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Sometimes a wholesale revitalization isn’t what’s needed in a church. More often than not, small changes can make a big difference. Today, we discuss eight of those times.
Episode Highlights:
- It’s entirely possible for a church to be growing numerically yet still be in dire need of revitalization.
- Apathy is dangerous for a pastor or church staff member.
- One of the biggest dangers for pastors is ignoring conflict and not addressing it.
- The size and impact of your ministry footprint is more important than the numbers in the pews.
The eight times we discuss are:
- Almost every year
- When attendance stagnates or declines
- When leaders become apathetic
- When conflicts increase
- When the community is neglected
- When the facilities are neglected
- When the welcome team/greeters gather in holy huddles
- When there are few conversions
Resources mentioned in this episode include:
- ChurchAnswers.com
- ChurchReplanters.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.
Thom,
I’m in my 14th year of ministry at Fall Creek. With Dr. Greear’s call to “Who’s Your One”, my staff and I sat down and considered how we could make some strategic changes to step into his challenge. Probably the best word to describe our church over the last 7 years is “stable.” We don’t set the world on fire, but there has been incremental growth for several years now. However, we looked at each other and realized, we needed a “reset.” We took advantage of the “Who’s Your One?” campaign and planned our 2019 calendar to shake things up and aim at 3 “Friend Days” this year and strategically gearing our church to aim our efforts towards those days by identifying, praying for, building relationships with, and inviting our prospects to those days. Through June we’ve had 11 professions of faith and 10 baptisms. I believe intentionality has greatly helped us. Our next Friend Day is scheduled for August 4 (90% of our schools will already be in session). The summer schedule has been aiming everything at this next big day. We’re already seeing fruit from our efforts. A modest revitalization is a valuable tool for our SBC churches.
I love it! We’ve had a resource for a few years called Invite Your One. http://www.InviteYourOne.com
A question comes to mind as you mentioned the pastor’s ministry footprint. In some churches until a visitor sees a man stand up preach they wouldn’t know who the pastor was at other churches a pastor is seen doing everything, greets the people, reads the announcements, leads the singing, does most of the prayers & of course preaches. My question is at Worship Service & maybe the rest of the week can a pastor have a footprint that might be too big? Can some pastors have one too small?