Reviving the Church

Bringing a Nashville Church Back to Spiritual Vibrancy

Nik Lingle, 2015 MDiv in Christian Ministry

Senior Pastor, Westwood Baptist Church, Nashville, TN

In West Nashville, Tennessee sits Westwood Baptist Church, a congregation of about 30 members. Nestled within a changing neighborhood of upscale housing and wealthy, young professionals, this part of the city is a physical manifestation of a spiritual reality. Tearing down the old brings with it an opportunity to breathe new life back into the city.

This is the picture that comes to Southeastern graduate Nik Lingle as he’s seeking to revitalize Westwood, where he began pastoring in August 2020. The difficulty of church revitalization during a pandemic is not lost on Lingle either. His biggest concern for his church during his first few months is discipleship. In his estimation, it is far more important for his congregation to have biblical literacy and a clear understanding of the gospel before they seek to evangelize the community.

Discipleship happens within the church, but Lingle is also seeking to meet people one-on-one in their homes. In these conversations, he wants to hear from those in the community, asking them about the decline of the church and why that seems to be happening. The difficulty is helping people within the church see that the problem isn’t “out there” but within the congregation itself.

In his first few months pastoring Westwood, Lingle isn’t after growing a large gathering but deepening discipleship at Westwood. One way this is happening is through Wednesday night Bible studies. At the beginning of each Bible study, Lingle asks a different person in the congregation to share their testimony. This helps challenge each member to articulate the gospel, and it helps Lingle better discern where they are at in their faith. The question he’s seeking to answer is, “Can they articulate their faith clearly, and explain how it is changing their life?” Lingle is also seeking to deepen discipleship through the messages he preaches each week, messages that promote a passion for the Lord that leads to a love for the lost. “The vision we’re after is that Westwood would be a healthy church and that they would be faithful followers of Jesus,” said Lingle.

Nik Lingle and Family

West Nashville is where old and new collide. The area is filled with history as well as up and coming businesses that offer entertainment for tourists and locals alike. Lingle sees how the church needs to create new patterns for engaging the twenty and thirty-somethings living in this part of town. “I want our congregation to think through their own faith carefully before they go out to engage someone who’s half their age and has a very different set of cultural assumptions and sensibilities,” said Lingle.

Bringing a church back to spiritual vibrancy is far greater than any one man. It takes dependence on God to work through faithful obedience. And it takes dependence on other believers to encourage and help along the way. That’s why Lingle has been grateful for the community he has found among other men who are pastoring new or dying churches in Nashville.

These pastors, who represent nearly 25 churches, meet monthly to discuss what it looks like to build healthy churches in their city. The support and relatability of the group has been an encouragement for Lingle in a difficult time of transition for him and his family. The Lord’s call to move to Nashville didn’t come without sacrifice.

“It’s like fasting, you know. We’ve set aside good and legitimate things for a time for a greater purpose. God willing, we’ll have a feast again at some point in the future. But right now, it’s fasting, not feasting.”

I want our congregation to think through their own faith carefully before they go out to engage someone who’s half their age and has a very different set of cultural assumptions and sensibilities.

Before moving to Nashville, Lingle spent nine years as an associate pastor at Christ Covenant Church in Raleigh. In 2011, when he began pastoring at Christ Covenant, Lingle also began his MDiv at Southeastern. Looking back six years later after graduating in 2015, Lingle is thankful for the time spent building a theological foundation so he could better serve the Church and fulfill the Great Commission. Classes where he learned hermeneutics, biblical exposition, and ministry formation provided a foundational grounding in his pastoral ministry today at Westwood.

“It’s the kind of reputable established seminary you’d be happy to say you went to [and] at a price that’s doable,” said Lingle. “The donors make that possible, so I’m really grateful for that.”

From a pastoral perspective, Lingle also had the opportunity to teach and mentor students at Southeastern who took classes through internships at Christ Covenant. This was made possible through Southeastern’s EQUIP program, which allows students to receive seminary credit through ministry in the local church. “I love the EQUIP program and that idea of the partnership between the church and the seminary to train men and women for future ministry,” said Lingle. “That ended up being a big point of formation for me as well to mentor and help teach those classes.”

Lingle is now using those formative years as a student, pastor and mentor to love and serve the congregation of Westwood Baptist Church. While the work of revitalization will take much time and patience, seeking to bring new life in Christ through death is what the gospel is all about.

This is Nik Lingle’s Great Commission story, serving the church no matter the cost. Because Christ is worth it.