Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Tom Cheyney
Read between
June 29 - July 17, 2022
the biggest loss is when your church has not done anything to bring about renewal and eventually it is given away to a church planter which is stranger because the membership and leadership within the church waited too long to act.
the clock is ticking and the key decisions you make in your initial one hundred and twenty days is imperative. While you have some time on your side might I encourage you to begin day one displaying to your lay church leaders that you are there to lead them out of their demise and towards a better future. You are there to make a difference and if you do not see yourself up to the task then you should begin developing your exit plan.
What you do during the opening one hundred and twenty days of your revitalization efforts can either position you for success of jeopardize your leadership which will ultimately lead to failure.
the church revitalizer need some early wins in order for the majority of the church to follow your leadership.
These principles have been utilized by so many churches, which actually wanted to do nothing, or to decline rather than getting back to the work of growing into a healthy renewed and vibrant church once more. Let’s take a look:
groups of individuals actually have a vision of their own and seek to make you fit into their former ideal of a perfect church.
Renewing Churches that are just beginning to emerge from plateau or decline need to have such a desire to reach new people for the cause of Christ that excellence is developed as you go and the degree of excellence during the relaunch period will not be the final degree of excellence once your church gets growing again and more volunteers can contribute to the effort.
Listen to the seasoned church planter when he tells you “gather, gather, and more gathering” is the best expenditure of one’s time during the beginning days of a revitalization effort. If you are not able to develop a team of gatherers alongside of you, it will be hard to make the impact that is needed initially.
Gathering is essential in church renewal. If you as the church revitalizer spend all of your time trying to develop materials that are the equivalent of a larger church nearby, you are wasting valuable time that could be used for developing relationships with those who need Christ. Great resources and nice curriculum come later!
Many dying churches are frequented by guests looking for a place to worship only to discover that the church is not open to new people. I
All of us at one time or another has failed to invite an individual to church. I have worked with many a church needing revitalization that were unable to invite prospects in and become part of the family of God. When a church Revitalizer does this on a regular basis it is a quick road map towards failure. Inviting and tell people about your new story of renewal and the exciting things that are happening in your church is vital to regrowing the church.
Church revitalizers who can renew a church understand that they have a part in this effort of growth and that they should actively be seeking how to reach their communities for Jesus’ sake.
it is good to remind us of the need to set goals for growth. Declare it. Pronounce it often. Declare it early. Proclaim it regularly from the pulpit. Declare these goals for growth repeatedly! Set a personal goal and set a goal for you and your church leadership. Then get moving.
Set goals of number of people to reach*****
It is critical that others on your staff or deacon body as a revitalizer pray for growth. Furthermore, you ought to keep this before your people to pray for growth.
Praying for growth *****
You will not have to worry about where you are going to put new people if you keep switching out the pastor in a declining church every two or three years. People will not stay around such a church long enough for you to change out the parts. You usually only get one chance as a revitalizer to revitalize a work so take it seriously, stay in place and wait on the Lord to pour out His blessing in His time. My personal testimony is that if I had run when I wanted to, I would have missed God’s miraculous blessings in my life and ministry. Your victory is just around the corner so enjoy the ride.
New people want to belong and feel they are contributing towards something they believe in. If you keep them out of your ministry team or leadership team, you will watch them participate for about six weeks and then quietly disappear in search of something more significant in a church and in a group of people that are more inclusive. Put your new people to work Church Revitalizer. Even a brand-new believer can give out a worship guide the following Sunday of his conversion. Split Up Your Affinity Groups Regularly
There was a time when splitting up affinity groups helped a church continue to advance. Those days are past as most church participants are looking for worship and service that is multicultural. People today are searching for significant relationships amidst their hectic schedules. There is a failed understanding that by a church keeping natural affinity groups together today they are more successful.
Give your church revitalizer a book allowance. His reading will aid the work by stretching him personally and advancing your church publicly. The more you can afford the better opportunity you will have to watch him lead your renewal work further and with greater effectivity.[2]
When you try to win everyone you usually win no one. Renewing churches that view the whole population of an area as theirs is not realistic. Church Revitalizers who assimilate well, gather in pockets and fishing pools desiring to catch those who already an affinity with each other. As the Lord continues to advance the renewal effort, opportunities will open up and then you can enlarge your scope. The reason so many churches fail in this area is because they want to utilize the reach everyone strategy and the effort fails in reaching anyone.
Most renewing churches are not known so anything they do to advertise is a plus.
God desires your church to grow and be revitalized. He blesses those churches with a heart for reaching the lost in this world. Revitalizing churches do the work of evangelism while there is still time to touch individuals with the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.
first 120 days in church revitalization and renewal is deigned to challenge you to release old and outdated theories and methodologies.
begin carrying a small journal that you can write in each day the things the Lord tells you about the revitalization of your church. From these pages will come the strategy necessary for renewal. You will find the importance of setting direction in the renewal effort. Ideas for reaching the culture in your community can be written in this journal. I always use
if you are going to lead your church in and through total revitalization you will need to invest a minimum of one thousand days in the effort.
You bring to the revitalization effort a leader who will take charge, stand boldly, kneel in prayer daily, build a team carefully, set a new direction towards health, and work towards tiny wins immediately.
the clock is ticking on you as the leader and your ability to initially make a positive impact in the church towards its revitalization sets you in the right position to make a lasting difference. Most church revitalizers who make little or no impact at the beginning find it hard to rally the congregation towards the effort of revitalization and renewal. For most church revitalizers those initial first months are like a tornado.
There are no honeymoon periods in revitalization if you desire to be successful. If you waste your first four months doing little or nothing the groundwork that should have been laid and the ground that should have been taken will be much harder.
It is important to make a list of who you are going to see, what you are going to do, why you are doing those things to begin with, and when will you begin to gather team members for the initial revitalization effort.
You must re-evaluate the churches present strategy for growth and decide what needs to be kept and what need to be dismissed.
You must start off well by developing new relationships and learning your church’s culture. It is through the development of these relationships that you as the pastor leader will be able to develop a new message and begin to direct the church towards lasting change.
Begin praying about whom you would like to ask to serve on the revitalization team.
Begin to deliver the little wins and allow the Lord time to build them into larger wins.
Think about what you will deliver in your initial thrust towards revitalization in the first four months. There certainly will be the strategizing, organizing, and conducting of a process.
You must do something each and every day towards revitalization so begin early and work continuously. Nudge the church forward a little bit every day until you see a plan coming together. Here are a set of typical questions most church revitalizers must ask and answer during their first one hundred and twenty days.
In becoming the church's new leader what should be my top concerns going into the work of revitalization?
Keeping a journal is a good way to begin working in and on revitalization for the church you have been called to lead. Assessing the opportunities and difficulties in the church would be helpful. I
Worksheets are a good way for you as the church revitalizer to receive input from key lay leaders without appearing to be giving out orders and delegating to the rank and file. Worksheets are ever changing and considered by most as working drafts always able to be updated and revised at any time.
Every successful revitalization leader has what I call an entrepreneurial spirit. They dream big and they work even bigger. They take risks for the good of the church. Here are a few foundations for wise thinking as the church revitalizer leading a church towards renewal: Always be looking for the opportunity over the obstacle. The majority of successful church revitalizers spend their active down time pondering ways to take advantage of the renewing churches distinct abilities and focuses on the things it does best. Have you ever noticed that when God is blessing your ministry the most, there
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Instead of fighting your obstacles, find a means of making them defeat themselves. That takes thinking.
It is always wise as the revitalization leader to view adversity as the opportunity for growth. Remember you are about to change the long-term status quo in a church and that will require a forward-thinking mentality. Look down the road as far as the Lord will allow you to see. Remember that He can see further than you and will only give you the direction for today and tomorrow so move ahead with what you can see.
All of us have fallen. All of us have failed in a ministry project. Allow such failure to sharpen us and mold us into the church revitalizer that God can use. The wise church revitalizer looks on their failures as trainings to be celebrated and not mistakes to be bemoaned. If you will take on the outlook of never giving up and never allowing yourself to make the same mistakes tice you are well on your way as successful revitalizer. When you think of the word failure, many in the church see a huge dark cloud behind it. They see this is because, throughout their entire life they have been told
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failjure will happen, will be trial and error, have to learn and push through! ******
You will have times where your judgement in untested and your decision is not wise. Learn from this but stop suffering from it. None of us working in church revitalization have the time to waste worrying about our yesterdays. Get back in the game and move on. Stop internalizing your mistakes because they have nothing to do with your individual worth to the Lord.
If you never have failed at anything in ministry, you will never have learned how to step out of your comfort zones. That is why many a church is declining or dying. They have never learned how to rise above their mistakes. In order to get the outcomes, you are looking for in revitalization you and your church need to extend yourself, so you both can grow.
The church has never tried and failed and learned to rise up from their mistakes. *****
Many declining church members have difficulty seeing the potential of their dreams for a revitalized church. They give up on these dreams because they do not see how the idea of a healthy church again will ever come true. Church revitalizers know that in revitalization there is a large degree of dreaming of what could be possible if they will take the time to embrace possible and watch the Lord do the impossible. While you cannot force dreams to transpire, you can take steps toward realizing them. Your dreams as the church revitalizer and your team that is working with you have value. Keep
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Members wont dream and see possibilities
Once you declare your dreams let others know about your dream for a revitalized church. Get others on board and buying in to a revitalized church.
Never lose your joy as the leader towards renewal. It takes a holy anointed confidence that the Lord wants to use you in the revitalization of a church. Live in it and walk worthy of it. I have never seen a pastor who was a worrier be successful in renewal. I have never seen a pastor who was a naysayer be successful in renewal. I have never seen a pastor who is an eternal pessimist be successful in church revitalization and renewal. It requires a positive church revitalizer to lead the effort toward revitalization. Positive church revitalization leaders have the ability to unite the team. They
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Never lose your joy as a renewal pastor and stay positive
Revitalization requires that the church revitalizer grows each and every day by learning something new that can help in revitalization.
Experimentation is revitalization takes place often. Learning that there is always a different and better way to revitalize a church is crucial.
Schedule some time each week to concentrate on some type of creative project that will benefit at least one aspect of your revitalization project.
Brainstorming is a common method in both ma...
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