo or where otherwise noted. Š Copyright 2015 Renovate Publishing Group

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ChurchRevitalizer.Guru

by Tom Cheyney

Welcome to the the Church Revitalizer Magazine: A Church Revitaliztion Retreat in Every Issue!

After a year of having church members and revitalization pastors asking would the Renovate Publishing Group consider publishing a magazine exclusively on the subject of Church Revitalization and Renewal, we have launched a bi-monthly subscriber donation based magazine for the purpose of raising up the conversation regarding this critical need in the local church. Our goal every other month is to provide you with a Church Revitalization Retreat in every issue. During the next few issues we are assisting with a clearer understanding of revitalization terms. With the field of church revitalization and renewal expanding so quickly, here are a few of the key fundamental definitions to begin ones journey: Pastor Chaplain: The rank and file church member views the pastor as their personal chaplain, expecting him to be on call twenty-four hours a day for their needs and preferences.

When he fails to meet their expectations criticism usually follows.

Patriarchs: are long-term church members which lead the church through influence which has been gained from tenure. These are often the most resistant to any change within a local church.

Polarized Congregations: Polarity literally means to draw individuals to one pole or another. Therefore a polarized congregation is one in which it is the tendency of church folks to choose sides. In a polarized church there are extreme cliques to the point that certain groups of people invariably tend to side together on every issue, tend to distrust other groups, and tend to view themselves as the only steadfast keepers of the flame of truth! Polarized congregations are church splits looking for a reason to happen!

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.

Your One Stop Shop for Church Revitalization and Renewal Resources!

Checkout our lineup of resources that will help you revitalize your church.

www.RenovateConference.org/bookstore

RENOVATE Publishing Group 9

Revisionizing the Church Revitalization is an on-going topic. Many authors have recently have weighed in on this topic. The problems with the church have been exhaustingly documented in social media and surveys. Thom Rainer’s thought on why churches die, puts it as: “Stated simply, the most common factor in declining churches is an inward focus.”1 Looking at the “Seven Pillars of Revitalization” of Dr. Cheyney, the phase revisionizing [which is the basis for the article] consists of “re-dreaming the dream.” In Robert Dale’s book, Dream Again, he uses the bell curve to depict both the rise and decline of church growth and maturity.2 The top of the bell curve is identified as “Ministry,” it can be construed that the church at this point is excelling at its ministry vision and goals. Yet as with anything, and churches specifically, nothing is static. Either there is progression or regression. If a church has reached its apex in ministry effectiveness, the concern should be “how long can we sustain our ministry machine?” In the book of Revelation, Jesus identifies two churches that could fit into a necessary revisionizing position. First, the church at Ephesus had lost its first love. While there were many things well established within the church such as doctrine and polity; they had lost their first love. In a church that has battled forward to become established, the labor of climbing the mountain can be exhausting and resigning when the “mountain top” has been reached. Obviously Ephesus is had quit growing, Jesus told the 1 http://thomrainer.com/2014/05/common-factor-declining-churches/ 2 Robert Dale, Dream Again, Broadman 1981, 19.

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church “remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first.”

[Rev. 2:5] When a new church work begins there is much activity and energy to get the work done, this is primarily because the church membership knows it has to labor much in order to survive.

There is a hunger and thirst for the things of God, which carries a strong compulsion to work. For example, Nehemiah being able to build the walls around Jerusalem in 52 days is an example of having the goal and desire to work. But when the church has become established and there are programs and processes in place, the offering plate is full and there is plenty of people in the seats, a church can and will become complacent. Ephesus had a long history of “dignitaries” at the church. Timothy, Paul, John the Apostle and Mary the mother of Jesus, all were “Church members”. Ephesus had, had a great success and position within the community. But by the time Jesus writes at the end of the 1st century, lost were the beginning fervor and the elite members. It is easy for churches to lose the reason or vision of why they began the work in the first place. So Jesus tells them, remember and repent in order to be restored. Essentially Jesus is saying, find the dream again of why the church was so important and build upon it!

The second church, the church of Laodicea, the lukewarm church, in a different way is reflective of needing a new vision. The problem the church had a high false opinion of itself. They thought they were one thing, but in real-

by Jim Grant ity they were quite another. This could either mean the original dream was wrong, or the dream got distracted along the way.

They were neither hot nor cold means that the church was not a threat to the lost cultural around it, really a church in name only.

Laodicea appears to have become like its culture, rather than impact it with the gospel. Jesus reproved the church, in that they needed to become the “church” of God not the church of people.

The original dream failed, necessitating a New or different vision or dream.

If these two churches are to “Redream the Dream,” where do they begin? The beginning point of revitalization is critical.

As was mentioned above, if the top of the bell curve is the apex of ministry effectiveness, what is the next step? It could be argued that the ministry should be allowed to continue as long as it was effective; true but what does effectiveness mean? It cannot mean a good bank account and attendance. We have been measuring those for years and have not been effective in reaching the Lost for Christ.

Dale suggest that a “redream the dream point” should be just between the “Ministry phase and the Nostalgia phase.3 There is a glaring problem with this – the church has already begun a decline from a plateaued position. It is much easier to slide down than it is to climb up the mountain.

The difficulty in moving a church that has stopped or started a downward spiral is difficult at best and impossible in most cases.

3 Dale, 115.

Continued on page 16

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What is Your Trajectory? Decline or Restart?

A group of people from a local church approached me recently very concerned about the survivability of their congregation.

As I listened, I heard them say that they only had fifteen active adults left in the church and that there was no hope for survival. I reminded them that most new churches start out with fifteen or fewer adults meeting in someone’s home. I challenged them to consider themselves as a new church, shut down the old and start something new.

Only fifteen adults! Is that good or bad? Well, it depends on your trajectory. If you are a church planter just staring out, then fifteen adults meeting in your living room is a good thing. It is especially a good thing if they are excited about the prospects of a new church reaching their community. I once heard a comedian say that your first birthday party is eerily similar to your last. At both parties you have almost no teeth and hair; you are not really sure of what is going on and you don’t recognize hardly anyone there. You probably eat your birthday cake the same way too!

If your church is an older church with only fifteen people in an empty sanctuary, you might not feel as positive about your future as a new church plant.

However, if you shut down the church for a period of time, move the people to a much smaller venue and tell them that they are a core group for a new church; you could change the trajectory of death to birth. It is not real12

ly that easy, however. The old church has to reverse the aging process and eradicate whatever diseases were killing it in the first place. The downward trajectory has to be reversed. A new vision for a preferred future needs to be cast and the remaining disciples need to buy into it.

What is impossible with man is possible with God. (Luke 18:27) New churches tend to be missionally focused, while older churches tend to be more inwardly focused. To reverse the aging process, we have to change focus. There is no biblical mandate for a church to turn inward. There are no commands to meet the demands and personal preferences of self-centered church members. However, Jesus told the Church at Ephesus to return to her first love. Evidently, this church had turned inward and needed to be revitalized.

Jesus told John to write to the church and to tell them to go back to doing what they did when the church was first started. This command was followed by a threat, if the church did not change her trajectory, Jesus would shut it down. Restarting a church involves getting back to the basics of why the church exists in the first place.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. (Revelation 2:4-5)

by Mark Weible New churches tend to focus on sharing the gospel, discipling believers, developing new leaders and multiplication. Older churches are often susceptible to diseases that cause the body to feed on itself, resulting in death. When a church restarts, these diseases can easily infect the new church unless care is taken to eradicate them. Church diseases are caused by vision drift – when the eyes of the leaders and the congregation shift from a focus on Christ to a focus on the organization. It is important for a restart church to diagnose and eradicate these diseases through repentance and church discipline before restarting.

A church restart requires a fresh vision that is Christ-centered and results in the fulfillment of His mission for the church. This kind of vision originates from God, is grounded in his word, and is delivered by His appointed leader. In the restart process there will be all kinds of suggestions for the new focus of the church and these should be taken into account. However, ultimately the leader has to cast vision. There is no room for any other vision than God’s vision for the church delivered by His appointed leader.

Diversity is a good thing in a church. Diversity of cultures, generations, languages and leadership are all good and healthy for a local church. However, diversity of vision leads to deadly cancer. More than one vision is di-vision and that is a tough way for a church to start out. I

often tell church planters that there is nothing that they should be doing as a pastor that they should not allow anyone else to do except for casting vision. That job belongs to one man in the church and one man alone – the lead pastor.

The lead pastor is the vision caster of the church and it is his job to create buy-in. In a church restart, this is especially critical, because there will be those who want to hang on o the past.

Celebrating the past is good for the church that just died, but the pastor of the restart church has to constantly remind the old-timers that that church no longer exists. A new day has dawned, a new church has been birthed and the orientation is toward the future of what Christ wants to accomplish through the mission of His church.

Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you. (Hebrews 13:17) These disciples in the new church must be submissive and supportive of the lead pastor and be of singular focus with him. There is no room for self-centeredness and personal preferences in a missional church. The disciples must focus on making personal sacrifices in order to love and serve the community with which they are sharing the gospel. A Christ-centered focus on fulfilling

His mission will bring about the unity that will eradicate disease and set the direction for the restart church. The new trajectory is future-oriented resulting in new growth and multiplication.

A vision that extends beyond the local church and points to global evangelization is much more energizing than focusing on taking care of the sheep that you already have. I know of a church that had a pastor with a heart for planting churches all over the world. They develop a process for training disciples to become multiplying leaders. When the pastor left to lead a para-church organization, the church turned inward. The elders felt that the current church members had been neglected and that it would be a good idea to focus on meeting their needs instead of training them to reach the world.

The result? Church attendance was cut in half in just over two years. The bottom line is that not many people really want to be a part of an inward focused church.

Maturing followers of Christ want to be a part of bigger movement.

They want to reach their community. They want to know that their church is having a global impact. They want to be involved in reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. They want to be involved in a church that has a future.

It is not easy to do, but it is not impossible to turn a church that is in a downward spiral toward new life as the body of Christ.

With a focus on the Word of God and the mission of Jesus, a new

vision for a preferred future can motivate true followers of Christ to throw off the old, disease riddled practices of the past and to become healthy again.

Mark Weible is the Church Planting Director for the Greater Orlando Baptist Assocition and the Strategic Director for RenovateConference.org.

A vision that extends beyond the local church and points to global evangelization is much more energizing than focusing on taking care of the sheep that you already have.

~ Mark Weible

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Revisionizing the Church

by Jim Grant

Continued...

I believe that the point of revisionizing must begin while on the way up the mountain. Most churches when they begin have some sort of Strategic Plan or document. It will outline what they want to do, how it is done, and who they are as a church.

Strategic Plans are great, but only for a season. Once the strategic plan is in full implementation, there must be the beginning of another plan. Instead of basking in the glories of a well-developed ministry, there must be the challenge of “What’s next?”

Gary McIntosh in Taking Your Church to the Next Level is a great resource for follow-up dreams. Again where does the Revisionizing begin on the bell curve? It should begin between the “Structure and Ministry” phases that Dale identified.4 4 Dale, 118.

Jim Grant is senior Pastor at Heartland Baptist Church in Alton, Illinois. He came to Heartland Baptist from Texas, where he served three churches. He is an Air Force veteran, retiring with 25 years of service. His extensive travels while in the military allowed him the unique ability to have served in the full gambit of churches styles and 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. He has been married to his wife for 39 years; they have two daughters and four grandchildren.

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Instead of allowing the church to get to a “flat spot” in the road, the momentum of moving must be used to accelerate the next growth point of the church. Instead of employing another bell curve, the church needs a sigmoid curve. Dale’s bell curve was great and necessary in birthing a church, but not for long tenured church health and development. The church does not need to redevelop vision, goals and purpose statements, which have already been established. Instead of a strategic plan, the church needs a Long Range Plan; one that builds on the achievements and failures of the original vision and strategic plan. It is here that churches can dream about next steps and make the necessary course adjustments.

The church at Ephesus forgot; the church of Laodicea became satisfied. Both lost the vision of what God wanted for them. When a church does not have future goals mapped out, it can quickly stagnate into a comfort zone that breeds nostalgia and “inward focus.” Our churches in America are dying; they are dying along with

the members who built them during the Builder and Boomer generations. Revisionizing enables the Next Generation to take ownership and responsibility for the “Work of God in their generation.” [Acts 13:36] Our church took a year and a half to develop a Strategic Plan and fresh vision for the church.

Our church is 45 years old, but never had a vision or purpose other than “be a church.” Once we begin implementing the Strategic Plan, we soon discovered how fast God could work. It has been a year since we implemented the Vision and Plan; the church is on the move again, dreams and visions of new possibilities fill the atmosphere.

Instead of needing to start over, our church implemented a Long Range Team; one that will build on the old [new] vision, and create new heights of ministry and Kingdom impact. The bottom-line; a sigmoid curve launched off a bell curve is needed to “continue the work of revitalization” and prevent apathy and single generation churches.

Priority of Prayer for Church Revitalization and Renewal Prayer is foundational to the renewal of a dying

church. It is useful to develop an understanding of the priority of prayer. Remember it is the Lord who builds His church and it is the basic element in the revitalization of a declining church.

When there is a consistent prayer covering it become the vital link between God and the church Revitalizer who is called to transform the church. The three best biblical examples of prayer by individuals is:

The example of Jesus, Paul and Peter ~ Tom Cheyney

CHURCH CHURCH Revitalization Revitalization Conference Conference

February w Dallas/Fort Worth 9am - 4pm • $20 February w Dallas/Fort Worth

9am - 4pm • associational $20 Open to pastors, and church leaders alike.

This will be a day of intense conversations centered Open pastors, topics associational church leaders alike. aroundtostrategic relatingand toward revitalization of This will be a day of intense conversations centered the local church. around strategic topics relating toward revitalization of the local church.

Speakers Speakers

Lance Beaumont

Micah Fries

Nathan Lorick

Lance Beaumont

Micah Fries

Nathan Lorick

Lance Crowell

Rod Harrison

Bart McDonald

SBTC Discipleship & Online Strategies

SBTC Worship Strategies SBTC Worship Strategies

SBTC Discipleship & Online Strategies Lance Crowell

Tom Cheyney

Founder & Directional Leader Renovate National Church Tom Cheyney Revitalization Conference Founder & Directional Leader Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference

VP LifeWay Research VP LifeWay Research

SBTC Evangelism Director SBTC Evangelism Director

Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness Rod Harrison

Executive Director SBT Foundation Bart McDonald

Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness

Executive Director SBT Foundation

Nathan Lino

Kenneth Priest

Senior Pastor, NE Houston Baptist Church

SBTC Director of Convention Strategies

Senior Pastor, NE Houston Baptist NathanChurch Lino

SBTC Director of Convention Strategies Kenneth Priest

register at sbtexas.com/revitalization register at sbtexas.com/revitalization

North American Society for Church Revitalization & Renewal North American Society for Church Revitalization & Renewal February e Criswell College • 9am - 3pm • $49 February Criswell College • 9am - 3pm • $49 Academic writings ine the field of church revitalization and/or renewal should be submitted to kpriest@sbtexas.com by Nov. 6, Academic writings field of church revitalization and/or is 2015 for review by in thethe Coordinating Council.

If your research renewal should be submitted to kpriest@sbtexas.com

by Nov. 6, selected to be presented, you will be notified by Jan. 8, 2016.

2015 for review by the Coordinating Council. If your research is selected to be presented, you will be notified by Jan. 8, 2016.

Coordinating Council Members: Tom Cheyney, Renovate National Founder Coordinating Council Members: Rod Harrison, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Tom Cheyney, Renovate National Founder Tracy Jaggers, Tryon-Evergreen Baptist Association Rod Harrison, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Kenneth Priest, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Tracy Jaggers, Tryon-Evergreen Baptist Association Kenneth Priest, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention

sbtexas.com/nascrr sbtexas.com/nascrr

Writings should not be longer than 20 pages; plus a bibliography. By submitting an academic writing, you are agreeing to allow the North American Society for Church Revitalization and Renewal to publish your paper in the NASCRR Journal. Writings being presented will be included in the journal automatically; other writings may be included in the journal for a future asthan determined by plus the coordinating council.

Writings should not beissue longer 20 pages; a bibliography.

By submitting an academic writing, you are agreeing to allow the North American Society for Church Revitalization and Renewal to publish your paper in the NASCRR Journal. Writings being presented will be included in the journal automatically; other writings may be included in the journal for a future issue as determined by the coordinating council.

With the world changing and the local church slow to respond to such changes maintaining relevance is critical in this post-post-modern age. A Church is a living organism made up of spiritual believers who have had a salvation experience with our Lord Jesus Christ. As such we have made a commitment to the responsibility of carrying out the commands of our Lord. The New Testament Church is a spiritual, a functioning, a relational, and a reproducing body.

-- Tom Cheyney 17

Culture Change: There Are No Shortcuts in Student Ministry

One of the best things I have come to realize about being a Student Pastor is that at any point, any season, and for any reason I feel called to act, I can completely change what I do not like about the Student Ministry I am leading. I can stop doing the monotonous, the uncreative, the “this is what we do� mentality, and completely change what does not make us great. I am not sure if you know this, but you can too! In fact, it is actually what you are called to do as a leader: to create, refocus, or reinvent something that may be broken, outdated, or completely lacking so the obstacles that make faith so complicated can be minimized as much as possible. However, here is where the tension lies, many of us never actually do this.

To be truthful, this is not uncommon. When you or I take over the role of leading students we are looked at to have all the answers and have them quickly; but if we were honest, the majority of us leading Student Ministries are not always prepared for the messes, complications, or lapses in the ministries we lead. Because of that truth, I 100% believe that there are no shortcuts to changing your culture for the better.

There is no easy button, magic wizard, or leprechaun with magical powers that will get you 200+ students every week, 50+ first time guests, 100 people serving weekly, 50+ Spiritual Decisions, and amazing student experienc18

es that would parallel some of the best in the country. In fact, while most of us may be envious of those that accomplish such things, few of us have the culture in place that would breed statistics, traction, or momentum seen in those stats.

Why? Because if we were to be authentic, honest, and transparent, a lot of us would admit that there are holes in our ministry that keep us from infinite possibilities! For instance, did you know that changing the culture, does not start with students? In fact, your students are a later part of the equation when it comes to changing your culture. If you want to have a culture that uses its influence to impact people, then you start with the people who are impacting students: Leaders & Parents.

Disagree all you want, but there are numbers that matter in Student Ministry like, for example, how many leaders you have and how many of them have bought into the vision and culture you are trying to create. The truth is, you cannot develop the culture of your student ministry without having a deep leadership team that loves well. Maybe for you deep is 15, 30, or maybe even 60+. Whatever number that is, every leader you have on your team can love, care for, and notice 5-7 students well. So do the math, if you have 50 students and only 5 leaders, then that leaves around

by Drew Cheyney

15 students slipping through the cracks [because at best 5x7=35].

This is a scenario that happens all the time in Student Ministry, but if you want to start changing your culture, start with the hearts of the leaders who will be leading your students and challenge them in the same vein as the vision the student ministry is going. If you focus on biblical depth, great. If you decide to focus on relational depth awesome. If you are trying to accomplish both, then more power to you, but you will start to change your culture if you get leaders to buy into the dream of where you want to go.

It blows my mind when we as Student Pastors change huge things in our churches D.N.A. without asking the right questions or discussing the variables of change with the people those changes will affect the most: Parents. I admit parents can be complicated and most of the time they do not always think big picture or years down the road, but they do want what is best for their student. Therefore you have a huge selling point as long as you execute what you are selling.

Parents are simple, they want their student to be cared for really well and if you explain to them why changing specific things is in the best interest of their students then they will be on board for what you are doing; especially as you reap positive results that Continued on page 36

THE

Revitalized Church Forfeiting Self to Follow God MICHAEL ATHERTON

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Tearing Down the Barriers to Successful Revitalization

by Tracy Jaggers My first exposure to Church Revitalization (which was a term I was unaware of during those days), I found that attempting to “fix” a church that was dwindling and broken, had all the complexities of building a super-computer with a pair of needle-nose pliers and a roll of Duct tape.

For me, it was because I was inundated with pastoring my family through a crisis. I was just too physically and mentally drained to expend any more energy, even on the needs of the flock. We had hemorrhaged by 21% before I was cognizant of any bleeding at all. With an unplanned revival, that included me, my family, my deacons and some key leaders, we not only saw rejuvenation, but we surpassed our former status by 37% and began to experience real, unified ministry inside and outside the church. It was not because of an intentional process. It was because of brokenness, confession, prayer and shared responsibility.

Immediately following this revival, I read “Breakout Churches” by Thom S. Rainer. That was us! We were a breakout church by the grace and power of the Lord. I am so glad I didn’t know to lean on any processes or procedures at that time, because God got all the glory.

I am now convinced, through the life of men like Nehemiah, that there is a place and time for an outsider to come into a local congregation and help them rebuild the “walls” of their struggling and declining assembly. Just like Nehemiah, I am blessed to be in a position where we come alongside church leadership and walk with them through a process that has been tested and verified numerous times in the past few years. We do not claim to be experts, just research and development ministers. There are two things we have experienced, that have attempted to stifle the possibility of success in the renewal process; conflicts and cantankerous individuals. Allow me to offer ten hindrances that can become obstacles to a successful revitalization.

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1) Misrepresentation of a Willingness/Readiness to Change – change is uncomfortable for many.

Mark Twain is quoted as saying, “The only person who likes change is a baby with a wet diaper.” I wonder if he ever changed a diaper. It is not always pleasant – for the changee or the changer. But, when a church is in an “awful mess,” change is the only workable solution to the discomfort. Change may seem like a universally-accepted part of the process, but knowing we need to change, and actually making the change, can be in definite opposition.

2) Leaders who are not totally committed to the process and the duration – pastors can give the impression that they are aggressively for the revitalization process, when in reality; they don’t want one more alligator to wrestle with while they are draining their swamp. They are tackling lots of impressive daily projects, while omitting the things that result in real renewal and health for the church. Some are fearful that the process will reveal their inadequacies or inactivity, and others are simply unwilling to surrender the time it takes to encounter true revival.

3) Fear of losing influence/leadership – this can be true of leaders, or of members who formerly were movers and shakers; when they spoke, people listened. They refuse, aggressively or passively, to lose their perceived power. They don’t care about moving forward, as much as they desire things to remain the same.

4) A presupposition of what the change will look like and how far it will take us from our sacred programs, plans, event, ministries and methods – I have seen situations when there was a barrier of rigidity against any change. It was concerning the perceived outcome to their specific ministry area.

The leader(s) and/or the congregation want assurances that the final results of the process will not draw them too far from their comfort zone. They can also be fearful that it will cause conflict to which they are resistant.

5) Expecting the process to fix ALL the struggles – The demise of any church is most likely multi-faceted and complex and the problems and the struggles of the congregation did not happen overnight. Few home repairs happen without numerous trips to the hardware store. We don’t always have the proper tools in our toolbox, or we break something else while we are trying to fix the first problem. Partnership is a vital asset here! Working together as a team is indispensable. Revitalization may not fix everything in the church. It does offer the expertise of numerous laborers, and the tools they have tested, to help facilitate healing, growth and conflict resolution.

6) Holding on to our pet programs or externally-offered events - Would you give up VBS? Probably not; but a church cannot allot all the annual finances and the entire church calendar to VBS. What would the church accomplish the other 51 weeks of the year with no resources and no time?

All committees, ministry teams, events, programs and activities must be held with a loose grasp so an accurate evaluation and adjustment may be accomplished.

7) Revering meetings over ministry - Is corporate worship more valuable than the salvation of the lost and the healing of the hurting? Before you say no, take a look at your church’s budget and see where the bulk of the money is spent. Today we tend to build, program, and staff for the weekly worship event over everything else. Sure, it is important, but is that what Jesus emphasized as the focus of His ministry? (Matthew 18:11; Isaiah 61:1-3) 8) Underemphasizing discipleship – Sunday School/small groups/Bible study and the pulpit offer a certain level of equipping. The key to church health is personal growth. The task of the minister is to mature the saints of God into the fullness of Christ by equipping, edifying, unifying and instructing in the knowledge of God (Ephesians 4:11-13). It is every member’s responsibility to dive deep into the Word of God (Psalm 1:1-3; 119:11). No one can physically thrive on one meal a week, served every Sunday morning at 10:45! Each and every day we must personally feed our hungry souls.

9) Leadership “trust issues” – if church members are not following, where can you lead them? I

heard John Maxwell say, “If you turn around and no one is following, you are not a leader.” It is extremely hard to lead when you have lost the empowerment of others to be led by you – it is kind of like trying to push a garden hose around your yard instead of dragging it behind you – it’s probably not going to end up where you need it to be. We must present a clear and compelling vision and a strategy to reach the vision that includes the majority of the congregation. If they sense the leader is committed, they are more likely to join the venture.

10) Micromanagement vs. membership empowerment – Can you accept different outcomes than what you have in your own mind? Can you accept team members taking a different route to the same goal? Can you even accept temporary set-backs and/or failures? Or, do you demand every member use YOUR terminology and follow YOUR template?

Leaders must give both the responsibility for the task and the decision-making authority to do it within the worker’s creativity, gifts and talents! One quality of great leadership is the ability to delegate without micromanaging. Visionary leaders know this, and delegate to move the organization forward to productivity. Delegation reveals trust. The leader who delegates and empowers declares, “You are here because you are a vital part of the process in accomplishing our shared vision, and I trust you to do the work to which God has gifted you.

Always attempt strategies that build bridges to a bright, new future, and be careful not to allow barriers and hindrances that keep the church body from realizing God’s goals of restoration and revival. The Lord needs loving, barrier-busters!

I conclude with nine possible barrier-busters: (not ordered by importance) 1) Perform a change/readiness assessment to determine resistance to or reception of a revitalization process.

2) Unpack the entire revitalization process and the timeline to secure a commitment to the evaluation, assessment and training phases.

3) Reveal the tools that will be utilized to perform the observation and evaluation phases and show how the tools will be measured.

4) Utilize the surveys, interviews, observations and evaluations to give a possible scenario 21

concerning the level that change and conflict may be expected.

5) Train the leadership group in the necessity of teamwork, unifying factors and conflict resolution.

6) Develop a discipleship strategy for small groups, coaching, and one-on-one mentoring. All plans must emphasize biblical advancement with spiritual maturity as its measurement tool.

7) Work with the natural leaders (person(s) of peace) of the church to obtain the strongest positive reaction from the congregation.

8) Prayer! This is not the final straw, but rather the vital conduit for inviting the presence and power of God into the revitalization process. This communication should be a dialogue with God. It should be no more than 50% vocal expression from us and at least 50% listening for the heart and mind of God. 9) Confession – confessing to one another so that we may be healed (James 5:16). Many revivals have been conceived in the confession of one person or a group of people.

Confession gets the attention of the Holy Spirit, since He is the one who convicts us of sin, of righteousness and of judgment (John 6:8).

Dealing with Con Artists

By Rodney Harrison

Con artists are essentially saying, “I am a ministry opportunity. Take me on…NOW.” I believe every ministry of the church should be at God’s invitation and should honor God while supporting the ministry and mission of the church.

Giving a con-artist money that will be used to buy a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of booze does not meet even one of these stipulations. By definition, a con artist is one who conceals, falsifies, and deceives people who could assist them. The key words are conceal, falsify, and deceive. In scripture, believers are exhorted to be on guard for those who would practice such things. Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16). Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14)? For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light ... And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them (Ephesians 5:8).

A young mother comes into the office. “Can you help us?

We ran out of gas, and don’t have money because our car needed fixin’. We’re on our way to Texas, where my husband has a job waiting. We spent our last $20 on formula for the

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Tracy Jaggers is the Church Revitaliztion

leader of the Tyron Evergreen Baptist Association and frequent contributor to the Renovate National Church Revitaliztion Confrenece.

baby. If you could spare a twenty, we could get to (the next town) where we’ve got some family.

At this point you see a young man standing by an older car, clutching a blanket-swaddled bundle you assume is the couple’s infant. Your kind heart says to give this young woman the $20 she asks for. But your common sense says otherwise. So which do you listen to?

If you’re like many, you’ll reach into your pocket and fork over the twenty. You’ve likely just been a victim of one of many distressed stranger scams. It is not unusual for teams to make $200 or more per day using this scam. Variations of this scam involve prescription drugs, car parts and groceries.

Another scam that comes knocking is the “service personnel” who comes by unexpectedly to service your computers, copier, phone, furnace or air-conditioning. These scammers will often drive up in a service van wearing official looking uniforms. A week later the church receives an invoice for services, payable to a P.O. box or out of state address. Such scams often go undetected, and can net the scammers thousands of dollars in a matter of weeks. Worse yet, when the scam is realized, it can cost the revitalizer valuable support and momentum in the renewal process.

This article is adapted from the new book, “Confessions of a Church Felon: Protecting Your Church from the Flames of Fraud”

by Glenn Miller, Jeff Kick and Rodney Harrison.

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Revisioning for Revitalization: When Your Church Needs New Vision & Direction

by Joel R. Breidenbaugh It was a frustrating time for me in the spring of 2008. I had just been to the eye doctor and discovered my eyesight was continually getting worse. A few years earlier I had developed myopia—nearsightedness. While I had no trouble with things up close, my distance vision had gone from 20/15 to 20/20, then 20/30, then 20/40 to 20/70. I was told I would soon be at 20/100. I never could get accustomed to the feel of contact lenses, so here I was in my early-30s depending on prescription glasses to see. I still loved playing basketball and baseball, but those sports aren’t real friendly to guys-withglasses. Even though I was still young enough and athletic enough, I was going to have to give up those sports and try to cope with my eyesight changes. That’s why I was so frustrated.

When pastors are called to serve a several-decades-old church, vision problems often exist.

Some time ago the church was effective, seeing their community clearly and reaching people with the good news of Jesus. As time went on, however, their vision began to change and they couldn’t see past their own four walls, focusing all their attention on ministering to their own, because it was too difficult to see beyond that. Some churches grow use to this kind of myopia, but pastors and church leaders must do something to correct it or they will face frustration with spiritual nearsightedness.

What Is Meant by “Vision”?

When thinking of vision for the church, many quickly turn to Proverbs 29:18—“Where there is no vision, the people perish” (KJV). A few ultra-conservative scholars lament this translation, insisting on the NIV understanding—“Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint.” These scholars claim the notion of “vision” is manmade and has no place in the church. Are they right? Not exactly.

Let me say, first, there are some leaders who overemphasize vision and stress the creativity of man. Guys who aren’t creative by nature stand no chance of ever getting there church to buy into a new vision. But there’s more to this notion with a closer look.

The better understanding probably comes from the ESV—“Where there is no prophetic vision the 24

people cast off restraint” (or “the people are discouraged”). The word for “vision” also occurs with the prophetic visions found in Ezekiel 12:27; Daniel 8:13; Nahum 1:1 and others. It refers to the “revelation” given by God and spoken in a timely way to His people.

Thus, when I write about vision, this is what I believe God’s Word on the matter means: Gaining the Lord’s wisdom and insight from His Word in order to reach your community. With this understanding in mind, let’s consider what it means to get new vision and direction for your church.

Getting New Vision and Direction

You already know your church has a vision problem. What you need is a biblical solution to the vision problem. Let me share with you a few steps I’ve learned in getting new vision and direction for your church. I don’t mean to imply my church is perfect or that we’ve gotten past all our vision problems, but by the grace of God, we’ve made some steps in the right direction under new vision.

1) Seek the Lord’s help. You are probably

thinking, “Duh. I know to do that!” But stay with me a second. I’m not just talking about prayerful dependence on the Lord, though I certainly intend to include that. I also mean looking closely at God’s Word to see where it speaks to your situation.

When I first came to First Baptist Sweetwater, there was a Vision Team ready to finalize their 2-year study. One of the members was wise enough to suggest they not finish their report until the new pastor put his footprints on it. I had very little say-so in the report (after all, in their minds, it was already complete!), but they allowed me to add a couple of things. The most important was a vision statement based on John 7:37-38—“Thirsty? Come (to Jesus). Drink (from Jesus). Live (for Jesus)!” or more simply “Thirsty? Come. Drink. Live! at Sweetwater.”

The Lord led me to that passage in light of our setting. I sought out His help in prayer and in His Word and He provided us a simple way to share our message with our community in light of our identity.

2) Study your community. Every success-

ful church planter gets to know his community really well. He probably utilizes a demographic study, showing how many people live within the church campus based either on distance or time traveled. Such reports also show the average age and size of families, median income, percentages of ethnicities and more. These studies are available to revitalizers, too, and pastors can gain invaluable data from them.

I served one church where the demographics revealed the average age of our community was 41 years old, but the church began a couple of years earlier with an average age of 68—and they wondered why they couldn’t reach their community! By God’s grace we saw our average age drop to 48, but we were still a few years too old for most in our community.

3) Set a target. When you discover the sur-

rounding demographics, create a target to reach. You won’t hit the bull’s eye every time, but failing to have a target will cause you to live aimlessly in life and ministry, and that’s one of the biggest problems declining churches face.

I serve a church tucked in the midst of a community where 52% are women, age 39, usually married with two children (a teen and an elementary age) and a higher-than-average level of education and income. Thus, we set our target to reach a 39-year-old sports mom and try to strategize our ministries to hit that target.

How do we do that? First, we make sure we can give good answers to four questions every family with kids ask. Two questions they ask themselves internally when they bring their kids—(1) is it safe? (2) Is it clean? The other two questions are asked externally to their kids—(1) did you have fun? What did you learn?

We prepare to address those questions by having clean, nice facilities (children’s area, restrooms) and men serving in security capacities.

We also use material focusing on learning the gospel in a fun (non-boring) way.

Second, we give the greatest attention to our children and youth ministries. We want our best teachers and leaders serving in these places, because they will make a big impact on families.

Third, we offer lots of Bible studies and ministry opportunities for women. No single Bible study

or ministry group meets the needs of every woman.

Moreover, they like to discuss different topics, so we provide those options.

Quite possibly the biggest benefit we receive in aiming for the 39-year-old sports mom is hitting so many others in the process. Most of these moms are married, so we can also reach their husbands. They usually have two school-aged children we can reach, and because most of them are in public schools, they have several friends which we may be able to reach indirectly. These moms also have friends which can indirectly be reached. They also usually have parents still living, sometimes even in the area. Thus, aiming for the bull’s eye often benefits us in reaching far more than we would without a target.

4) Focus on your strengths. Unless you are a

mega-church, you cannot be the spiritual Wal-Mart of your community. No matter how hard you try, you cannot have effective ministries to seniors and youth and children and women and special needs and….

So what do you do? Focus on your strengths. If you are in an older community with the average age 60+, then pour a lot of resources into having a great senior adult ministry. If you are in a new subdivision with lots of millennials, invest in young marrieds and preschool ministry.

As I mentioned above, one of the strengths of my church is it is an educated people. We focus on doing things with excellence, because we know our people expect excellence in their workplaces. We cannot offer everything, but we can offer a few things really well.

Conclusion

You need to know I’m no longer frustrated with my eyesight. I still get to play baseball and basketball.

A few months into my diagnosis, I found out about Lasik eye surgery and one doctor was offering a twofor-the-price-of-one special. I made a small investment which paid huge dividends on my daily routine.

I believe the same thing can be done in your church as you seek the Lord for new vision and direction.

Joel Breidenbaugh is the lead pastor of FBC Sweetwater where he has led the church in revitalization and renewal. He is a contributing author to a new Christian Theology book due out early next year.

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Formula for Developing Critical Mass

By Tom Cheyney Everyone wants to see some sort of growth come back to their dying church. Many a church revitalization effort has been hurt due to the leadership within the church, both lay and clergy, waiting too long before they addressed the issue of critical mass. Critical Mass is that size of any church where it has enough members actively working and participating in the weekly work of ministry growth. When a church has waited too long to address the issue of critical mass, it is almost sure the church will die even if for a moment it keeps it head above the water of closure. Here is a quick formula for developing and keeping critical mass in ones church: • 1 % of the church membership is in pastoral leadership • Plus 6% of the church membership is passionate about the future of the church • Plus 14% of the churches leaders are in positions willingly and are advocating for the future renewal of the church • Plus 42% of the church are actively participating and willingly following future directions of the church This simple formula equals a growing critical mass for growth and the eventual revitalization of the congregation.

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Logos Bible Software delivers insight to you because you deliver insight to others, whether it be your congregation, classroom, or colleagues.

Visit Logos.com to get Logos 6 today.

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ReNEWed A long time ago in a church galaxy far, far away… the church I pastor was once alive and thriving.

The truth is, every church that is in need of renewal was once alive. The truth is, every church I have pastored was in need of renewal. I have pastored 5 turnaround situations and they all have common elements: - Their best days were behind them.

- They have been wandering for years.

- They have their “pet” ministries.

- They were keeping dead things alive.

- They weren’t even sure what true, relevant ministry looked like.

- And even worse, the Gospel to them was the gospel of traditionalism and heritage rather than the Gospel of redemption and hope in Christ.

I have discovered a great comparison of the wandering years of the Israelites to the church that needs renewal.

As with any body or business, things left unattended deteriorate. We know the story of the Exodus. We know 400 years of slavery led to the Israelites conforming to Egypt. During this time, they did not know God and they did not experience their God. There are great similarities between them and the church.

- They are a people.

- They are a chosen people.

- Years had passed without an experience of God. - Slavery to traditions and customs felt like freedom.

- Survival was more important than discovering their faith.

- They were surrounded by a godless culture without the power of God to help.

A church in need of renewal can learn a lot from the Exodus experience. Pastors and leaders can learn a lot from Moses and Joshua.

I have developed a 3-year program of revitalization and renewal that chronicles this journey. This program, called 3: The Three-Year Program, extracts principles of leadership, structure, and the power of God’s Word that helps us renew life, vision, and mission in any church. This article is a small sample of 3: The Three-Year Program.

Let me give you an overview and provide a template of renewal for your church. I’ll use the word GRAND as an acrostic.

Gather - All the Words from God

Let’s revisit something we know. Church is about God and what He wants to accomplish. As ministers, we know by memory Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision of God, the people run wild.” Here, His revelation is referring to the spoken Word of God by God’s mouthpiece – the prophets. If there is

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by Ron Smith

one thing lacking in today’s modern church it is preachers who have an inspired message from God. If there is one thing that will reach people it is the Word of God. Don’t ever be fooled into thinking that anything else can replace the preaching of the Word of God. Romans 10:14 has not been re-written or revised. As ministers we must preach the Word of God. The Words of God to the minister are very critical. They form the basis for sermons and every word that comes out of our mouths. God’s spoken words to us are what we speak in every situation. We can contextualize the Words of God in all meetings, to all our leaders, to the church, to the lost and saved.

Those words combined with weekly messages form the “story” of revitalization.

Next, Gather Resources about the church and the community.

Equally important to hearing from God is surrounding yourself with the culture you are ministering in and to. As pastor, gather stories about the times when God was alive in the church.

Examine these stories. Ask, what made this time and movement special? Discuss these times among your leaders. Have them recall what it felt like to be a part of this and then ask, “Why would we want to rob anyone now or in the future of feeling what you felt and experiencing what you experienced?” As you gather stories and resources about the times God moved, a greater understanding is gained of how God wants to work.

Gather resources about your community. Know the demographics, schools, culture and feel of the area. As you learn this you can then talk about a “vision” or spiritual direction the church needs to pursue.

Recall God moments in the past

“I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” At the time when God was making these statements Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were dead. We need to remind ourselves and the church we serve that God is not dead. We also need to remind the church that just because God moved in a certain way at a certain time through certain songs or programs does not mean that he cannot move in a new way in the present. If the language of the church only includes stories of how God moved in the past that is a dying church.

The language of the dying church is – I was. The language of an alive church is – I am. Recalling the times God moved is a very powerful tool to use in revitalization. Listen, anytime and every time we can, we need to put the church in front of a living God. Often in our systems and habits and comforts we, like the children of Israel, forget the God who delivers us, blesses us and prepares a table before us.

Acknowledge Current strengths… don’t build off weakness.

Don’t work on what you’re weak at. Why? You’re weak at it.

Take American Idol for example: Randy Jackson says, “I’m sorry, it ain’t happening dog.” You need to tell the church in a nice way that some things aren’t happening.

Often, in the work of renewal, the work is focused on what is not working. It stands to reason that we will need to look at what is not working, the things that are contributing to decline. Since every church is unique in some areas, there will be things that every church does well. As you listen and observe, you can determine the church’s strengths. Knowing these areas, you can accentuate and direct. Look at it this way, maybe the church loves to run but they are running on a treadmill.

The church is working hard but getting no-where. As a leader you can show them how to run and gain ground.

Current Resources

Every church has resources and each one probably longs for the resources of the others. Even churches are not immune to the greener grass syndrome.

The art of reclaiming and repurposing furniture is very popular. When people are around something for a long time, they become so accustomed to it that they forget how to use it. Reclaiming and repurposing your building and it’s footprint are also both popular and cost effective.

One church I served was very close to the downtown area where the buildings had 1950’s architecture. Over the years our church had acquired some of these older buildings that were actual storefronts. These stores once housed small business owners, and contained the business on the first floor with private housing on the second floor. One day I discovered a bus line that went around the city stopped on our corner. The foot traffic was incredible in front of our church “storefront” and we were neighboring the artsy district. People would drive for miles to dine, shop and get haircuts in this area.

We repurposed a storefront into an art gallery/ music store.

Hundreds came to view local art, hear local bands and hang out in Uptown, on church property. It’s an awesome thing to mingle in this crowd and strike up conversations. Repurposing renewed a vital outreach for this church.

Discover the resources of your church and how they might be re-tasked or even repurposed for a new season of life.

Navigate The seasons/body cycles/culture.

Each body has a rhythm. In your gathering, notice the rhythm This should coincide with the strengths. Map out the church culture: Who do we think we are?

What do others say about us?

Know the church’s ceremonies, celebrations and celebrities Look for dis-ease.

Take a culture sample from the mouth of your leaders. What is

being voiced by your leaders? Know this: Church culture will eat church strategy for breakfast.

Develop a MAP: Ministry Action Plan

What is a Ministry Action Plan? It is an intentional plan to accomplish the mission of the church using the available resources given to the local church with the Bible as the context.

It utilizes steps, not programs. It thinks ministry not maintenance.

A church has 4 things, no more – no less.

People – Time – Space – Money Here’s how it works: Who are we trying to reach? (People) When will that happen? (Time) Where it will take place? (Space) What’s the cost? (Money) Ministry (the steps of moving people) determines your budget! Think steps, not programs. The first step to renewal is yours to take. I wish there was more time and space to walk you through a 3-year program of renewal. Please visit RonBSmithJr.com for upcoming details on 3: The Three-Year Program and for information regarding training and preaching availability!

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R eRoan Smdityh By Ron Smith is the lead pas-

tor of FBC Altamonte Springs a church working towards revitaliztion and renewal. Ron is a husband to Rana, father to three girls and Pastor of FBC Altamonte Springs. Ron is the author of Churches Gone Wild.

You can follow Ron and receive free resources at RonBSmithJr.com. Ron serves as CO-Leader of Renovate Podcasts as well as serving on staff of the Renovate Coaching Network.

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The Leadership Link…

Re-visioning a Ministry Takes Courage Church revitalization often involves re-visioning your ministry context. However, re-visioning a context that involves real people and real situations can be daunting. It takes courage to lead people through a re-visioning process. When I think about the courage of a leader, I make a beeline to Joshua. As you know, Joshua took over the leadership responsibilities from Moses. He was responsible to help get the children of Israel safely into the Promise Land, a task that Moses was unsuccessful in accomplishing. Better than recounting his every step, let’s consider his job description for just a moment. In Joshua 1 we read: “Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. 8 This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua’s responsibilities were really three-fold.

First, he was to lead the people to inherit the land (verse 6). As noted, one could easily contend that this task was not that difficult, yet Moses was unable to accomplish it. Joshua’s ability to fulfill task one was predicated upon his success in task two; obeying God’s law (verse 7). In fact, we can assert from our vantage point in history, if you want God’s blessing on your life, you must come to a point in which you care about those things that God cares about. He cares about your obedience! Finally, Joshua’s ability to obey God’s laws would likely be determined by his faithfulness to 30

by Michael Atherton meditate on God’s law. Those were his marching orders: 1) lead the people into the Promise Land, 2) obey the law of God, and 3) meditate on the law of God. Indeed the entire job that Joshua had been given did not seem overly difficult. He needed to lead people into a land flowing with milk and honey. He would take a people who had experienced life at the bottom and raise them to an arguably better situation than anyone else, since the time of Adam and Eve. Surely this was the easiest leadership task that anyone in the course of human history has ever received. Yet notice that as God prepares Joshua for this new task, he tells him to be courageous not once, not twice, but three times.

In order for Joshua to move the people from a status-quo mentality to experience God’s very best, he was going to have to be strong and courageous. His responsibilities would not be as easy as what it might seem on the outset. It would have only been a strong and courageous leader who was willing to convince the people that the best battle plan for Jericho was to walk around the walls for seven days and let out a loud shout. It would have only been a strong and courageous leader who encouraged the people to get into the waters, trusting the water would part. Joshua’s need to for strength and courage manifested itself time and time again.

So it will be for you! You will not lead the people out of the land of mediocrity to the land of vitality, without exhibiting strength and courage!

Courageous leaders ENVISION God’s plan

Though we will explore the role of vision in revitalization in a later chapter, it should be noted at this juncture that courageous leaders diligently seek God’s plan and will stop at nothing to accomplish all that He desires. That is a bold statement when you acknowledge that God’s plans often transcends the boundaries of what we would say is reasonable. God does not operate according to our definition of common sense.

Using prostitutes to hide the spies, using a whale to get one’s attention, using an engaged couple to birth the Messiah, and using a murderer as possibly the world’s greatest missionary all seem to defy common sense. Yet each of these people understood and eventually surrendered to God’s plan. Because of their submission and surrender, God was able to use them in dynamic ways.

Let me say this another way for clarity sake. The church you serve and the people you lead are unbelievably tired of a new leader coming into the fold every three to five years with a new sense of optimism surrounding their own ideas and plans.

They need a leader who is willing to diligently and daily seek the God of the universe, to receive His plan and then work every day to see that vision accomplished.

Courageous leaders EMBRACE God’s strange strategies

God has used strange strategies throughout Scripture. He ministered in ways that the religious elites did not accept, but no one can debate His effectiveness. Consider the woman at the well, Zacchaeus, or the little children gathered all around Him. But, not only that, Jesus blessed strange strategies as well. Think about the four friends who cut a hole in the roof so that they could get their friend to Jesus. When was the last time you were willing to go to such great lengths to see God move? Please understand, if revitalization is going to come to your context, it is likely going to come through the mechanism of changed, and often strange, strategies. It may be a relocation, a restart, a merger, or a wholesale re-envisioning of the ministry. When God gives you the strategy, proceed with courage!

Courageous leaders expect God’s faithfulness Abraham took his son and while on the foot of Mount Moriah told his servants, “stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you” (Genesis 22:5).

Scholarship has questioned whether Abraham knew what would happen on the mountain that day. There is nothing that I can offer to help clarify

the particulars of this passage. However, it does seem abundantly clear in our text that Abraham had every intention of going up that mountain with his son and coming off that mountain with his son.

Nobody is going to accuse Abraham of always obeying God’s commands. Nobody is going to accuse Abraham of always having gotten it right.

Nobody is going to Abraham of being an example of leadership perfection. However, we can all likely agree that Abraham, at least as it relates to Mount Moriah, trusted God’s faithfulness. He believed that God’s sovereignty and trusted His plans.

Here is the thing, when you carry out your own plans and ideas, you may or may not experience success. Clearly there are examples of people throughout history who had no intention of honoring God’s will, wishes, or ways and yet they were still abundantly successful in the eyes of the world. As a leader, you too, can likely make some leadership advancements in your own power. However, when you receive God’s plan, embrace His methods, and trust His faithfulness, you will see greater results than you could have ever accomplished utilizing your own intelligence or charisma.

The American Church is not in need of any more complacent or marginal leaders. We need men and women who will lead with courage and conviction. As the culture continues to shift leaving an environment which is best described as chaotic, we need leaders who will dare to dream and strive to achieve a brighter future.

Michael Atherton is the lead pastor of the Cornerstone Church in Longtree, CO where he has turned around two churches through a church merger.

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Engaging the Culture Around You

By Tom Cheyney

Many Christians know that it is vital to engage those in the culture around them with the message of the cross, but they often do not know how to start. Here is a quick list: 1. Just talk to people!

2. Pray with others.

3. Find a place to serve in your community.

4. Become an expert on your part of town.

5. Tell people your life story.

6. Hang out with people who don’t know Christ.

7. Find some friends to join you and never go alone.

8. Meet the needs around you.

It is not difficult to start engaging those in the culture around you.

You just have to begin somewhere.

Silver Vega

Reaching the Next Generation Through Reinvention

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by Lee Kricher

Amplify Church, located in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh, embarked on a revitalization journey in late 2003. After years of declining attendance, we were on the verge of closing our doors. Over the coming months and years, we prayerfully put into place a number of change strategies with the hope of turning things around. Thankfully, the church became healthy again. Not only did attendance increase, the average age of those attending Amplify Church decreased from 50 to 35 years old. Every generation was and is well represented for the first time in many, many years.

second car so we bought a used red Chevy Vega.

There is a reason Chevrolet no longer makes Vegas. Words cannot describe how bad that car was. It seldom started in the first few moments of turning the key in the ignition. It seemed to shake as if it was falling apart once it hit 40 miles per hour. Probably the worst part of our Vega was the body. New holes seemed to rust through that car every time I dared to look. The car was a mess.

So I did the logical thing. I had it painted silver – classic Mercedes silver. Unfortunately, the silver Vega was still the same car. We got rid of it a few months later.

A few years after my wife, Linda, and I were married, we felt it would be helpful to have a second car. We didn’t have the money to buy a decent

What must a church do when it becomes obvious that the church is ineffective at reaching children

and young adults? One church I know painted a colorful mural on the concrete wall of the dark basement room where the kids were sent each week. Another church added a youthful touch to one weekend service per month by allowing one of their youngest regular attendees (a guy in his mid-40s) to lead a song while playing his acoustic guitar. Another church added an underfunded and understaffed “contemporary service” to the weekly calendar. They all proved by the lack of results that you can’t reach the next generation by painting your Vega silver.

You need to be willing to implement dramatic changes if your church wants to become and continue to be a New Generation Church - a church with attendees whose average age is at least as young as the average age of the community in which the church exists. This ties closely to one of the pillars of Church Revitalization – Reinvention. When a church is not reaching the people in the community served by the church – including the children and young adults of that community, the church needs to find a way to reinvent itself. New experiences must replace old experiences. New practices must replace old practices. Surface changes are not enough.

Changing the Weekend Services

At Amplify Church, we accepted the premise that our church was perfectly designed to reach the people we were reaching. For the most part, we were reaching people who were in their 50s and older. Without changing our beliefs, we had to prayerfully change our approach to weekend church services to reach people who weren’t coming. Here are just a few of those changes: We made a simple change to our pre-service and post-service environment inside the sanctuary. In a world where face-to-face connections are often replaced by electronic connections, we felt that the time before and after service should be filled with the energy that comes from people interacting with one another. We replaced silence and somber music with upbeat modern worship music. This gave people permission to spend time greeting their friends and meeting new people who were starting to attend.

We changed the length of each service. Church services at Amplify Church had been a minimum of 90 minutes and often much longer. We decided to limit the length of the service to approximately 65 minutes. This was most appreciated during football season when the Pittsburgh Steelers had an early afternoon game! People actually started to comment that they wished the services were longer. That was much preferred to the days when they were wishing the services were shorter.

The biggest impact on service length came from changing the time devoted to announcements.

It was not unusual for the announcements and communication of special prayer requests to take up to 30 minutes, time that visitors of all ages found to be mostly irrelevant. We adopted a policy that announcements had to be pertinent to the majority of people present and the announcement and offering portion of the service ended up being about five minutes long.

Changing the Music

Please skip this section if your blood pressure rises just at the thought of changing your church’s approach to music. I must tread on this dangerous ground, though, because I believe that the changes we made to our music had a profound effect on our turnaround as a church.

In 2003, Amplify Church had music that was a perfect fit for the people who were attending.

The song choices were primarily popular hymns and choruses that were the soundtrack for the spiritual lives and journeys of those who were in their 50s and above. The style of music was very meaningful to the regular attendees. Most could not understand why young people did not connect with the music.

From what I had observed, the music in the churches that were most effective at reaching young people appealed primarily to those who were younger. It was played and sung with a reasonable level of excellence and had a current, rather than dated, sound. Two of the leading sources for modern worship were (and are) Hillsong and Passion, with a sound that was radically different from what we had at Amplify Church.

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We decided that our approach to music had to change.

We held auditions for the worship team, and only singers and musicians with the musical skills that matched our musical goals were chosen. Until that time, anyone could be on the worship team, no matter their level of musical expertise. Of the 20-plus people who auditioned, only a few were chosen. The new worship team practiced diligently to be able to sing and play the new songs.

The change in our music was dramatic. The lyrics of the songs were still consistent with our beliefs and core mission, but the sound and style of the music was much more youthful.

‘I Don’t Even Recognize My Own Church!’

I would not want to live through the first two years of our church’s changes again. We decided to implement quick, sweeping change. We did not just paint our Vega silver. But I am so glad we made the changes that we made. So are the members who stayed through the changes.

One long-time member exclaimed, “I don’t even recognize my own church!” It was not spoken in dismay. It was spoken in wonder that the church was growing again and that, despite the changes to the church’s approach, the church’s core mission was being fulfilled like it had not been fulfilled for many, many years.

Do you think that modest changes in your church’s approach will be sufficient to fulfill God’s vision for your church?

What is the current “level of courage” in your church for entering a time of Reinvention?

What is your personal level of courage?

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Lee Kricher is the

Senior Pastor of Amplify Church, Pittsburgh, PA amplifychurch.com and author of For a New Generation – foranewgeneration.com

Elements Most Critical for a Church to Turn Around!

By Tom Cheyney

There are elements and ingredients, which are essential to the turning around of any church. This list can appear to be endless, since each situation is to some degree unique and unlike even a neighbor’s church.

What bind these elements all together is the presence of the Holy Spirit and an openness of the people to the working of God’s Spirit.

Here are some common elements most critical for church renewal:

A Pastoral Love for His People

The role of the turnaround pastor is to be so committed to the people that they recognize his unconventional determination to be one of them, not simply a rescue expert. For a church to turn around the must not be allowed to develop a pastor-of-the-week syndrome. The pastor must be able to make an honest and convincing commitment to see the congregation through to the end, whether in success or failure.

Select a New Pastor.

In the vast majority of cases, the former pastor is too associated with and injured by the decline to be able to reverse it. A new pastor is usually necessary to create the climate and the plans for a successful resurrection of the congregation.

Release the Past.

It almost goes without saying that to survive and thrive, a congregation must focus on the future rather than relive the past. But this is easier said than done. It requires a new or renewed vision. This is another reason why a new pastor is often necessary. You must honor the past but not live in the past and new pastors can make an easier transition towards that outcome then those who have been there for a long time.

Define Outreach.

To reverse a decline caused in part by an inward focus of ministry, congregations must intentionally define what outreach the church will emphasize.

Equip the Congregation.

Intentional outreach will fail to renew a congregation if done only by the only the pastor and staff. Therefore, the laity must be trained for effective, targeted ministry.

If the laity will not embrace their part of outreach the church is in danger of closure even before the revitalization efforts get launched.

Select a Strong Leader.

Declining congregations that hired chaplains, caretakers, healers, managers, administrators, or consensus builders fail to gain ground. The most critical skill of the revitalization leader is to help the congregation establish a new vision to which all can commit.

Hard Work.

The pastor and everyone else in the congregation must commit to working hard. This is not to say that Spirit has no role, but that much effort is required to overcome the downward inertia.

There Must Be a Prayer Covering.

If people don’t commit themselves to prayer, they will not catch the vision.

You Must Preach Quality Sermons, Not Bible Studies.

Sermons need not be excellent, but they need to be more relevant and inspired than what they are likely to have been hearing during the later part of their decline.

Seek An Outside Perspective.

Access to objective, outside opinion is critical.

A Committed Core Group.

As well as a pastor willing to stay no matter what, there must be a core group of lay people with the same commitment.

These are elements and ingredients, which are essential to the turning around of any church. While you might be able to eliminate one or two of them, usually the ones most often sought to be eliminated are those, which take the most work out of the laity. When those are eliminated there is little chance for a church to grow when the laity abandons the work of the ministry.

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Culture Change: There Are No Shortcuts in Student Ministry

- Continued

build up trust in your relationship as a student pastor with them the parent and their student.

In order to do this though, include your parents by getting their feedback before huge changes take place. Shepherd them by talking about the things going on in their students’ lives and how they as parents can help. Dream with them about the future of their student and the ministry they hopefully will be attending. Disagree all you want about including your parents in the changing of your culture, but it is the student pastors that include, shepherd, and dream with the parents that add longevity and support to their vision.

Lastly, we finally get to the people we have the privilege to lead: Our Students. One of the greatest joys we get to experience as Student Pastors is to see our students learn how to use their influence to impact people. It is not only our joy, but it is our passion. Because students

by Drew Cheyney

are our passion though we need to make sure we are not short changing the students we are serving. We need to be creative and dream. We need to spend time recruiting new leaders. We need to find the holes that keep our Student Ministries from being amazing places where eternities are changed forever; but we cannot do so if we try to find the easy button and avoid this complicated task. Culture is hard to change and it has its ups and downs, but the possibilities that come with change could just make the world of difference for you as a leader and the students you are leading.

Drew Cheyney is the Student Pastor at Neighborhood Church in Valsilia, CA and frequest writer on Revitalization of Churches through student ministry.

The Misrepresentation of Being Agreeable to Change Do churches ever misrepresent themselves? Sure they do! Ask most pastors within their first two to three years of being on a church field.

“They told me they were mission-minded. They said they really wanted to grow and reach this community….” are just two common comments I have received in the past nine years of relating specifically with pastors and staff.

Do churches intentionally misrepresent their church?

Probably not! Or at least, I pray that is not their intention. One thing of which I am keenly aware - churches often say they are ready and willing to change, hoping they will experience the anointing of God upon their church, but once the change begins to affect the church they know and love, they begin to push back. This is a major blockade to revitalization.

From the information I gathered, it was Mark Twain who made the statement “The only person who likes change is a wet baby”. I wonder if Mark Twain ever changed a

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baby’s diaper! None of our five children seemed to enjoy the whole “changing” process, especially when they had diaper rash. They would cry, kick and scream throughout the entire process. I can’t fathom why either! They were in an “awful mess” and inundated with an “awful aroma.”

Change is not always pleasant, but when a church is in an “awful mess,” it is the only solution to the unpleasantness and pain. The Lord desires us to be followers who present a “sweet-smelling aroma” by the conduct of our lives in this present environment (Eph. 4:17–5:17, esp. 5:2).

Therefore, change is a model and a regular practice we are obligated to submit to for the glory of God to be revealed in us and in our assemblies. Hold all ministry and programs with a loose grasp, allowing the Holy Spirit to evaluate and adjust everything for its greatest effectiveness.

Change and pain need not be synonymous, if we come to realize that who we are, and everything we are steward over, is HIS! - Tracy Jaggers

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The Seven Pillars of Church Revitalization and Renewal: Foundational for Declining Churches

The Seven Pillars of Church Revitalization and Renewal Our Lord loves the local New Testament Church and it is His desire to see it grow! The need for Church Revitalization has never been greater in North America!

An estimated 340,000 Protestant churches in America have an average attendance of less than one hundred. Research data tells us that in the United States more than 80% of the churches have plateaued or are declining. Each and every week we are currently seeing somewhere between fifty and seventy-five local churches closing their doors and not opening them again. Everything that must be done in the area of church revitalization cannot be accomplished in a few hours on the Lord’s Day! The most recent research data released in January of 2012 by the Leavell Center for Evangelism and Church Health, has said that within my own Southern Baptist Convention we are at a critical juncture regarding church plateau and decline. The most recent series of studies have been conducted by Bill Day; Associate

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Director of the Leavell Center for Evangelism and Church Health, who serves the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary as the Gurney Professor of Evangelism and Church Health in his sequential studies on church health and growth of 2003, 2007, and 2010.

In January of 2012 Bill Day reported, that currently there are less than seven percent (6.8) of our SBC churches that are healthy growing churches. That means 3,087 of our 45,727 SBC churches are healthy. Even the number of SBC churches is in decline and we need to address the needs for church revitalization immediately.

Thinking About the Seven Pillars of Church Revitalization Working in the area of Church Revitalization will lead you eventually to consider the Seven Pillars of Church Revitalization.

A Church Revitalizer will not be working in all of these areas at the same time, but you will eventually find yourself working in most of them at one time or another. Take a moment to reflect upon the Seven Pillars graph as we discuss these areas of renewal and revitalization.

by Tom Cheyney

Revitalization and Realignment

Perhaps the easiest pillar to address is revitalization and realignment. Some observers of church revitalization and renewal argue that the era of small churches is over and that the future belongs to the arising mega churches across North America. Granted mega is an amazing phenomenon of the past thirty years which seems to have arisen with the concept of the massive campus church. But to ignore the 340,000 plus churches in North America that average less than 100 weekly in church attendance would be ill advised! Those who serve and those who attend these churches are an enormously significant network of Christian influence.

Even the mega church finds itself struggling to avoid plateau and decline.

A church in need of Revitalization is described as one where: there is the plateauing or declining after a phase of recent or initial expansion; then the church experiences the beginning of a high turn-over of lay leaders; there becomes a shorter duration of stay of fully assimilated people within the work; the church morale and momentum level drops; the church coasts for a brief time

and then drops again, only to see the cycle of decline repeated again and again. The result is the church hits a new low! This new normal is the first sign of a church in need.

Refocusing

Refocusing is the second pillar and it helps churches that are growing, but still need to set new challenges and look for new opportunities to expand their gospel witness into their target area. Questions such as what is your biblical purpose and why do we exist as a congregation must be addressed. Looking at how God showed up in the past is a good way to get the church unstuck by addressing where it has been, how God has worked and

what does He have for its future.

Addressing the church’s focus, vision, and leading them to discover God’s new direction is just the beginning of helping a congregation to begin refocusing towards the Lord’s new calling plan for the church! Many a pastor today has never been taught how to grow a church and they feel quite stuck and in need of someone to come along side of them and challenge them to refocus one’s self and the church!

Re-visioning

A little bit harder certainly, but not as hard, as the descending order of decline that will eventually lead to the Restarting pillar of revitalization. Have you ever seen a church that once was alive

and vital begin to lose its focus and drive for the cause of Christ?

That is a church that needs to work on its Re-visioning strategy! Any Re-visioning strategy works to help churches dream new dreams and accomplish new goals that lead towards re-growing a healthy church!

This strategy is designed for a weekend retreat tailored fit to foster a sense of ownership and team ship related to discovering a shared vision for the church.

Understanding the critical milestones necessary for a new vision will help foster healthy church practices that might have been lost. Something as simple as achieving a great goal of some sort can begin to launch a church back into a Re-visioning strategy.

Something as simple and dangerous as the Lord’s children taking 39

an ill advised rest that resulted in a slowing or stalling of the momentum into a maintenance mentality can cause a church to become stuck.

Renewing

Church Renewal is the forth pillar of the seven pillars of Church Revitalization process. Often the church simply needs to get back to that which was working and get back on track. When that is needed a careful renewal strategy needs to be planned and carried out. Renewing a congregation becomes much harder than the refocusing, re-visioning and revitalization process. Not everyone who works in church renewal is wired the exact same way and it is important to understand each congregation’s individual needs and not try to make a one size fits all! There is no magic pill in church revitalization. Far too much writing on church growth of the 1980’s was designed in a one size fits all “bigger is better” model and while it may not have been the only cause for declining numbers in our churches, but it certainly contributed! It is vital that you prepare the laity for the work of church renewal as well as yourself. Communicate early and often with the church how the renewal process will take place and how it will be implemented.

Prepare yourself spiritually and then prepare your leaders spiritually. Then begin preparing your church spiritually for renewal! A Church Renewal Weekend is a great way to start! Church renew40

al is not about finding the magic medication or treatment to get growing. It is more about discovering God’s vision for the church and practicing it for the long haul. The utilization of a Church Renewal weekend works well to draw God’s people back towards health and vitality.

when it is necessary to reinvent itself to a changing community.

When a church experiences a shift in the community makeup, often there will be to various degrees, the need to redevelop a new experience for those who make up the new church context!

New experiences must replace old experiences. New practices likewise will replace old practices. A church that is experiencing the need for reinvention must take seriously the need and make the commitment for reinventing itself, revaluing itself, reforming itself, and reinvigorating itself to fit the new context.

The restart church revitalization model is being used all across North America. Changing the mindset of the residual membership can Restoration This sixth area of Church Revitaloften be very difficult. ization deals with things a church Senior adults occupy and a minister must go through when circumstances necessimost of these restart tate that a restoration process is candidate churches called for! Things such as: Gaining a new and fresh underfor which change is standing of the new future for often hard to come the church is vital if success is in the church’s future. by. Until the church is ready to make drastic Inspiring new prospects with a vision that is both compelling changes, it is useless and motivational. Prospects seek to become involved. to be inspired and not dragged down in the world in which we live in.

Reinvention

This fifth pillar of Church Revitalization deals with tools and techniques to assist the church

Meet new needs in order to give you a restored place among the community in which you seek to further minister.

Become prospect driven during these days of transition. Look

for new and yet to be reached opportunities to minister.

Remember if you try to do everything you will end up doing nothing. Therefore pick your greatest opportunities first and let the rest follow along later.

Craft something that comes out of a community in flux and look for ways to reconnect to the community where you once were firmly entrenched. Keep in mind you have been given a second chance so don’t blow it. Prayerfully seek the new things because it might be something you will be doing for a long long time!

Restarting

The final Pillar of Church Revitalization is the hardest and often only happens once the church’s patriarchs and matriarchs have tried everything else they could think of to grow the church with no success! The challenge here is that most churches wait too long to enter into this area of revitalization and by the time they are willing to utilize this strategy, they have sucked out all of the life within the church and it is no longer a viable candidate for this effort. When a sick church no longer has the courage to work through the various issues that led to its poor health, it is usually identified as being on life support and in need of a restart. This type of church has been flat-lined and just holding on by means of its legacy and the faithful few who attend. The Restarting Strategy (also known as a Repotting strat-

egy) is for an unhealthy church to once again begin growing and to engage in a renewed vision that is demonstrated through sufficient evidences of hope.

The restart based church revitalization model is being used all across North America. Any group planting churches or working in the area of Church Revitalization should have a restart strategy if it is going to be a wise steward.

One critical point from the start is a complete change of leadership and direction is a must for this revitalization model to be successful. Lyle Schaller reminds us that 85,000 evangelical churches are running fewer than 50 on Sunday. Being aware of their “critical” condition, however, is not enough. They have got to become convinced they need “major” surgical treatment. One church I have worked with still believes that they have more to offer, though their decline has been meteoritic and yet they

refuse to allow a restart to take place.

Changing the mindset of the residual membership can often be very difficult. Senior adults occupy most of these restart candidate churches for which change is often hard to come by.

Until the church is ready to make drastic changes, it is useless to become involved. There are thousands of churches like this all over America: Some are Baptists, others are Methodists, even in the Assemblies you can find them, Presbyterians, the Lutherans have them, Congregational, Christian, and many others, waiting for a mission-minded congregation to get involved in offering “new life.”

One startling phenomena is there are churches today that as the laity begin to depart this life often see nothing wrong with taking the church to the grave as well.

That was never part of God’s plan for the very thing He gave up His life.

Dr. Tom Cheyney is the founder and directional leader of Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference and Executive Editor of the Church Revitalizer.

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Re-visioning: Rediscovering God’s Preferred Future for Your Church The Church throughout the world is growing in exciting ways. But here in North America, church leaders are often discouraged because many of their local congregations are not experiencing growth. In fact, a large percentage of local bodies here are actually in decline today. Over the last 25 years, the symptoms of this slide have been on the increase: local churches tend to be more organizational than organic, focusing on traditions and structures over kingdom expansion; ministry has migrated from outreach to mainly “inreach,” driven more by the desires of church members than the needs of the harvest; mission support has largely gone from direct participation (and raising missionaries) to financial support alone; equipping people to engage the world with the gospel has given way to a more academic or even devotional approach of teaching biblical facts and doctrine; and passion for the future has bowed to fond feelings and memories of the past. What is driving this insidious slide? While the answer is different for every local church, most of these will find that they have allowed their vision of God’s preferred future to become predominantly self-focused. And in extreme cases, the Great Commission has given way to survival.

The North American church’s great need today is to “re-vision.” Re-visioning is not a tactic to produce something new (although it will undoubtedly seem new to some) but is rather a process of rediscovering God’s vision – His preferred future – for that local body and her

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ministry. When that rediscovery process is founded on prayer, is focused on reaching the harvest, calls the congregation to action and inspects the church’s fruit, it quickly produces a clear statement of what that local church is called to become and to accomplish.

Re-visioning and Prayer

The single biggest mistake churches make when attempting to re-vision is to take their lead from corporate America rather than the Scripture. Certainly we can learn things from the business world, but most business vision processes will lead a church to develop either a vision from the pastor’s heart or from the congregation’s heart. The problem is that it is possible unwittingly to do both of these without drawing from God’s heart. All vision activity in a church must begin with prayer (and I would suggest, fasting – see Acts 13:1-3). Ask for God to prepare everyone’s hearts to hear from Him. Ask God to open your eyes for the harvest around the church so you see what He sees.

This prayer effort should be family-wide, encompassing the leaders and the congregation (including the children!). Pray through the Scriptures, particularly those that describe God’s redemption activity through His people and seek His Spirit on how such lessons apply to your ministry context.

When I work with churches on this process, I find that most do not already have a prayer movement in place. If your congregation is not regularly gathering for prayer and intercession, then you need to start

by John Kimball

there. God prepares His people as they pray – and He also releases resources for the vision because they pray. It is not enough to have a handful of faithful people undertaking this exercise! This must be a grass roots, congregation-wide priority (see 2 Chronicles 7:14-15).

God takes this very seriously, so should we.

Re-visioning and The Harvest

The second biggest mistake local churches make when undertaking the work of re-visioning is to focus the vision on their own church.

Healthy churches grow. Healthy congregations put down deep roots producing great spiritual fruit and maturity. But it is important to see that these are fruit of a vision that outlines God’s preferred future. The safeguard on this point is to make sure that your church’s vision is not about your church, but about the harvest. Such a vision always flows out of God’s heart to extend the rule and reign of Christ to redeem the world. What will your local body do to participate in the Great Commission work of reaching people who desperately need Jesus?

As a part of your church’s intercessory prayer focus, gather information about your community. What are the trends you see that will affect your ministry ability? Who is moving in? What new cultures do you need to learn about? What are the real needs around your city?

What are the new ministry opportunities you’ve not considered before? Ask your members to find

out about the needs in their own neighborhoods and compile the data. Use all of this information to get a good understanding of the best ways your church folks can vitally connect with those outside the church for ministry on an ongoing basis.

Once the needs of the community are well known, then the church can begin to discern precisely which of those needs are yours to address (more on that below).

But here its important to note that focusing vision on the harvest will require you to gather such information at least annually so that your ministry work always stays fresh and fruitful. God’s Word and the Great Commission never change, but the tactical plans we make to fulfill them change as fast as our respective communities do. This aspect of vision must remain fluid so that the church does not find itself disconnected and declining again in a few years.

Re-visioning and the Church

Re-visioning reminds the church what she is to become and what she is to do. In this sense, all vision activity is a congregational call to action. Vision motivates the membership toward ministry. Vision gives clear priorities for the church’s life and activities. Vision informs what should be budgeted and how much (by the way, a good vision will often transform the budget from a ceiling of expenses into a floor of minimum ministry resourcing), releasing funding for vision fulfillment. Vision guides church leadership decision-making – and ultimately even the choice of leaders appointed or elected.

For all these things to become reality, it is essential that the re-vi-

sioning incorporate a clear understanding of the congregation’s collective divine design. What kind of temperaments make up the congregation? What are their natural talents and learned skills?

What is the spiritual gift mix of the overall church family? What are the true and Christ-centered ministry passions bubbling up within the congregation? As all these Spirit-bestowed components are understood, it will be clear which of the needs and opportunities identified in prayer and research the congregation is actually equipped by God to address. It is in places where ministry matches divine design that mission strategy to uniquely fulfill the Great Commission is born. And as your people sense a call to labor in ministry areas for which they are clearly gifted and empowered, they will not decline but will rise to the challenge and the vision will move toward reality!

successfully doing what God put on our hearts to accomplish for His kingdom.

One last thought as we talk about re-visioning in the local church. The renewed vision must always promote and require faith. In order for that to happen, it needs to be Godsized and incorporate just enough risk and “stretching” to require God’s help to actually be fulfilled. If the vision produced by this process is something the congregation can do without God’s help, start over. No one should be able to one day say, “Look at what we accomplished!”

Rather, people should drop to their knees in awe, worship and thanksgiving as they recognize what God did through them by His Holy Spirit.

May God bless you as you rise to the re-visioning challenge!

Re-visioning and Fruit

Finally, as the vision moves toward fulfillment, it must bear kingdom fruit. Church leaders often look to the “Three B’s” to measure their church’s success (i.e., budgets, buildings and butts); however, these are not always the best metrics to use. Strive to identify clear metrics directly from the vision.

If part of your church’s vision is to build a vital relationship with the local soup kitchen to feed the many needy in your town, then keep track of how many of your church folks are consistently working in the soup kitchen and how many people are impacted with both love (food) and truth (gospel) of Christ through their efforts. I have a dear friend who says, “We expect what we inspect.” His meaning is clear – if our priorities come from our vision, then those are the things we must measure to know if we are

Dr. John Kimball is Director of

Church Development for the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference. He has nearly 30 years of pastoral experience, most of it in revitalization ministry, and coaches pastors and churches through development in his denomination and in partnership with the Praxis Center for Church Development.

John serves as the Lead Pastor/ Planter of Palmwood Church in Metropolitan Orlando.

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REFOCUS: Four Tools to Refocus a Turnaround

By Bob Whitesel Joe was a local lawyer and his wife a stockbroker. They had attended our church for six months during which we had experienced a rapid turnaround and growth. I knew he had been interested in joining the church but I was unprepared for his question. “What is the church’s focus?” Joe stated bluntly. “We’ve seen a lot of growth. We’ve seen a lot of programs. So what is the focus? Kathy and I want to know that before we decide if it’s our focus too.”

Joe’s question set me on a quest where I simplified this into four foci and four tools for keeping them central. Though I wrote an entire book about these foci titled, “Cure for the Common Church: God’s Plan for Church Health” below is a brief overview.

Focus one: OUT. In Jesus’s

ministry we see a ongoing emphasis on reaching out to nonreligious people and people in need (e.g. Luke 6:31-33). But churches quickly become inwardly focused, looking more after their own needs than the needs of those outside their church.

Tool to Focus OUT: ASK.

Get your administrative board and staff to go out on a Saturday morning walk through the church neighborhood and areas from which you draw your congregants. Tell them to ask people 44

they meet this simple question: “What could a church like ours do to meet needs of people in this community?” Don’t ask them what you can do to meet their personal needs. That is too personal. Rather ask them to tell you about community needs.

Usually they will tell you about their own needs. Then go back to the church and compile a list of needs. Pick out a couple needs that your church is equipped or is beginning to be equipped to address. Then reallocate funds and volunteers to meet those needs.

I advise churches to do this twice a year. This keeps leaders listening for needs in the community.

One church board member said, “I now work that question subtly into my conversations all year long. I find a lot of interesting needs in this community that way. And it helps me be a better board member because I can help the church focus on meeting needs outside the church.”

Focus two: SMALL. It was

in small gatherings that Jesus accomplished most of his discipleship (e.g. Matt., 4:18-22, Mark 3:13-19, Luke 6:13). Small groups are where people grow together in intimacy and reliance. Even when there is change in church leadership, small group attendees will remain with the church because their friends are still there. Yet most churches have only a token emphasis on and oversight of small groups. If we

look at the “method” behind John Wesley and the Methodist Movement we see that getting people into small “Bible study groups” was the key.

Tool to focus Small: BIBLE Studies w/ navigators, not teachers. I will use the term

“Bible study group” to distinguish them from “Bible teaching groups.” The latter oftentimes, but not of course always, emphasize “teaching” rather than study. They are where the teacher becomes the figurehead and is looked up to as the expert.

These groups sometimes mimic church services, with an “expert” preaching the group. This works against dialogue and openness.

It creates an audience not group dialogue and accountability. And, it reduplicates the legitimate teaching roles of the pastoral staff. No wonder so many church splits come from “teaching groups” where the teacher and not the Word of God is the focus.

Therefore I encourage groups to carefully ensure the Word of God is the focus. I prefer, like John Wesley did, to let the Bible be the teacher. This still requires a mature Christian who serves as a sort of “Biblical navigator” for the group, bringing commentaries and Bible handbooks to help people dig into the Word.

But these groups are groups that investigate biblical topics each week by everyone digging into the Bible and seeing what the

Bible says. This makes people depended upon the Word rather than a novice-preacher.

Focus three: LEARNERS. Often in church as we try to grow attendance, or we measure baptisms, finances and/or conversions. All of these are helpful metrics but not as important as the metric Jesus gave us, in Matthew 28:1820. Here Jesus uses four verbs on His Great Commission: go, make disciples, teach and baptize. In the Greek it is clear that three of these are participles, which mean that they modify another more central verb. The central verb is “make disciples” and the Greek literally means “make learners.”

Thus, the verse indicates that by going, teaching and baptizing we reach the goal of our commission: which is make learners.

Tool to focus on Learners: Measure STUDENTS of the Word. Thus, in a turnaround

our focus should be on helping people learn, rather than focusing on increasing attendance, money or even conversions. Acts 2:47 reminds us, “And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” So conversion is God’s job. But, helping people become learners, according to Matthew

28:18-20 is our job. It follows that we should measure things like how many people are in the Sunday school and how many people go to regular Bible study in your church. These are a better indicators if people are becoming learners that by simply counting how many are sitting in the pew or writing a check.

Focus four: NEW. By this I

mean cultivating an environment in your church where people’s lives are changed into new lives. There’s an excitement in a church when people expect to be changed there. Today when people need to a changed from an abusive life, addiction, depraved habits and/or self-centeredness they usually go to a psychologist, self-help group or read a self-help book. All of these are helpful tools. But I believe the most helpful and God-ordained tool is the Church. The Church is the place in a community where people should know that you go if you need to be changed. This is because there is supernatural power to change people whenever two or three are gathered in His name (Matt. 18:20).

Tool to focus on NEW: Everyone learns a GOSPEL presentation. Every attendee

should be equipped with a tool

to share the Good News. The Four Spiritual Laws, The Four Steps to Peace with God, The Romans Road or another plan of salvation are the most important tool with which you can equip each congregant. Attendees should be trained in their youth, in their Sunday schools and during a yearly preaching series. Then they will be “ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, (1 Peter 3:15). A good tool to encourage this is a five-week sermon series every year, where each week focuses on one of The Four Spiritual Laws or The Four Steps to Peace with God. Then on the fifth week extend a call to meet Christ.

If a yearly part of your preaching calendar, this sermon series can equip, reinforce and remind congregants how to share the wonderful opportunity and blessing of a new life in Christ.

I believe the most helpful and God-ordained tool is the Church.

The Church is the place in a community where people should know that you go if you need to be changed. This is because there is supernatural power to change people whenever two or three are gathered in His name (Matt. 18:20). ~ Bob Whitesel

Bob Whitesel (D.Min. and Ph.D., Fuller Seminary) is a sought-after speaker and award-winning writer on organic outreach, church leadership and church health; who has been called by a national magazine, “the key spokesperson on change theory in the church today.” Author of 11 books in 12 years, he serves as the founding professor of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University and holds two doctorates from Fuller Theological Seminary. The recipient of two national McGavran awards, he is a nationally respected consultant helping churches grow and regain health.

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46

Church Revitalization in Rural America

By Tom Cheyney & John Kimball

Book & DVD Resource Set 47

Three Phases of Refocus for the Revitalizing Church

Remember the game Dizzy Lizzy?

For years Dizzy Lizzy has been a popular outdoor relay race played mostly by youth groups or in gatherings of older children.

Here’s how it works: Two or more teams are chosen. Players of each team line up for a relay race. Next, team members one at a time run a predetermined distance, where he or she picks up a baseball bat and while holding the bat upright on the ground, the player leans over, placing their forehead on top of the bat, and while looking at the ground, runs around the baseball bat in a circle 10 times. After circling the bat 10 times, next, the player (while very dizzy) attempts to run back to their team, and tag the next player to do the same thing. First team to finish wins.

Watching players attempt to run back to their teammates (after running in circles 10 times) is quite entertaining and amusing!

Watch a You Tube video of Dizzy Lizzy being played and I think you will agree it is hilarious. After spinning in a circle 10 times, it is common for players to stagger or actually fall to the ground, while trying to regain their balance and focus, eventually with the goal of getting back to the finish line.

Although Dizzy Lizzy is a fun relay race having been enjoyed by children and youth for years, Dizzy Lizzy is not a good way to go about doing church. Unfor48

tunately far too many churches find themselves running around in circles, staggering about, some tragically even doing a face plant into the ground, all because of their own efforts attempting somehow to get to the finish line of their life mission. We are living in a time where there is a desperate need to refocus. Refocus is one of the seven pillars in the revitalization journey of today’s churches.

Before we look at several phases of refocus for the revitalizing church, it would be helpful to define what it means to refocus.

Refocus is: changing the focus or direction of, or to adjust something to make it clear again.

Phase 1: Pray – Refocus on God (Look Upward)

Phase 1 is a call to refocus the church on God through the medium of prayer. Nehemiah gives us a powerful prayer of refocus, preparing God’s people for the spiritual journey of revitalization.

First, Nehemiah focuses on who God is. Nehemiah prays, “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God” (Neh 1:5). Effective prayer starts with having a high and exalted view of God. In our churches, we must believe the God we serve is the same great, awesome and exalted God today who restores, rebuilds and revitalizes his church.

By Darwin Meighan

Second, Nehemiah’s prayer focuses on the need for confession of sin and repentance (Neh 1:6-7). Nehemiah turns his prayer to the root of Israel’s problems – which is sin and disobedience toward God. Nehemiah sees broken-down walls and charred gates in direct correlation to the spiritual condition of the hearts and lives of God’s people. Many times we see this in our churches as well. Buildings and property, along with ministries and relationships have been allowed to deteriorate over a period of time leading to much needed hope and renewal.

The good news today comes in knowing God is continually sifting through the rubble of broken lives, churches, relationships, addictive habits and sins—he is looking for people who are broken - ready to confess and repent of their sins. In Psalm 51:17, David wrote, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God you will not despise.” One of the exciting truths of the Bible is that God uses the lives of broken people.

Confession of sin and repentance are a much needed step toward refocusing God’s church back to Him and to the mission to which he has called them.

Third, in verses 8-10 of chapter 1, Nehemiah refocuses on the promises of God from the Scrip-

Be Strong and Courageous!

Church revitalizers need to be willing to take risks for the good of the local church they serve.

They need to be strong and of courage. In Joshua chapter one, God instructs Joshua 3 times to “be strong, and be courageous”. Such easy instructions, but how is he to be strong, and courageous? It’s easy sometimes to be cocky, and pretend to be brave but what Joshua needed was true bravery, and courage. God not only directs Joshua to be “strong, and courageous,” but he dictates to him how to be so. To live the kind of Life that God wants us to in the society that we live in we too need courage the way that Joshua did. Sometimes it’s hard to be strong, and courageous. God says we are to stand on his promises. If we are to accomplish what God calls us, and instructs us to do, we as well must stand on the promises. The problem is many churches in need of revitalization are sitting on the premises instead of standing on the promises. Like Joshua, we must not turn, not compromise, not become distracted, must not become detoured from what the will of God is. Faithfulness is the key. Lastly, we must start the process of revitalization and renewal. Many in our declining churches have heard the word of God, sensed his presence, and his leading, but are we still just sitting. What are you waiting for? Now is the time to get going. There is ground to cover, battles to be won, jobs that are unfinished so let’s “be strong and courageous” and do it! Let’s get going.

- Tom Cheyney

tures. Praying Scripture to the Lord is one of the most powerful spiritual weapons God has given his church. There are seasons and periods of time when a local body of believers, after years and years of disobedience, sin, pride, and living in rebellion against the Word of God, find themselves in great peril, many times in desperation nearing the brink of extinction. The reality of this extinction, where the church will actually close its doors, is much closer at hand than most pastors and Christians are willing to admit. In spiritual preparation for the revitalization journey, there is a great need for the church to refocus on

the promises of God’s Word for their lives.

A fourth essential is the priority of looking to God for success. In verse 11, Nehemiah prays, “Give your servant success today.”

Nehemiah prays, asking God to give him success in the next steps toward making his journey to Jerusalem become a reality. He was fully dependent on God for the revitalization efforts in Jerusalem to become a reality. Likewise, we are fully dependent on God to do only what he can do to bring life, hope and renewal to many of our churches today.

Phase 2: Assess – Refocus on Current Reality (Look Inward)

In Nehemiah chapter 2, verses 11-20, Nehemiah sees the physical destruction of Jerusalem and of God’s people firsthand.

Upon assessing his ministry context in Jerusalem Nehemiah discovered several realities: (1) the task was overwhelming, (2) a history of defeat permeated God’s people, and (3) a discouraged group of workers. God had called Nehemiah to refocus the people once again. However, before they could do that, they would also Continued on Page 56 49

Desired Attributes in a Strategic Leadership Team

In a revitalization process there are certain leadership attributes that help plug the holes in the ship so she doesn’t sink while sitting in the dock. Nehemiah was a walking example of all these attributes. And while I am sure God can raise up another Nehemiah, I believe He tends to use a team of people who possess the attributes necessary. Jesus used a team of twelve to show us how it’s done! Ask the Lord to provide the best gifted people to be a part of the team and here’s what to look for:

4. The visionary - a visionary

sees what others cannot yet see.

Even the outsider, mentioned earlier, must be sympathetic to the need for growth and health and envision their part in developing a solution.

5. The motivator - A team

1. The catalyst - Someone

must be the initiator of the process and the plan.

member who can speak with confidence, and rally the troops with his/her words, is likely to find that the team is being followed by an eager crowd.

2. The outsider - someone

6. The persuader - A selfless

new; someone without a long history in the church body; someone distantly removed from any politics or division. Joel Allen Barker asks, “What kind of person is a paradigm shifter?” He states simply, “an outsider”1 is. An outsider has a clearer perspective on the situation and he/she is not overwhelmed with the grief of the problem.

3. The problem-solver - a person who can organize the

1 Malphurs, Pouring New Wine into Old Wineskins, 71.

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people to follow the Lord’s leadership. The problem solver sees the probabilities for obstacles and/or barriers and plans a way around them.

persuader can influence a church, to press outward toward the world in need, rather than being inwardly–focused. The selfless persuader is a prize to any group or congregation.

7. The risk-taker - Every great leader will face a certain level of risk to accomplish what they knew was absolutely essential to the cause. Jesus is the ultimate example of this attribute.

8. An empathizer - A restoration leader who cares deeply

by Tracy Jaggers

for the people, enough to join them in their pain and their struggle back to productivity, and ultimately to restoration and revival is a leader who will endear themself to the people they serve.

9. A persevering leader -

Perseverance is steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. It is the character trait that compels one to struggle through failures, difficulties or opposition to achieve one’s desired outcome or goals.2 Leaders of change, innovation, creativity, and vision may be misunderstood by some, but a team leader - who perseveres, refuses to throw in the towel, or run to a greener field - can help a church bounce back from the brink of death.

10. A planner - Each time a

barrier presents itself, the planner prayerfully prepares a plan to keep the work on track and reiterates the goal to be attained.

11. A recruiter - one who can

recruit workers with a vision and a plan to accomplish the goals.

Restoration is a team effort. There must be a leader who can recruit 2 The New Oxford American Dictionary, s.v. “Perseverance.”

the congregation to buy into the renewal plan for the process to be effective and maintainable.

Without the team environment, renewal would be similar to a coach without any players on the court or field; the game will never be effective.

favor of the need for delegation, quotes J. Oswald Sanders by saying, “To insist on doing things oneself because it will be done better is not only a shortsighted policy but may be evidence of an unwarranted conceit.”3

12. The organizer - This team

Being a person of prayer demonstrates interdependence on the subject of one’s faith.

member makes sure all the resources are present, gives specific assignments so the group is confident concerning their task, and observes and evaluates the effectiveness of the assignments.

Organization will not eliminate difficulties, but it can provide multiple options to each barrier.

13. The delegator - He/she

does not accomplish the task in his/her own power. Michael McCutcheon speaking wisely in

(Matthew 9:36).

Biblical leadership is absolutely essential to restoration and church health.

14. A person of prayer -

Jesus’ leadership reaction to His followers was: “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary [harassed] and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd [leader, guide]” 3 Michael McCutcheon, Rebuilding God’s People: Strategies for Revitalizing Declining Churches (Camp Hill, Christian Publications, 1993), 36.

Making “IT” worth It! Here is a quick lesson for any Church Revitalizer about making it all worth it for you, your church, and your community as you build value.

Your Vision Must Be Compelling You cannot build value for church members, prospects, volunteers, lay leadership, or the community without a compelling vision and values for your new church.

Become a Significant Leader in Your Community You build value by becoming the leader in your community, the church that everybody wants to attend, work for, grow from, or support. It takes tremendous confidence to stake out the territory and to lead others toward it.

Withstand the Loneliness of Leading Lay People You have to withstand the doubts and loneliness

Tracy Jaggers is the Church

Revitaliztion leader of the Tyron Evergreen Baptist Association and frequent contributor to the Renovate National Church Revitaliztion Confrenece.

of pastoral leadership. At the same time you have to acknowledge to yourself and others that you don’t always know how you will reach your destination.

Trust Your Laity First, In Time They Will Trust You For others to follow you through times of uncertainty requires mutual trust and faith.

That is what clarity of vision and commitment to values can bring. I once thought that the test of personal leadership was the number of people that follow a leader. But what is more rewarding is to look across a church and see the number of leaders in place, people who share a common aspiration and have the tools and wisdom—the vision and values—to achieve something great.

That is any church revitalizer’s greatest legacy, to make “IT” all worth it for everyone. Then you know your vision is on right track.

-Tom Cheyney

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Church Revitalization and Realignment

“You don’t have to have all the answers, you just have to know where to find them.” Albert Einstein “Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died a at the age of a hundred and ten. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance…After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord, nor what he had done for Israel.

Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” (Joshua 2:8-11, NIV) Moses, the Patriarch of the Jews, the giver of the Law, the friend of Jesus who meets Him on the Mount of Transfiguration, and one of the greatest strategists in biblical history, mentors Joshua to carry his mantle in leading the Israelites into the Promised Land. Fearless Joshua follows the Lord and the example of Moses, leads the people into the land of “milk and honey” and lives to the distinguished age of 110 years only to have the next generation completely reject God. The logical question is, “How did that happen?”

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Whenever you as a church leader are feeling defeated or frustrated regarding your calling, just remember that Moses and Joshua had their challenges as well.

The good news is that “the gates of hell will not prevail against the church” according to Jesus. Now that’s a promise to hold on to!

The church today, regardless of cultural challenges and difficulties, simply needs godly men and women to remember that we are on the winning team; if Moses, Joshua and even Jesus encountered trials and set backs in their ministry, leaders today must be ready to encounter the same.

Proverbs states, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

(Proverbs 29:18, KJV) Church growth will always decline and wickedness prevails when there is no leadership pointing the way and challenging men. Edmond Burke is often quoted in regard to this sentiment when he said, “All that is needed for evil to prevail in the world is for good men to do nothing.” I am sure there were many so called “good men” in the days following Joshua’s death, but apparently they did not lead, and the next generation literally went to “hell in a hand basket.”

I know there were good men in my church and others growing up during the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, but by the ‘80’s most of these men were elderly and rested on the accomplishments of days gone by, “the good ole days,” with

By Estelle Myers

their heads buried in the sand, unable to cast a new vision for a new generation. It took the men and women coming out of seminary at the same time that I did to begin to “break the mold” of the past and to move forward to the future in preaching revival and breaking traditional church trends. The church culture wars over music, women in leadership, liturgy styles, acknowledgement of spiritual gifts, and the co-utilization of unused church buildings, could have all been avoided if the leadership had honestly desired to embrace change. Kevin Ford noted in his book, Transforming Churches, notes that, “Church members frequently invoke the need for transformation when they hire new pastors or ministry leaders. But these same leaders face a paradox: The churches resist the very change they claim to need.” (Ford, loc.

109) Many of the churches struggling today would be in a much better position if in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s they would have embraced a more adaptive leadership style in seeking to develop a healthy church.

Churches who are ready to embrace Revitalization and Realignment must also adopt an adaptive leadership style. Adaptive leadership is specifically about change that enables the capacity to thrive. (Heifetz, loc. 419) It is not, as Ford so aptly points out, enough to change for the sake of

change, but to determine exactly what needs to be changed and then to act upon it. Heifetz, Grashow, and Linsky in their book, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World, explain that adaptive leadership is a twofold process.

“The practice of leadership, like the practice of medicine, involves two core processes: diagnosis first and then action.” (Heifetz, loc. 289) The diagnosis process is not only of the organization that the leader finds himself, but also of himself and how he relates to that organization. There is a process involved in identifying the problem through the collection of data within the organization; then there is an interpretive stage of the data discovered and a plan developed to act upon the data received. Sometimes surveys may be utilized, interviews conducted, or even an outside unbiased consultant brought in to help determine the current needs of the organization at large and to help develop a plan of action to carry out the new vision.

In essence “adaptive leadership is the practice of mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges and thrive.” (Heifetz, loc. 413) This concept of an organization “thriving” is taken from the same biological concept of a plant or species adapting to it’s environment for continued survival and finding a means to thrive by discarding or rearranging the

species basic DNA, by preserving what is essential, but then creating new DNA to adapt in order to flourish. “Successful adaptations enable a living system to take the best from its history into the future.” (Heifetz, loc. 414) I think of the psychological negative of this concept in early childhood education when the term “failure to thrive” is used of healthy babies who do not grow and develop, even though they are given proper physical sustenance, but do not receive love or bonding with a mother figure. The child eventually dies. Likewise, if a church does not adapt to its cultural surroundings to be relevant to those whom she serves, she will die a slow death as well for lack of bonding with the community.

Kevin Ford lists five key indicators between an unhealthy and a healthy church that should be considered by a leader who desires to practice adaptive leadership. They include: Consumerism vs. Community; Incongruence vs. Code; Autocracy vs. Shared Leadership; Cloister vs. Missional; and Inertia vs. Reinvention. (Ford, loc. 175) Each indicator is a comparison of the negative cultural influence upon the church vs. the biblical need to counteract that influence. “The common thread running through all five dysfunctions is the overriding tendency to shift the focus from the biblical “we” to a cultural “me.” (Ford, loc.

190) There should be no surprise regarding Ford’s statement in

the current culture of I-Phones, I-Pads, and I-Watches that the current focus is on self; we have even dubbed this generation as the “Me Generation.” Ford’s emphasis is to encourage the church leader to be intentional in seeking to find connections between the church and its local community and not feed into the culture’s consumerism mentality by seeking to appease a selfish and spoiled generation through more and more programming, but to rather focus on their spiritual needs in small groups, service groups, and establish a “Third Place” within the church where members can meet up and feel apart of something larger than themselves. He encourages shared leadership with pastors and making sure that the leadership understands the basic Continued on Page 60

If church is to be relevant than we must be willing to do our part to make it relevant.

One of the problems we have as Christians is that we expect the church to awaken us, to get us excited about Jesus, and to motivate us to a new way of life.

-Tom Cheyney 53

Reinvention Sometimes life forces us to seemingly start all over again. We start the Christmas Fund again this year. Many of us make plans to start working out again. As Pastors, we start this week’s sermon again. Others start the diet again.

I start reading that book I want to finish again. I start taking a nap after the phone awakened me.

Some start to pray again after falling asleep. All of us start and stop things all throughout our day.

It just gets overwhelming…start, start, start! This summer, I went to see my doctor for a rash that had STARTED and was spreading on my body. I had been working out hard at our gym and it was like my body was freaking out. I was praying and concerned as things were getting worse. What happened next simply startled me.

As the nurse’s assistant was taking my blood pressure, her mannerisms changed as she checked the digital screen. Her demeanor changed to quiet and I could tell something was not good and I had a feeling it was my blood pressure. I asked her, what were my numbers and as she read them out loud, I remember saying that does not sound good. She shook her head and her now white face went out the door. I remember thinking, Oh brother, what now?

It just got worse…in walked the nurse and she discussed the rash and gave me a RX cream for it that I later found out was 54

by Greg Kappas not the right kind of medicine to use. Yep, the rash got worse and spread more on my skin, literally through much of my body. But, the nurse said something very wise and helpful, yet stunning.

Your blood pressure has gone way up and we cannot let you leave this building without checking it again and coming up with a solution. The machine STARTED again and the blood pressure was high the second time. The nurse looked at me and said we need to START you on some blood pressure medicine immediately. In fact, I am hesitant about even letting you out this door to pick up the prescription. There is something that I can give you that lowers it suddenly but the lowering can cause a crash that could be just as bad as or worse than the high numbers you have now.

I came in for a rash but was treated properly for something I did not even know I had. My blood pressure had never been high like this. The nurse got me started on a low dosage of Lisinopril that has drastically brought the blood pressure down and I am continuing some great workouts.

Several trips to a separate doctor (a Dermatologist) has gotten the rash healed up using a different cream, Ketoconazole 2%.

The point is, the Lord got my attention to secure treatment for a rash, but He was really bringing out a much more significant problem. The even greater matter that needed to be addressed was my blood pressure going up

and I did not even know it, but He did. People can have strokes or heart attacks with numbers sustained that I had just received.

So God graciously dealt with an issue that was desperately at hand.

Sometimes, the same is true in the pastorate. What we see on surface is not even the same as what is going on in the heart of the church. People are itching their bodies when actually tension is boiling in relationships.

Often the Lord sees things from another perspective than we do.

Reinvention calls for looking at things from a different angle.

It requires us to lay down past perceptions and START all over again. It may mean letting go of some or all of the base of your church… the defeated relationships (you know the ones that seek to hold you hostage through their giving or their influence) and beginning new relationships that will outgrow the old base.

Sometimes, you have to Replace the Carnal Coralle. Reinventing your church can come from simply seeing other leaders become healthy and not being stuck with or on those who wear you down or defeat you. The more healthy leaders you train then the less influence the Carnal Coralle can have. This is especially true with new members and new influencers in your church. Meet with them in small group settings and one to one or couple to couple.

Cast vision for Church Renewal and Health. Study the Word of

God together and how to apply the Word moment by moment.

Outgrowing the Carnal Coralle is time consuming, costly emotionally, spiritually, physically and financially but it will release more blessing from God and provide health from within the church and from without. If you have the calling to see your church renewed, then you must look at things with a FRESH START in mind.

You have prayed to the Lord and asked Him to blaze new trails for your ministry. You have sought Him and pleaded for Him to break through and bring individual and church revitalization.

You want people to respond to the Gospel and then get serious about their faith. Revitalization and humility go together. God may just be answering your prayers differently than you thought.

He may be acting now to give you victory over the Carnal Coralle. It just may look differently.

You may go to Him for one thing and come out with an answer that looked differently. Basically, that is a big part of Acts 10.

Peter went up at noon to pray…

God had honored the prayers of Cornelius and had spoken to Cornelius in Caesarea around 3 pm the day before. Peter’s answered prayers were not exactly what he anticipated. Yours may not be either.

Reinvention looks at things differently. How do we START all over again…or how do we start again, but yet use the God given resources of people, facilities,

funds and focus to make a difference for the King and His Kingdom. What does He intend to do through you and your congregation? You are not alone. You may be lonely at times, but you are not alone.

Reinvent through:

• Breaking the old mold • Looking at things differently • Expecting the Lord to do a New Thing • Accepting and Acting on Answered Prayer that is Different • Taking Risks • Replacing defeated thinking and trusting God • Developing relationships with New People • Giving Vision to both the New Leadership Base and Carnal Coralle • Seeing the Carnal Coralle outgrown to where they are a minimal voice • Letting the top non paid and paid leaders in your church know you will outlast them • Gaining more confidence in your own skin and leadership • Listening carefully to the Lord • Investing in new leaders and not being manipulated • Training existing leaders who are faithful to reproduce and multiply • Challenging other churches and executives to invest in the vision God has given you • Seeing things that God has said as reality • Being patient for God to unfold His vision and resources • Reading Biographies and Auto Biographies of great leaders who overcame

adversity • Watching videos such as We are Marshall, where hope was instilled when devastation reigned • Looking at pictures of Nepalese people who are reinventing and rebuilding after the earthquake • Studying great churches that have seen Turnaround churches • Telling your congregation the great things God is doing in your midst • Speaking words of God given faith as to where the Lord is taking your church • Sharing your faith and seeing new friends come to Jesus Christ

To REINVENT is to open your mind to new paradigms and to think out of the box. It is to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and lay aside all former traps and encumbrances. It is to live in the Word of God and live as He really is God. He is the Revitalizer.

Be on the alert, your irritant or rash in your ministry, just could be a minor issue compared to the deeper boiling threat that is at the heart of the matter. Go see the Doctor. He is called the Great Physician.

Greg Kappas is the President of the Grace Global Network and Vice President of TTI 55

3 Phrases of Refocus for the Revitalizing Church (continued)

have to be face the brutal facts of their current reality, bringing them to a point where together they would admit the need and urgency for change.

A pastor’s role as spiritual leader of the flock is to guide the church to refocus, helping God’s people to get a clear picture of their current reality. Leading the church in this process involves several steps of inward examination: (1) a study of God’s Word, (2) a look at the church’s history (3) an understanding of what stage the church is in its life-cycle, and (4) an assessment of the church and its community.

As their spiritual leader, Nehemiah helped the people see their current reality and along with that the urgency to change (check out Nehemiah 2:17-18).

After taking the step of refocusing inward, and gaining an accurate understanding of their current reality, the church is now ready to focus outward.

Phase 3: Go – Refocused Mission (Look Outward)

Following his resurrection, Jesus gathers his followers around him and he commands them to obey a mission, an outward-focused plan for sharing the Gospel message with the world. First, Jesus 56

By Darwin Meighan promised, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” The Jesus plan for fulfilling his mission calls for a supernatural power which comes from beyond ourselves. The mission is accomplished in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Second, Jesus said, “you will be my witnesses.” A witness is someone who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced; one who provides evidence. As witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ it is the responsibility of every Christ follower to tell others their God stories, their experiences with him and how he has transformed their lives.

Third, the Jesus plan helps us see the need to refocus on the scope of the mission: “and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The scope of the church’s mission is both near and far. Refocusing the mission of your church includes certain questions which must be answered: Where is your church’s Jerusalem? Where is your church’s Judea and Samaria? How will you reach the ends of the earth? What will it look like to refocus your church’s mission?

Concluding Thoughts

What is your church’s approach to doing the work God has called you to do? Perhaps you’ve been taking the Dizzy Lizzy approach:

Do you find that your church is running in circles? Or are you staggering around dazed by the culture and its influence? Or are you about down and about out? Wherever your church finds herself today, it’s never too late for God to turn things around. First, it’s time to refocus upward – pray to God. Second, it’s time to assess your current reality and you do that by looking inward.

Then finally, it’s time to refocus your mission. Be His witnesses. Go and make disciples. Refocusing is one of the seven key pillars of church revitalization.

Darwin Meighan is currently leading Light in the Desert Church in Mesa Arizona through the process and journey of becoming a revitalized church.

He also serves as a member of the state revitalization team in Arizona. He is called by God, and passionate about coming alongside in partnership with pastors of existing churches, for the purpose of seeing God revitalize and strengthen them for his mission and his glory.

He has received his undergraduate degree from Dallas Baptist University in Business Administration, a Master’s degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas in Religious Education, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, Kentucky in Leadership. You may reach Darwin at pastor@litdbaptist.org.

revitalizer

LIBRARY

The Nuts and Bolts of Church Revitalization.

The statistics of churches in need of revitalization are staggering.

Perhaps what is worse is not the number of churches that are in need of revitalization but the overwhelming majority of church leaders know their church needs to be revitalized but do not know where to begin. The Nuts an Bolts of Church Revitalization by Tom Cheyney and Terry Rials is where to begin.

The target audience for this book is the church revitalizer, the pastor and denominational leader who either 1) desires a theological and practical understanding of revitalization or 2) is stuck.

They see what needs to be done but do not know what to do. Cheyney and Rials express the heartbeat of Nuts and Bolts: The need for training today’s minister with the tools and skill set necessary to combat this rampant plateau and

Turnaround Pastor Don Ross, Turnaround Pastor: Pathways to Save, Revive and Build Your Church (Turnaround Coaching Network 2013) wants to share his story of the price tag he embraced to lead a turnaround church. Ross walks his reader through his own pain and success as a revitalizer. Detailing the process and principles that he personally applied towards his own turnaround church. Through a mixture of both personal narrative and leadership principles Ross provides the insight of a seasoned revitalizer. Sit across from the table with Ross and visualize better days

decline is crucial. Most ministers coming out of our seminaries today lack preparation for the challenge of church revitalization and renewal. If the estimates are accurate that, at a minimum, eighty percent or more of our churches are in need of revitalization then it stands to reason that the majority of our graduates from our seminaries are going to begin their ministries in the majority of these churches (11).

Nuts and Bolts clearly and concisely addresses the issues of revitalization of which many in pastoral leadership are unprepared for.

In the pages of Nuts and Bolts Cheyney and Rials provide both the biblical foundation for Church Revitalization as well as practical strategies to move towards revitalization. The revitalization leaders aim is to prepare the people of God to do the work of God. Writing, “Revitalization is the work leaders do to ensure that the conditions of God are met for revival and in order that the people of God are prepared when the Sovereign God begins to move” (57). Nuts and Bolts then serves as a handbook to have a biblical understanding and practical tools to aid in softening the heart of God’s people to receive what it is that God desires to accomplish for His namesake and glory.

The work is intermingled with both bib-

ahead for your church.

The turnaround pastor is called to be a visionary pastor. It is their privilege and responsibility to see better days for the church. Ross shares from his experience in being a turnaround leader, “Turnaround pastors are called to see a better day for the church they are leading. They must also be willing to endure the pain necessary to get the church there. The critical decisions to move a dying church forward toward health and mission are often painful and hard for those around them to see.

In fact, just getting a church to admit it’s dying may be the hardest thing of all”(294-296, Kindle).

Ross’s work is honest. A rare treat in a day when most only write of their successes. Ross was fired, sat out of

lical rational and practical steps necessary for Church Revitalization. Beginning with detailed explanation of “The Seven Pillars of Church Revitalization” the reader will begin to see that while yes the task of is hard and the statistics are overwhelming, revitalization is not impossible. The introductory material maps out the direction revitalization work needs to go while the following chapters highlight what God needs to do both in and through the revitalizer and the church they are called to serve.

Practical Steps range from prayer, spiritual disciplines, the demeanor and personal leadership style, how to go about building momentum and the every important principle of a1000 days commitment to begin to see revitalization (35) and the seven year stretch for effective revitalization ministry (65). The Nuts and Bolts of Church Revitalization clearly defines what Church Revitalization is and identifies where to begin.

Tom Cheyney is the Founder and Directional Leader of RENOVATE National Church Revitalization conference. Terry Rials has both lead revitalization efforts in his own church, association and consults with churches nationwide. These two men have a tremendous level of experience and expertise in Church Revitalization.

On the scale of good, excellent and must read Cheyney and Rials Nuts and Bolts is a must read. A must addition to the Revitalizers Library.

ministry for a season, after returning to the pastorate to embrace a troubled church in nine years he successfully grew the church from 600 to a solid 250 only to see that dwindle to another 175 before the church finally turned around. This read will not be thoughts or ideas that might make a difference. This is real, in the trenches, muddy, ugly and then glorious story of revitalization.

Be warned, you will read much regarding a coaching network and mentor that Ross was apart of during his turnaround experience. Revitalization and leadership networks can be extremely helpful in making the turn from decline to health. They may be exaclyt the tool the Lord will use

Book Reviews by Rob Hurtgen Continued on Pages 58

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to revitalize you and the church. The network Ross participated in was crucial for the work done in his church. Just know before you read that not only will you gain a tremendous insight only

afforded by a seasoned veteran who has “been there and done that” you will also read frequently about his coach and the network.

Reinvention & Re-engineering The fifth pillar of revitalization is called reinvention also known as re-engineering. This method is designed to address a changing community context. Often times, as a church and community ages, the church may not make the necessary changes to more adequately reflect the needed ministry of the respective community. This is where reinvention assists the church. The advice I mention to pastors and churches considering this method is to be ready for the church to look different when the process is over, then when going into it. Typically this looking different shows itself in three key areas: (1) leadership model, ie polity of the church, (2) ministry structure, ie programming for the church, and (3) demographic of the congregation. Prior to addressing each of these key areas, external assessments should be conducted which address these areas. A consultant should be engaged to audit the church in each of these areas and determine how the church presently functions. With this information, the consultant can then address specifically how the church should function in the future.

Leadership Model

This first key addresses polity within the church. Most churches are not structured to make immediate decisions, especially declining congregations. Much of the leadership of the

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past is now gone, and those remaining may be trying to hold on to the reigns a little too tight out of fear of losing control. In this area, members need to be reminded that the church belongs first to God. He has entrusted us to be stewards of the work, therefore our decisions reflect how He wants us to represent Him in our community. Selfish motivations and controlling mentalities do not serve the church. We are to be selfless and more concerned for others opinions than our own. With this said, the congregation is not present on a daily basis at the church office to make decisions. Therefore, the pastor and staff need to be empowered to function as decision makers for the church. Once a vote occurs in business meeting, the decision is made, so the staff can act upon that decision. No further conversation needs to be held on the issue.

Case Example:

While meeting with a church in Texas one Fall, I heard the recount of how the air conditioner had gone out during the week back in the Summer months. The church polity requires a two-week notice of a business meeting to be called. So, the leaders followed the by-laws for a called business meeting in order to vote on fixing/replacing the air conditioner. After listening to this story, I asked the question, “why?”. Why are you voting over fixing the air condi-

Overall on a scale of helpful, excellent and must read Ross’s work is an excellent addition to the Revitalizer’s Library.

by Kenneth Priest

tioner. Why are you having services in 100+ degree temperatures in the middle of the Summer. The church operational structure actually empowered the building and grounds committee to contact the finance committee and notify them that reserve funds, which were set aside for these types of circumstances, would need to be used. The finance committee, which does not need a vote from the congregation, simply asks for three bids from building and grounds, and then writes the check.

At no point does the church need to vote on these decisions, even if it is a several thousand dollar decision.

The outcome, any guest who visited this church during those three weeks, would not come back. This church felt they needed to vote on these things, even though structurally they were set up to not vote.

The previous case example is exactly the type of leadership model which has to change in the midst of a reinvention. The church family, has to accept, not every decision needs to come to business meetings. As a church moves through this reinvention process, any leadership model issues which need to be fixed, should be fixed. Coming out of the leadership assessment process, the consultant is able to address key shifts in how the church makes decisions and then responds to scenarios such as the previous

case example. This will best position the church for a rapid response in decision making. As a side note, you might be interested in my opinion on what the church should vote on in business meeting. (1) The annual budget. (2) Any financial obligation which would either (a) require a long term commitment to pay or (b) deplete the churches reserve funds significantly (you have to define significantly for your church’s unique context). (3) Voting to call, or rescind the call of the senior pastor.

Other decisions do not necessary, and by practice probably should not, come to business meetings.

Rather, staff and leadership teams/ committees should be empowered to make these decisions. The checks and balances of the financial secretary, church treasurer, and finance committee, is what maintains the integrity of the decisions from these groups.

Ministry Structure

Through the assessment process of the church programming, the consultant can assist the church in determining which ministries are no longer beneficial for the advancement of the gospel in this community and possibly what new ministries should be engaged. Every program in the life of the church should be placed on the table for consideration as to whether or not the church should continue.

Case Example:

A church in an impoverished community had declined significantly, but continued to pride itself on the

benevolence ministry because, after all Jesus said “what you have done for the least of these…,” therefore we need to have our benevolence ministry. The pastor contacted me for an assessment of the church and to report back. The driving force for the phone call was, the church was cutting the pastors salary, expected him to remain full time, but continued to pay out benevolence. By the time I conducted the assessment and reported, the church was even two months behind on its electric bill. My report to the church sounded something like this; “you must quit paying out through your benevolence ministry…YOU ARE now the benevolent. You have a pastor you cannot pay and you cannot afford to keep your lights on.” This conversation was not well received, but ultimately they followed my advice.

Where are they now? On a growing path and have once again started a benevolent ministry. Once they got their house in order, they were able to build back to these types of ministries.

Every ministry must be evaluated and assessed for effectiveness. Why have an Upward sports ministry or an AWANA ministry if the demographic around your church will not support this type of ministry?

Why launch a Spanish speaking Bible study, if there are no Spanish speaking peoples in your community? Whatever the ministry, evaluate based on your community context and then respond appropriately.

The two examples of the children’s ministries are the ones I see most

often…though not as I have them listed. Truthfully, much of the time, there are children in the community, however the church no longer provides ministry for the children as they say “we are too old.” I get this…a little. The aging congregation feels it can no longer meet the needs of children and therefore eliminates these ministries. The elimination of these and student ministries are definite church killers.

Congregational Demographic

I provided an example of this in the last paragraph as it does connect with program ministries. The simplicity of this key area is, your church should reflect the community where God has placed it. Many conversations I have, predominately with urban churches, is they would like to find ways to reach more people “like them.” Which is an unfortunate approach to wanting to grow your church. I understand, there is something to be said for homogeneous principles. However, the Bible calls us to reach the nations. This means whomever is in our realm of influence, and for the church, this refers to those who live within the light of the lighthouse. We must better reflect where God has placed the church. An Anglo church within a predominately diverse community, should transition to reflect the community. The assessment process can help determine what the church should look like. Then stepping back to key area two: ministry structure, a church can begin to offer ministry to the nations and thereby reflect the community.

Kenneth Priest serves as the Director of Convention Strategies for the Southern Baptists of

Texas Convention in Grapevine, TX. Kenneth has been leading revitalization endeavors since 2008 with the SBTC. He holds a Doctor of Educational Ministry degree with an emphasis in Church Revitalization from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, MO. Please contact Kenneth at kpriest@sbtexas.com.

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Church Revitalization and Realignment DNA of its organization so as not to eliminate what is good about the church in an effort to change the church; in other words try not to throw “the baby out with the bath water.” He places a strong emphasis on every member being a missionary instead of seeking only to send a few out into the world to evangelize; his point being that God has called us all to serve wherever we are placed, not just the career missionary. And finally he makes the point that truly healthy churches will be able to make changes over time to adapt to an ever changing world through effective strategic planning to keep them from inertia and eventual death.

This final point, I believe, is the most crucial in revitalizing any church ministry.

Aubrey Malphurs in his book, Advanced Strategic Planning: A 21st Century Model for Church and Ministry Leaders, states that strategic planning does make a difference in the church’s overall effectiveness. “Survey results show that 85% of churches which have grown off the plateau have reevaluated their programs and priorities during the past five years, as compared to 59% of churches which have remained on the plateau. Similarly, 40% of breakout churches have developed a long-range plan, as compared to only 18% of continued plateau churches.” (Malphurs,

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- Continued

loc. 419) He goes on to say that strategic planning helps churches answer three very important questions: Who are we? (Identity) Where are we going? (Direction) How will we get there?

(Malphurs, loc. 430) Malphurs is convinced that the key to longterm survival for any church in an ever-changing world is to engage in a strategic planning process with the leadership and members of a congregation.

The problem with many a pastor or church leader is that they just can’t believe that what once worked 10 years ago, is no longer working today. I will never forget sitting on a bench with my husband’s uncle, Dwight Swanson, who had retired as the former CEO for Iowa Power and Electric, and in his retirement went on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ under Bill Bright. We were visiting a very prestigious retirement community and observing the well manicured lawns, beautiful landscaping, as well as the bustling activities of a craft fair in the center of “town.” Out of the blue, he leans over and says to me “Estelle, just remember, everything comes to an end. Change is inevitable.” My own father used to say, “All good things must come to an end.” Christian psychologist and author, Dr. Henry Cloud, even wrote a book entitled, “Necessary Endings.” The point being that no matter how good the past was,

it is not the present, nor will it be the future.

Adaptive leadership values the past and brings forward the good, while discarding old routines and programs that no longer resonate with the current generation; all the while creating/ reinventing new ways of doing ministry. Malphurs brings to light the fact that the church is not exempt from following the same growth and development patterns as that of any other organization as seen in the Sigmoid Curve. “The S-Curve depicts how virtually everything in life begins, grows, plateaus, and then ultimately dies.” (Malphurs, loc. 150) This is true of all relationships and businesses and even nations.

Malphurs relates it to the church: “Like people, churches have a life cycle. In general, a church is born and over time it grows. Eventually it reaches a plateau, and if nothing is done to move it off that plateau, it begins to decline.

If nothing interrupts the decline, it will die. Each stage represents a growth challenge for the church.

Growing, plateaued, and declining churches all face growth challenges.” (Malphurs, loc. 150) Bottom line, the moral of the S-Curve is that all good things do come to end. But the good news is that there are new beginnings right around the corner. “The answer to the problem of church

Questions Church Revitalizers Must Ask! Here are a few questions every church revitalizer must be asked as they consider turning around a church.

decline is to start new S-curves.

This necessitates a strategic planning process.” (Malphurs, loc. 261) Kevin Ford stated, “Most contemporary church strategy is focused on achieving success.

There is nothing inherently wrong with that. But the goal is to be a transforming church- to aid in transforming people to the image of Christ- and this requires congregational health.” (Ford, loc. 376) The goal in developing a new strategic plan is to be a transforming church. Churches who commit to going through this process will insure the overall health of their church in the years to come. As the church remains focused on revitalization and realignment, keeping their focus on reaching the lost and making disciples, they will move forward.

The result will be “success” in the eyes of God, whatever that may look like on this earth.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Branson, Mark Lau. Memories, Hopes, and Conversations: Appreciative Inquiry and Congregational Change. Herndon, VA: The Alban Institute, 2004. Web. Ford, Kevin G. Transforming Church: Bringing Out the Good to Get to Great.

Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2008. Web. Gruder, Darrell L.,ed. Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. Grand Rapids: William B Eerdmans, 1998. Web. Heifetz, Ronald. Grashow, Alexander.

Linsky, Marty. The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World.

Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2009. Web. Malphurs, Aubrey. Advanced Strategic Planning: A New Model for Church and Ministry Leaders (2nd edition). Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005. Web.d

* Do I have a personal quiet time? * Do my spouse and I pray together? * Are we involved as a family in prayer? * To whom am I accountable for my quiet time?

Every church revitalization effort requires an intercessory prayer team to be developed and to lift up the work of revitalization. What makes a good type of individual to serve on such an intercessory prayer team?

Here are a few ideas: *They have a passion for the lost and church planting. *They have demonstrated an interest in your life and ministry. *They are people who are faithful in their prayer commitments. *They know how to keep confidences.

If you are thinking about developing such a team here is my quick list of essentials for enlisting your prayer warriors which will bath the work of revitalization in prayer:

“ Go, therefore and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.

And lo, I am with you always, even unto the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20, KJV) Jesus

Estelle Myers is the wife of Rob Myers, Pastor of Miami Baptist Church.

1.Develop an invitational piece.

2.Include a covenant agreement.

3.Develop an ongoing communication plan.

4.Develop a praying church 5.Whatever you want at the end, build in at the beginning.

6.Make prayer more than bookends.

7.Teach prayer.

8.Develop some specific prayer ministry(ies).

9.Use the seasons of prayer for world missions.

-Tom Cheyney

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Hearing the Voice of God Much has been written about the importance of vision, and rightly so. Without vision, one wanders around in darkness. That is why leaders, in an attempt to reinforce the power of vision frequently point to the Apostle Paul. In fact, mention “the Damascus road” (Acts 9:3) and every bible student and scholar knows you are speaking of the call and conversion of Saul of Tarsus. However, not every conversion or vision moment is accompanied by flashing lights and a voice from heaven. This does not negate or minimize the process God uses to get our attention. Consider the Ethiopian official. From his perspective, Philip just happened to be in the right place and the right time to open the Scriptures to him so that he would know how to be saved. No flashing lights, no heavenly voice. Nothing like the light from heaven and voice from above that Saul heard.

There are several conversion accounts in Acts that are equally without flash or fanfare. For example, Lydia and her household believed after hearing Luke and Paul speak to a gathering of women (Acts 17:13-15). Crispus, a leader of the synagogue in Corinth, believed on the Lord, along with his family, after hearing Paul preach Jesus is the Messiah (Acts 18:5-8). Hopefully these conversation accounts remind us that never every encounter with God is accompanied by flash and fanfare.

Why are some encounters more dramatic than others? The best response is to admit we do not fully know the answer, although the context does seem to impact the approach used by God to bring a bring about His will. For example, the Philippian jailer asked before his conversation, “Why must I do to be saved.” Like many, the response did not require the aforementioned flash and fanfare, only an 62

by Rodney Harrison

answer, which was sufficient for him and his household to come to faith. Saul, at the time of his conversion, was “breathing out murderous threats against the disciples.” (v. 1) God used the sight and sounds to not only get Saul’s attention but to validate His work in Saul among his companions. Later, in his testimony to the crowd in Jerusalem, Paul recounts how Ananias told him, “The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, to see the Righteous One and to hear the sound of His voice.” (Acts 22:14). For reasons known only to God, Saul was able to hear the voice from heaven because God wanted him to hear. Paul’s conversation on the Damascus road should not be understood as normative, but as a divine act of God used to prevent many Christians from arrest and martyrdom, and bring Saul to a point of repentance and conversation. Later when God gave Paul a vision to go to Macedonia, (Acts 16:9-10), no lights appeared. No sound came from heaven. Only a vision to take the Good News to those who had not heard.

At the end of the day, what is important is not “how” God speaks, but that you attend to what He says.

Rodney Harrison - Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness, Dean of Online Education, Director of Doctoral Studies, Associate Professor of Christian Education at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Rodney served in a fruitful ministry in church planting and mission service in California, the Dakotas and Minnesota.

Prior to coming to Midwestern, he served as the New Church Extension Associate for the California Southern Baptist Convention. Harrison is the author of two books on church planting and has written material for LifeWay Christian Resources and the North American Mission Board.

Rodney has written numerous articles on Church Revitalization and Renewal.

Innovation or Renovation?

What we need in our churches today is not simply renovation of the old but innovation of something completely new. The whole ministry philosophy and ministry stricture has to be completely reshaped for the church to survive in the future!

Churches rarely renew or revitalize themselves in significant ways unless they come to a point in time where the pain of supporting the status quo is greater than the pain of making changes and then they almost never voluntarily shift to an entirely new pattern for the present culture in which they are ministering!

CHURCH Revitalization Conferences February e Criswell College

September q Northeast Houston Baptist Church

Cost: $20

Time: 9am-4pm

This conference is open for pastors, associational leaders, and church leaders alike. This will be a day of intense conversations centered around strategic topics relating toward revitalization of the local church. If you are uncertain if your church is in need of revitalization, believe you are in need of revitalization, or simply interested in hearing more, then you are invited to join the conversation.

Speakers: Ted Elmore

Pastor/Church Relations Assocociate SBTC Praying for Revitalization

Nathan Lorick

Director Evangelism SBTC Revitalization & Evangelism

Alan Stoddard

Senior Pastor, FBC Ruidoso, NM Preaching for Revitalization

Craig Etheredge

Jim Henry

Senior Pastor, FBC Colleyville Revitalization & Discipleship

Pastor Emeritus First Baptist, Orlando Florida Encouragement for the Revitalization Pastor

Randal Lyle

Kenneth Priest

Senior Pastor, Meadowridge Church Ft. Worth Revitalization & Multicultural Ministry

Director Convention Strategies SBTC Introduction to Church Revitalization

Terry Turner

Senior Pastor, Mesquite Friendship BC Revitalization & the African American Church

Register: sbtexas.com/revitalization 63

RENOVATE National Church Revitalization Conference

Speakers Include Bob Whitsel Tom Cheyney Michael Atherton Ed Stetzer Paul Borden Ron Smith Bruce Raley Terry Rials Paul Smith

November 2-4, 2015 Orlando, FL

RenovateConference.org Aloma Church

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40

5

5

5

1000+

Church Revitalization Workshops

National Church Revitalization Speakers

Breakout Session Opportunities

Main Sessions by Revitalization Practitioners

Pre-Conference Intensive Subjects

Fellow Church Revitalizers Working Together

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