see this reality and then begin leading them toward health.
--- Loving, servant-minded shepherding that leads to visionary leadership over time...in that order. You need to plan on this taking many years of loving and encouraging and serving the flock...earning trust and winning the hearts of the people in order to experience long-term health and growth.
3) This is why my biggest encouragement for you is to really press in to see how ready this church actually is for change. Every declining church will say they want to grow, reach
Discussion Questions:
1. Which of these planting, replanting or revitalizing options excites you the most?
2. Which of these planting, replanting or revitalizing options scares you the most?
3. How would you respond if someone said to you, “Church replanting sounds like church planting with baggage?”
4. In your opinion that are the biggest challenges of replanting and of revitalizing?
5. In your opinion what are the best features of replanting and of revitalizing?
Foundation #2: Why is church revitalization needed?
7 disturbing facts regarding the state of the North American Church:
1. According to the Hartford Institute of Religion Research, more than 40 percent of Americans "say" they go to church weekly. As it turns out, however, less than 20 percent are actually in church. In other words, more than 80 percent of Americans are finding other things (in CO…kid’s sports, mountains) to do on weekends.1
2. Between 4,000 and 7,000 churches close their doors every year.2
3. Thom Rainer, in a recent article entitled "13 Issues for Churches in 2013" puts the estimate higher. He says between 8,000 and 10,000 churches will likely close this year.3 4. Between the years 2010 and 2012, more than half of all churches in America added not one new member.4
5. Each year, nearly 3 million more previous churchgoers enter the ranks of the
"religiously unaffiliated."5
6. Since 1950, there are 1/3rd fewer churches in the U.S.6
1 Toni Ridgaway, “Statistics Don’t Tell the Whole Story When It Comes to Church Attendance,” accessed September 12, 2015, http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/
170739-statistics-don-t-tell-the-whole-story-when-it-comes-to-church-attendance.html.
2 Ridgaway, “Statistics Don’t Tell the Whole Story.”
3 Thom Rainer, “13 Issues for Churches in 2013,” accessed September 12, 2015,
http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/164787-thom-rainer-13-issues-churches-2013.html.
4 Rainer, “13 Issues for Churches.”
5 Rainer, “13 Issues for Churches.”
6 Rainer, “13 Issues for Churches.”
7. The United States makes up the third largest mission field in the world.7 The state of SBC churches:8
According to statistics compiled by the North American Mission Board’s Center for Missional Research using data from the Annual Church Profile, every year the Southern Baptist Convention adds more than 1,200 new churches through a combination of the planting of new churches and the acquiring of new affiliated churches. Unfortunately, the convention also loses more than 900 churches annually. The approximate 3 percent birth rate of new churches in the SBC, coupled with a 2 percent death rate, reveals a net increase of only 1 percent, which does not keep up with population growth in North America. Furthermore, of the more than 900 churches that ceased to exist, 90 percent were located in growing communities and 77 percent were located in metro settings.
Research also finds that only an estimated 15 percent of Southern Baptist
churches are growing while a whopping 70 percent are plateaued or declining and in need of some sort of revitalization. Another 15 percent are at risk of death, meaning that if their current trend continues, they will cease to exist in their present form within two to five years. These at-risk churches (ARCs) currently number approximately 6,000.
7 Rainer, “13 Issues for Churches.”
8 John Mark Clifton, “Dying Churches Matter to God . . . and to NAMB,” Send Network Blog, January 2015, accessed July 16, 2016, https://www.namb.net/send-network-blog/dying-churches-matter-to- god-and-to-namb.
Why should we care about and pursue church revitalization and replanting? 8 Key Reasons.
1. God’s people in dying churches need _____________________, nourishment, and fresh vision.
2. The _______________ in our communities need to see joyful, passionate, Gospel- centered congregations alive and on mission!
3. We must seek to be true to the biblical mandate to ____________________ who make disciples.
Matthew 28:18-20 - 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
4. The God-honoring ___________________ of money, buildings, and other
resources.
Matt Schmucker: Billions of dollars, donated by faithful Christians over many decades, have been invested in land and buildings. Today, those buildings are too often
underutilized or even empty—mere monuments to the past. Church planters often shun these resources and don’t think twice about pursuing the potentially life-consuming
“mobile church” or “church on wheels” approach to ministry.
Why is this approach so consuming? Ask almost any planter. He’ll probably tell you how much effort it takes from his best people in the church to re-set every week, let alone to relocate when a school auditorium or hotel ballroom is lost. So consider moving into an old neighborhood, revitalizing a church, and reclaiming resources that were originally given for gospel purposes.9
5. Revitalized and replanted churches bring _______________to other dying churches and the Body of Christ as a whole.
6. Fresh vision, ideas and ministry strategies for ________________ declining churches.
7. The __________________ of new churches desperately needed in our communities and around the world.
8. The praise and glory of _____________________ throughout the earth.
Isaiah 48:9-11: For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
Matt Schmucker: For the sake of God’s name being rightly represented in the world, we need to be jealous for the witness of his church. Why? So that God’s glory might be spread and magnified. His name is defamed when so-called Christian churches misrepresent him with tolerance of sin, their bad marriage practices, wrong views on sexuality, and a host of heresies from salvation to the authority of Scripture.
I pray against those churches that would defame God’s name. I pray they would die or at least be invisible to the neighborhood.
I positively pray for those true churches in my neighborhood that proclaim truth, that rightly gather those who have been born again, and whose ultimate purpose is God’s glory. Consider revitalizing for the sake of God’s name.10
9 Matt Schmucker. “Why Revitalize?” 9Marks Journal, November-December 2011, accessed September 12, 2015, https://9marks.org/article/journalwhy-revitalize/.
10 Schmucker, “Why Revitalize?”
Mark Clifton: “A dying church robs God of His Glory. The key to revitalization of a church near death is a passion for the Glory of God in all things. This alone must be the beginning and primary motivation for a Legacy replant, even over worthy objectives such as reaching the community, growing the church and meeting needs. The purpose of all creation is the glory of God. He created everything for His own glory. Romans 11:36 proclaims, “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.”11
Discussion Questions:
1. How do the stats about churches in general and churches in the SBC affect you? If you are not part of the SBC do you know how your denomination or tribe is fairing?
2. What does it take to derail a church off of its normal life cycle and avoid decline?
When is the best time to do this?
3. What is your experience with churches that were in cycles of decline or dying? What caused it? What might have been done to prevent it?
4. How have you seen churches come back from decline or dying?
5. Why is the Biblical concept of shepherd important to revitalizing or replanting dying churches?
Foundation #3: Understanding God’s heart for revitalization.
Conviction #1: God desires to see dying and declining churches come back to life for His glory.
***In our weakness, He is strong! And He gets all the glory!!! (God loves underdogs!
David & Goliath, the Disciples, Paul…)
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 - 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Charles Spurgeon’s on weakness and humility in ministry:
“A primary qualification for serving God with any amount of success, and for doing God’s work well and triumphantly, is a sense of our own weakness. When God’s warrior marches forth to battle, strong in his own might, when he boasts, “I know that I shall conquer, my own right arm and my conquering sword shall get unto me the victory,”
defeat is not far distant. God will not go forth with that man who marches in his own strength. He who reckoneth on victory thus has reckoned wrongly, for “it is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” They who go forth to fight, boasting of their prowess, shall return with their banners trailed in the dust, and their armour stained with disgrace.”
11 Clifton, “Dying Churches Matter to God.”
“Those who serve God must serve Him in His own way, and in His strength, or He will never accept their service. That which man doth, unaided by divine strength, God can never own. The mere fruits of the earth He casteth away; He will only reap that corn, the seed of which was sown from heaven, watered by grace, and ripened by the sun of divine love. God will empty out all that thou hast before He will put His own into thee; He will first clean out thy granaries before He will fill them with the finest of the wheat. The river of God is full of water; but not one drop of it flows from earthly springs. God will have no strength used in His battles but the strength which He Himself imparts. Are you mourning over your own weakness? Take courage, for there must be a consciousness of weakness before the Lord will give thee victory. Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being filled, and your casting down is but the making ready for your lifting up.”
John 7:37-39 - 37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Psalm 51:10-12 - Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Conviction #2: God not only has the desire, but He has the power to bring dying and declining churches back to life for His glory.
• Ezekiel 37… Jerusalem and the temple have been destroyed. Judgment has come, but God reveals himself as the God of revitalization and resurrection.
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.
2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.
3 And he said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know."
4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.
6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD." - Ezekiel 37:1-6
In this passage, I think we see two essential ingredients for revitalization in the church.
#1: The first essential ingredient is the faithful preaching of God's word.
Bill Henard:
#2: The second essential ingredient for revitalization is the power of God's Spirit.
Conviction #3: True church revitalization will not happen unless a congregation returns to their first love: Jesus.
***The words of our Lord as He spoke to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-5:
Ephesians 2:1-5 - 1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen;
repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
(From Clifton):
1) In this passage our Lord makes it clear that the pathway to new life for a dying church is repentance and remembering.
2) But not the self serving nostalgia of remembering the past for the sake of our own edification through control and a desire to return to a “better time”, but
remembering the legacy of missions and ministry that first birthed this dying church and a brokenness to see that return once again.
3) This kind of remembering can only happen if repentance comes first. This kind of remembering can only happen with the Glory of God becomes primary rather than the glory of the past.
There is one reason a church dies.
1) The church in Ephesus loved doctrine, they believed the truth, they worked hard and they endured. But they were doomed to die if they did not return to that which they did at first.
2) When we see the birth of the church of Ephesus we see a church that so greatly impacted its community that it started a riot. It was a church that made disciples who made disciples that resulted in a transformed community.
3) When a church ceases over a period of time to make disciples who make disciples and realize community transformation, that church will die.
Conviction #4: When a church returns to its first love, Jesus, God begins to bring about revitalization through 5 types of Renewal (Adapted from Rick Warren):
#1: Personal Renewal
It starts with the heart. If God is going to renew your church, he’ll begin it with you – and then it has to continue with the rest of your church. You might call it rededicating your life, being filled with the Spirit, or the “deeper life.” I don’t care what you call it. Just get it! Pastor, the bottom line is this – you need to fall in love with Jesus again. Do that and all of a sudden it’s not about religion and rituals; it’s about a relationship with Jesus. You realize that Jesus doesn’t just love you, but he likes you.
#2: Relational Renewal
After you get right with God, you’ve got to get right with others. Jesus told us this. He told us to love God with all of our heart and then love others as ourselves. When you have relational renewal in your church, the gossip goes down and the joy goes up.
around longer after the service. They want to spend time together. If people don’t want to hang around after your services, you have a performance, not a church. The church is more than content; it’s a community.
#3: Missional Renewal
This is when a church discovers what God wants it to do. We have a kingdom assignment. We’re not here just to bless one another. God wants to bless the world
through us. When your church gets personal, relational, and mission renewal, it can’t help but begin to experience revitalization.
#4: Cultural Renewal
In this stage, God renews the culture of the church. I’ve known pastors who have tried to change the culture of the church without going through the other three renewals. There’s a word for that – martyrdom. You cannot change the culture of the church. Only God can.
But once the first three renewals have happened in the church, God will change the culture.
#5: Structural Renewal
After your church has been through the first four renewals, it’s going to outgrow your current structure. No doubt about it. The structure that works for a church of 30 won’t work for a church of 100 and so on. There is no perfect structure in Scripture. Why?
Every situation is different. We’ve got to structure our churches differently depending on our circumstances. You can’t put new wine in old wineskins. As your church begins to get healthier and healthier, the structure has to change.
Discussion Questions:
1. Why is relying on God’s strength so crucial in a replant or revitalization situation?
2. How does replanting and revitalization reflect the Gospel?
3. How do preaching and relying on the Holy Spirit go hand in hand in a replant or revitalization?
4. What does a church’s legacy have to do with its ability or readiness to be replanted or revitalized?
5. How have you seen any of the five types of renewal begin to change the culture of a church? Or, if you have not seen any which of these would make biggest difference for the church you are in now or one you have worked with in the past?
APPENDIX 8
TEACHER NOTES FOR FOUNDATIONAL VIDEOS 4–6
Foundation #4: Counting the Cost: 11 Potential Disadvantages and Challenges in Revitalization
INTRO:
11 Potential Disadvantages and Challenges in Revitalization
#1: You're changing not creating culture…this takes time.
#2: No team of pastors & no core team (your family and whoever is still at the church is your core team)
#3: Hidden sacred cows that you are unaware of (like hidden land mines, stepping on these can do major damage to your leadership fast!)
Mark Clifton - Dying churches tend to make their preferences paramount. Those
preferences can include music, programs, preaching styles, uses of the building, resources shared with those outside the church compared to resources used for those within the church and a host of other things. The point is this: Most members of the congregation focus on their own desires in these decisions instead of what would meet the needs of people who don’t know Jesus.
#4: There is always a reason that a church has declined, and that reason is usually sin.
There will be opposition.
Mike McKinley - There’s usually a good reason why a church needs to be revitalized.
Churches often dwindle in size and effectiveness because of a traumatic event or years of poor leadership. As a result, church facilities and programs may be in ruins—not to mention the spiritual state of the congregation itself. In these cases, there will be much to overcome and tear down in order to move the church forward. This process is often very painful. If a church was already inclined to do the things that healthy churches do, it probably wouldn’t be dying. Finding a struggling church isn’t a problem. Finding a struggling church that wants to change and grow is much more difficult.
#5: Helping the remaining folks fall in love with the surrounding community that has probably changed drastically over the years of the church’s decline.
• They confuse caring for the “building” with caring for the church and the community…it has become an idol.
• Building is often in disrepair and in need of major work and updating.