TEXAS BAPTISTS
CHURCH RESTARTING AND REVITALIZATION
Helping you
RE-IMAGINE your church’s future Church Restarting Team
Tom Howe Director Church Starting
Gloria Tillman Ministry Assistant Church Starting
Brittany Tovar Ministry Assistant Church Starting
Church Revitalization Team
Jonathan Smith Director Church Health Strategy
Bobby Hicks Jr. Church Health Strategy Specialist Church Health Strategy
Libby Shorman Ministry Assistant Church Health Strategy
RESTART
Texas Baptists Church Restarting process is designed to provide consulting, coaching, strategic planning and resources to Texas Baptists churches as they embrace God’s plan for their future.
What qualifies for revitalization? A church in need of revitalization has likely been plateaued or declining in attendance for five or more years. The climate of the church has become more institutional than missional. The church must be willing to recognize its current state, set aside outdated and ineffective practices of the past and step into the perpetual newness of the gospel as it returns to the Great Commission and Great Commandment.
What qualifies as a restart? To qualify as a restart, churches must be willing to change three of the following five things:
1 Leadership 2 Name 3 Location 4 Target Group 5 Strategy to Reach
New Target Group
REVITALIZATION The process by which a church becomes internally healthier over time. Church revitalization is a church returning to discipleship, evangelism, missions and church planting.
WHY? • • • •
Hope Maintain Kingdom footprint Honor church’s legacy Reach the next generation of Texans
In America, 80-90% of churches are declining in attendance and in spiritual vitality. Often, churches in this condition are holding on to old programs, ministries and events that have lost their evangelistic impact. Church revitalization and church restarting focus on the rebirth of the church. Desiring to give hope to the fledgling church, both processes focus on creating new initiatives that help the church make disciples, engage with their community in fresh and relevant ways, and take the gospel to the nations.
Restart •
Does not have enough power, energy, money, resources or creativity to help themselves
•
Dependent on others to fix their problem
•
Inadequate systems or structures in place
•
Has little to no leadership, vision or strategy
•
Lost hope and optimism; desire to thrive is giving way to despair
•
There is no current demonstration of reaching their immediate community
Revitalization •
Has enough power, energy, money, resources and creativity to help themselves
•
Has effective enough systems and structures in place to be useful, even if it needs to be modified
•
There is still some leadership that can rally others or is willing to learn and adapt
•
Has the desire, hope and optimism to thrive again
•
A willingness to reach their immediate community
HOW? Restart 1
Assessment of the church
2
Assessment of the pastor
3
Development of next steps
An analysis that gathers information from the core membership of the replanting church is run on how the church perceives their church and its context in the community.
This analysis is designed to discover how the replanting pastor is wired, gifted and equipped.
The church starting strategist will take the leadership of the replanting church through a process to develop a new vision for their church, clearly stated values of the church, and three-year goals with a three-month plan to move the church toward their three-year goals in order to create a replanting strategy for the church.
Revitalization 1
Prepare the pastor
2
Assess the church
3
Build a health and growth team
4
Live in the power of the Holy Spirit
Assess and prepare the pastor for church revitalization. This process includes self evaluations and a professional counselor preparing the pastor to lead revitalization.
Assess the church and its problems through an Annual Church Profile (ACP), a church life cycle analysis, and a church health survey. Simultaneously, assess the gospel needs of the community using a demographic report and a careful exegesis of the community.
Build a church health and growth team. Develop a new direction for the church to be outward focused and align the ministries of the church around the new direction.
Live the new direction of the church by the power of the Holy Spirit and maintain a vision-driven structure.
Resources Church Starting
Tom Howe Director Church Starting 214.828.5278 tom.howe@txb.org
PAVE
Jonathan Smith Director Church Health Strategy 214.828.5315 jonathan.smith@txb.org
Center for Missional Engagement Church Starting & Replanting
Center for Church Health Church Health Strategy