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Today’s question and surrounding discussion is one we hear and take part in often. Maybe your warning signs come from family. Maybe it is due to your health. But possibly it is internal conflict outside of your control. Thom and Kevin discuss how to recognize when you have reached a line in the sand and walk away from a revitalization effort.
Reasons it may be time to walk away:
- When your family can’t take it anymore.
- When your health is at risk.
- When the power players are entrenched.
- When the church needs a bivo pastor, but you do not have bivo call.
- When it’s been too long trying.
Resources mentioned in today’s podcast:
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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.
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I just finished a five-year pastorate at a church that was struggling before I arrived with less than 20 on a good Sunday. We had some growth from time to time, but it was difficult keeping the “new blood” motivated when the “old blood” was limited in their efforts. Luckily, the older members were (for the most part) willing to go along with just about anything.
Last week, with about $400 in the general fund (not enough to pay both the utilities and me (their worship leader, pastor, Sunday School teacher and custodian) the 6 members present voted unanimously to close.
Next Sunday, March 23: is our last day to worship together. We’ll pay our bills and I’ll move on and pray for another pastorate soon. In the meantime, I rest on the unchanging hand of the One who will take care of me and pray I can land some extra writing jobs to get us down the road until He open the next door.
Brother, my heart breaks for you. I live in Colorado. I have a vision to one day have a home in Colorado where pastors can come and live rent and expense free for a few months, maybe 6, and be loved, and can regenerate, maybe take a couple of online seminary classes, be encouraged by a local church, and seek God.
Do you think something like that would be helpful to pastors who are leaving pastorates and can afford the time away from wherever they have been living?
Have we ever thought about pastors going through PTSD? That’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There are 3 stressors that military personnel have that brings on PTSD that are common to what pastors are facing every day. That are: family, finances, and war. We are constantly at war with Satan who attacks us through our family, and our finances.
Having a group around us , like a peer group, would be helpful during a stressful time.