Revitalize & Replant is a weekly discussion on church revitalization and replanting featuring Thom Rainer, Jonathan Howe, and Mark Clifton. Revitalize & Replant with Thom Rainer is presented by the North American Mission Board.
Do you have a question about church revitalization or replanting for us to use on the podcast? Visit the podcast page to submit your question. If we use it on the show, you’ll get a copy of Autopsy of a Deceased Church and Reclaiming Glory.
Revitalize & Replant launches Thursday, October 5, 2017.
SUBSCRIBE TODAY: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio • Google Play
Revitalize & Replant is sponsored by the North American Mission Board and ChurchReplanters.com. More than 10% of churches in North America are at risk of closing and the North American Mission Board is committed to reversing this trend by decreasing the death rate of existing churches while simultaneously increasing the birth rate of new churches. To learn more about what it means to become a replanting pastor or to explore resources for replanting and revitalization in your own church, visit ChurchReplanters.com.
The one disagreement for you; a church which has 3 years of viability can be revitalized. Most experts, look to Renovate National Revitalization Conference, for numbers on this, say it takes 1,000 Days to turn a church around. Technically that is just under 3 years. We have seen this to be true in our work as well.
Churches with less than 3 years of viability are the ones which are in crisis mode, and might need to be replanted, though some of them have been revitalized.
Thanks, Kenneth.
Thank you and the North American Mission Board for offering this series. It is much needed. We look forward to future podcasts.
Thanks, Richard. We are excited to be offering it!
Thank you for doing this. I am at a loss. We have a visitation ministry, we reach out to the school, we have a major children’s and youth evangelism program, we do a block party, and my people (to my pleasant surprise) do invite people to church. We have tried adding a Sunday school class, which helped, but the. In short order it’s membership dwindled and it combined with another class. Yet we are not growing. I do see some hopeful signs. But I am at a loss. Not sure what to do next other than pray. And we have really begun to emphasize that. We were growing, but we tore down our old building and have begun to worship in our multi purpose building. Our attendance dropped substantially after the demo. Still trying to break ground on new building. Frustrating process.
Keep more of a focus on preaching and teaching the word of God to the folks you have and less focus on the folks you don’t have.
I hope we will be a resource to help your church, Dan.
Hi Dan, you may want to think about a once a month lunch with the other pastors in your city. It’s worth the cost of a ham sandwich when you hear “this was the blindspot and turning point for us..” Or you may be surprised to learn how well you’re doing. In terms of a new building, people are attached to the memories they had in them, sometimes incorporating the old steeple or the original stained glass etc in the new facility makes it easier on the people with more memories in the last building.
Great! But what if you do not have a pod?
It’s stunning to realize that the oldest Millennials are turning 40 this year! Isn’t the key to church revitalization to, as Paul wrote, “become all things to all men?” In other words, how do we learn to speak to unchurched “Nones” (most of whom are Millennials and Gen Z) in their postmodern language, but do so while remaining true to God’s Word?
There is a hungry world out there. More than ever, they need to hear the good news about Jesus. We need to share the good news.
This is a timely resource since many churches (and pastors) are wrestling with this in the midst of a post-Christian culture. Revitalization is not a short-term process with any silver bullets. I’ve benefited from the work of Gary Macintosh and my small denomination, the Evangelical Covenant, has developed some helpful stuff around this that’s created new categories in what we call “congregational vitality” (http://www.covchurch.org/vitality/). Good stuff, Thom. Thanks for serving the broader church in this helpful way…
Is it necessary when trying to revitalize a church to send a message to the community by closing the doors completely and then re-opening at a later time.
Also, how do we determine what it is that is causing people to not return to our church for a second time?