Revitalization is a deliberate, dedicated and protracted effort to reverse the decline or death of an existing church.
For many of us the attendance pendulum has swung back. The highs of Easter Weekend have yielded all too quickly to the lows of the week after. The trend we are on is clearer now.  The indicators, giving, baptism and attendance all point to the same thing.  We are in trouble.

So what am I going to do in the church that I serve given the trends that I see?  Three things are possible:

  1. I can do nothing, because nothing is always a choice. However, doing nothing feels wrong.   Like watching something die when I might be able to do something to arrest its death.
  2. I could reach into the past and dust off a program or event that worked well in some other place and time.  That is the easiest thing to do.  It worked before and even if it doesn’t meet the circumstances of this church I will feel better about myself because I am doing something.
  3. I can brave the unknowns and begin the time consuming, hard work of Revitalization.  If I only knew what to do next…

I have watched people die. For some, it was a thing long-awaited.  A great ending to a path traveled well. For others, however, they were too young, or too vibrant, or too something.  To watch them die tore something from me every-single-time that I will never recover. If I could have done something to stop their deaths I would have but I didn’t know what to do.

Maybe your church needs to die.  Then shepherd them well all the way to the end.

But maybe your church isn’t ready to die.  Maybe they are just stuck. Death might happen if they don’t get unstuck but, for now, they are just stuck. Do something about that.  Discover and take your church’s next step.  Not the whole flight of stairs. Just one step at a time. We can help you get started.

On Monday, April 19th, I am going to be sharing about Revitalization in the Northwest Association’s Pastors Roundtable event.  The gathering is at 10 am Central time at Eastlake Baptist Church in Crown Point. If you would like to hear more about how you can engage your church in Revitalization check-in with Mitch Tabla, the Association’s Coordinator for details on attending.

course the Big Deal of BIG DEALS on how to take next steps in Revitalization is the High Impact Leader Lab – Revitalization on May 3-5. Don’t wait to register.  Click here for all sorts of info but here is the gist of it. 48hrs, 6 topics to develop the skills a pastor needs to become a Revitalizer.

Revitalization is a deliberate, dedicated and protracted effort to reverse the decline or death of an existing church. Let’s get to it.