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Trying to lead from the second chair is often frustrating, but can often be rewarding as well. Today we look at that through the lens of revitalization.
Today’s Listener Question:
FROM CALEB
What are ways an Associate Pastor can help initiate a revitalization when the Senior Pastor (past retirement and not interested in retiring) isn’t very interested in engaging the community and is more focused on Inreach and doing the same things they did in the 60s.
Episode Highlights:
- Many pastors don’t feel the need to retire, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be better for some to move into another phase of ministry.
- There are no silver bullets in church revitalization.
- If you want to have a stronger relationship with your boss, you need to spend time with them.
- If you’re a pastor approaching retirement age, please don’t coast.
- The ministry area you supervise should be led in congruence with the vision of the church.
The six considerations for leading revitalization from the second chair are:
- It ain’t easy
- Will the pastor listen to you?
- Have you developed a strong relationship with the pastor?
- Have you demonstrated loyalty to the pastor?
- Are there areas you can lead in revitalization without threatening the pastor?
- If it doesn’t work, you may have to be the one to leave
Resources mentioned in this episode include:
- No Silver Bullets
- ChurchReplanters.com
- ChurchAnswers.com
- Replanter Assessment
- Find more resources at the Revitalize & Replant page at ThomRainer.com
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.Submit Your Question:
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.
My questions:
1) When did “inreach” become bad? I thought we were supposed to make disciples and to grow the saints to do the work of the ministry. How do you do that without “inreach”?
2) Why can’t you reach out on your own time, or in your own ministry?
3)Are you sure the pastor is stuck in the 60’s. It might be the nineties and you just don’t know it! 😉
4)Why does “revitalization” all too often look like “get out of my way, stop doing it your way, and do it my way now. Millennials are the only thing that matters. Didn’t you get the memo?”
5) Revitalization also often seems like “I won’t sing your music, but you have to sing mine”. Curious isn’t it?
I’m of the same opinion. I’ve heard it said that “the church exists for those on the outside,” but I don’t see that as the primary emphasis in scripture. We’re in church to worship, to learn, to fellowship, and to help one another first. My thought is that when we do that effectively, we have a healthy body that is more prepared to do evangelism and help outsiders. If we neglect the “inreach,” we’ll end up with a starved body that isn’t capable of doing anything.
“They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” – Acts 2:46a-47
Inreach became bad when it was viewed as an end in itself. When that is the focus of the church, the church is in trouble. For all of the scriptures that have been quoted, it seems the one that is glaringly missing seems to be the Great Commission. And, everything that we do for each other as a church must be focused seeking the lost (i.e. outreach) and spreading the gospel. When you attempt to divorce the inreach from the outreach, you violate everything that the Bible tells us about the church.
Take a look at Matthew 28:18-20:
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
You cannot obey this command with inreach. You can use inreach to prepare disciples to fulfill this command. But, if the church is not engaging in outreach as a church, it is not a church. It is a social club. And, the inreach that it is doing is both ineffective and unscriptural.
So grateful for this digital resource. Love it when you invite guests to the podcasts who are deep in the Revitalize & Replant trenches. Their insights, the mud on their boots and open wounds does wonders for those new recruits fighting their way through replants for the first time.