Dealing with the Regret of Successful Revitalization – Revitalize & Replant #074
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When revitalization takes place in a church, a church changes. Those changes create pain points in the church and sometimes people want to go back. Today, we explore this and discuss how to combat it and move forward.
This Week’s Question:
FROM TERRY — I have pastored my church for 8 yrs. When I took the church the congregation acknowledged its need for revitalization having only 6 attending members. We now have between 25 and 40 depending on time of year. Some now regret the revitalization and want to scale back services by cancelling one or both evening services a week. Their reason is the workload is too much but they reject any offer of assistance. Any suggestions?
Episode Highlights:
As churches grow, sometimes they need to remove things from the schedule rather than adding them to keep the focus on reaching others with the gospel.
When it comes to paring down programs in churches, choose to keep the ones that are truly making disciples.
A church mission statement should be actionable and inspirational.
Church membership classes need to focus on information, expectations, and assimilation.
The six keys that we cover are:
Evaluate the “why” behind their attitudes
Evaluate the “why” behind your current schedule
See if your have a true and clear process of discipleship
Conduct a church health survey
Review your new members’ class
Conduct a ministry survey
Resources mentioned in this episode include:
ChurchAnswers.com
Simple Church
Church Health Report
RevitalizeBundle.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.
