If Thom Rainer is correct (and I believe he is), 85% of churches are in need of some form of subtle or radical revitalization. The good news is that a church can be revitalized to the point of growing and thriving once again. We have experienced it here at Christ Community Church, and it is happening in many other churches across our Fellowship.
Revitalization starts with the pastor. As leaders, we have to be willing to do the hard work that comes with revitalization. We must be willing to change, to grow, and to learn. Many churches stop growing because the leader has stopped growing. There are several questions we must ask ourselves. What am I reading or listening to that will help me learn or grow? Who do I have speaking into my life? Who is coaching me and holding me accountable? Am I in tune with the Holy Spirit?
As pastors, we also have to be willing to endure the pain that comes with change. Samuel Chand, in his book Leadership Pain says, “You’ll grow only to the threshold of your pain.” Revitalization requires making hard decisions. Those decisions may make people upset and even cause some to leave. Are you willing to endure the pain of losing some to reach many? The pastor has to be ready for the changes revitalization is going to take before the church can be ready.
As you work through the process of revitalization, and your church grows, you will face barriers to that growth. Some are natural barriers we face as we grow as leaders. Some barriers are self-made.
As I look back over the last seven years at our church, I believe some key areas helped us revitalize our church and overcome typical barriers to church growth.
We empowered younger leaders. Dying and struggling churches typically lack young people in the church. They want to see young people in the church again, but they don’t know how to reach them. How do you get young people? You let them lead. I have a young staff on purpose. The average age of our church staff is 26 years-old. They bring energy and perspective I do not have. We have youth leading in our Kids Team, on our Host Team and on the Worship Team. They are serving, but they are also learning to lead. Will they make mistakes? Yes, but that is how they learn. What better place to learn than right next to other godly leaders in the church? If we are going to revitalize our churches, we need young people. I have also found that if you reach the young, you will typically also gain the older.
We got smaller as we got bigger. As the church grew, it became impossible for me to be there for every need in the church. But I did not have to be. We set up a system of care for our people within the structure of our small groups. As much as I would like to think my preaching keeps people at our church, it doesn’t. And it’s not our music or our kids ministry either. It is the relationships people build in our small groups. These relationships are the glue that keep people connected to the church regardless of the church’s size. These groups love and care for one another and provide what a pastor cannot do for everyone.
We got people connected to ministry. In America, attendance for the average church member is now only 1.7 times per month. Carey Nieuwhof says, “In the future, church attendance won’t drive engagement; engagement will drive attendance.” We spend a lot of time attracting people to church, but we could see more fruit if we spent some of that time engaging people to the ministry. People need to serve. They need to feel needed. They need to invest in others through the ministry of the church. Churches that are not engaging people very quickly become insider-focused churches that lose sight of the mission to reach out to the lost community around them.
Constant evaluation helps lead to growth as well. Dying and unhealthy churches have a tendency to do the same things over and over. Not because something works, but because they always have done it. Take time to evaluate the ministries in your church. What is working well? Make it better. What has not worked in a long time? Kill it. After every event, we take time to evaluate it – what was good, what was bad, what was missing, and whether it was worth it.
Evaluation is not always about the results of an event or ministry. Evaluating the processes involved is just as important. Did you do everything you could for it to be successful? God gives the fruit and He is responsible for the results, but did we do our part? Did we set things up for a win?
The pastor has to have a vision for the revitalization and growth of the church. Get alone with God and beg Him to give you a vision for the future. Ask God to give you passion, boldness, courage, and faith to move forward and lead your church to revitalization, growth, and good health.
