Reasons Churches Change Their Minds and Sabotage the Change Effort

THE

CHURCH

May/June 2021 Vol 8, Issue 3

Revitalizer A Revitalization Retreat in Every Issue

Reasons Churches Change their Minds and Sabotage the Change Efforts

“The only magazine dedicated to Church Revitalization.”

ChurchRevitalizer.Guru

From The Editor This edition of the magazine discusses the crippling subject of what happens when declining churches change their minds and sabotage the change efforts aimed towards bringing renewal to the plateaued, declining, or dying church.

Let’s face it, not everyone in your church is going to be excited about your plans to save and revitalize the church. Many churches in decline practice a series of defeatist behaviors that continue to lead the church further into fatalistic, pessimistic, negative, and losing pathways that spell, in the end, the death of a church. While the end often does not come quickly, a church can languish around for five to ten years in such a pattern that by the time they membership is willing to embrace the changes necessary for any opportunity towards growth, it is usually too late. As the Church Revitalizer is called upon to bring revitalization to a church, changing the behavioral patterns of church members is often critical to achievement of the task.

There is often a poison that surfaces in rapidly declining churches. It is a series of behaviors, which kill any effort towards a church turnaround.

Some individuals within these churches are so stuck in the past that they are incapable of being part of the church’s effort towards the future. When these individuals collide with the now growing number of individuals willing to embrace change, they often either lead efforts to hurt: the church as a whole, the new influential lay leaders supporting change, or the pastor who is operating as the change agent for church revitalization. The first initial group will try to stop any hope for change by threats of leaving and sinful acts of sabotage. Much could be said regarding this tactic and yet a simple visual that it causes the heart of God to break should suffice.

Far too many church revitalizers wait too long before they address these toxic behaviors. You sometimes are your biggest problem because while you are failing to lead the church forward, the toxic types are working to undermine your leadership and defeat any effort towards revitalization.

As the revitalizer you will often regret not moving forward more quickly and focused. While you are waiting, they are keeping you from the opportunities that must be acted upon. I have learned in church revitalization that opportunity comes and presents itself and the time is now, not tomorrow. God often gives you the things you need once and if you are not open to the opportunity and blessing you will hurt the effort by listening to those who want to keep things on hold while they seek to sabotage the effort. Even those with you and wanting to see the church revitalized often are hurt because of your, as the leader, lack of effort. They suffer regret because they are not up to the task.

Dr. Tom Cheyney is the Founder and Directional Leader of Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference and Executive Editor of the Church Revitalizer.

Contents

Don’t Say That—Say This!

Shortchanging Revitalization Blowing the Whistle on Spiritual Wolves!

Tom Cheyney

p. 10

Ken Priddy

p. 18

Dealing with Bacon Jams Bill Tenny-Brittian

Bob Whitesel

p. 26

p. 20

Dealing with Resistance & Opposition George Thomasson

p. 32

4 Characteristics of Positive Church Members in Church Revitalization Gary Moritz

Also in this issue: The Revitalizer

Book Review with Rob Hurtgen

Leading Major Change in Your Ministry by Jeff Iorg

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p. 31

p. 38

May/June | Vol 8, No 3

Aristotle is the Problem It Can Be Done!

Ron Smith

p. 42

Leading Change: A Six-Step Process to Help See Change Accomplished

The Messy Middle and Adaptive Leadership

Michael Atherton

p. 46

Steve Smith

p. 50

Fresh Starts Needed; How Nostalgia Holds Us Back p. 62 Brian Thorstad Why Church Turnaround Leads to Conflict and Sabotage p. 64 Gary Westra Five Best Practices of Growing Sunday Schools p. 70 Fred Boone Six Reasons to Rebuild the Church on the Foundation of Christ p. 72 Desmond Barrett

Pete Tackett

Obsessed With Change

p. 56

Tracy Jaggers

We’re Burying the Wrong People Matt Henslee

p. 60

p. 54

Come On Up! p. 74 Richard Harvey When the Picture of the Future is Different p. 78 Jim Harrell Sabotage: Do Smell What The Rock Is Cooking? p. 80 Rob Myers

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THE

CHURCH

Revitalizer Volume 8, No. 3

The Church Revitalizer Is published bi-monthly by Renovate Publishing Group 1906 West Lee Road Orlando, FL 32810 Email: ChurchRevitalizer.guru

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Blowing the Whistle on Spiritual Wolves!

By Tom Cheyney It has always amazed me that so many churches today in the Western Hemisphere are full of saboteurs. They are no longer seeking the Lord’s direction and have given up on serving the Lord and the community through the local church. What often happens is a tiny venomous group desires the maintaining of the status quo and will fight the church revitalizer and spiritual lay leaders in the effort to save the church from rapid decline. In rapidly declining or dying churches there appears to be a larger than usual number of these types. Often, they will fight those very ones who were called by the declining church to save it. They are not only adept at sabotage but they function more as a group of church bullies which not only seek to intimidate the pastoral leadership, but the laity as well, when they don’t agree with their practices or beliefs.

Outsiders view these churches as mean and often after just a few weeks of attendance will quietly remove themselves from attendance because they see the church bullies and decline to be part of such a church. We need to be bold enough, strong enough, and courageous enough as Church Revitalizers to begin blowing the whistle on these spiritual wolves.

the whistle on these types and get the church back to doing the things of God. Listen what the Apostle Paul had to say about those who were destroying the church.

I heard someone say one time that there are two kinds of people: saints and aints. We are all supposed to be saints in the church but sometimes we act more like aints. In Matthew 10: 16 & 40 we read:

These individuals were daily being found linked hand in hand with the great Apostle Paul doing the work of ministry. In Romans 16:17-20, Paul reminded the believers in Rome concerning their awaited and glorious victory over Satan. He also gave important instructions on how to avoid spiritual wolves who are not really serving God but who have some other interests in life. He warned them about the deceitful words and impressive speeches of crafty men. Paul takes his last written opportunity to encourage and elevate those who have been faithful in service, and then to blow the whistle on spiritual wolves. Paul writes to his Roman brethren to warn them against people that cause division and offenses. In Romans 16:17-20 we see:

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore, be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves…

Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”

There are churches which are being destroyed everywhere by what I call a group of church tramps which only desire to watch their church drift along in mediocrity. We need to blow

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The last chapter, the conclusion to Paul’s letter to the Romans, gives us insight into Paul’s heart and how much he cared for the many saints who had assisted him in his gospel ministry. He paints a picture of what a supportive believer looks like when it comes to being part of the church and the great mission causes into the communities we are called to serve.

What a remarkable chapter. In it, Paul greeted at least twenty-six people by name, as well as two unnamed saints; and he also greeted several churches that were meeting in homes.

He closed with greetings from nine believers who were with him in Corinth when he wrote the letter we now know as the Epistle of Romans. Paul mentioned a total of thirty-five fellow laborers within this chapter. Most of them are unknown to us.

They are not mentioned anywhere else in the New Testament.

This reminds us that many unknown Christians contributed their share to the spreading of Christianity in the first century.

Paul’s Warning to dividers of the Church (Vs. 17-20).

“One final word of counsel, friends. Keep a sharp eye out for those who take bits and pieces of the teaching that you learned and then use them to make trouble. Give these people a wide berth. They have no intention of living for our Master Christ. They’re only in this for what they can get out of it, and aren’t above using pious sweet talk to dupe unsuspecting innocents. And so, while there has never been any question about your honesty in these matters—I couldn’t be more proud of you! — I want you also to be smart, making sure every “good” thing is the real thing.

Don’t be gullible in regard to smooth-talking evil. Stay alert like this, and before you know it the God of peace will come down on Satan with both feet, stomping him into the dirt. Enjoy the best of Jesus” Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), Romans 16:17–20.

We see here that there are two commands that he gives. He says: #1 MARK THEM In 2 Thessalonians 3:14 Paul further declares: 14 And if any man obeys not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish (Warn) him as a brother. #2 AVOID THEM In 1 Corinthians 5: 9-11 he writes: Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

We are to take note church revitalizers of trouble–makers in the church. We should not adopt a casual attitude to these spiritual wolves which seek to hurt the local church. We are living in a day where satanic forces are everywhere. Even the local church can become a place where evil individuals are allowed to run rampant. In every group, there seems to be those intent on bringing the church down. It astonishes me that some pastors are unable to say goodbye and farewell to the dead baggage which is hurting their churches. I have never been that way as you can see. I will not break a sweat over this because the Lord’s church is more important than all of us. Paul urged his Christian friends at Rome to be on the watch for those who stirred up dissensions.

Among the “seven [things] that are detestable to [the Lord,” the writer of Proverbs listed in the most emphatic position “a man who stirs up dissension among brothers” (Prov. 6:16, 19). This kind of person creates obstacles that cause others to stumble. Jesus warned of false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ferocious wolves (Matt 7:15), and elsewhere Paul instructed a young preacher to have nothing to do with a divisive person after he had been warned twice (Titus 3:10). “Disassociate yourselves” is the translation in verse 17 and it can be translated “keep turning away [from them].”

Just like your church and mine, not everyone was working with Paul for the spreading of the Gospel. There were some who, for selfish reasons, were dividing the churches by teaching false doctrine. Instead of preaching the truth, these men spread their own religious propaganda, using deceit and clever speeches. Did you know that over 19,000 pastors leave the ministry every year and when this Sunday’s sermon is finished, over 350 pastors will be gone before the next Sunday service begins? Paul could not resist giving a final word of warning that they watch out for spiritual enemies: those who are divisive and seek to hinder the Lord’s work (who put obstacles, “traps, snares”; cf. 14:13 in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned). Hear me please church revitalizers, we must deal with those wolves in the church that run from one church to another seeking to destroy the next one because they are no longer welcomed at a church which upholds the things of God and respects the one who is called pastor. They are spiritual wolves and they are hurting the local church.

It is a strong term, here which means “to look out for so as to avoid.” Apparently, the kinds of divisions threatening the unity of believers were widespread and well known. Do you realize that most churches know who the trouble makers in the church are and yet they refuse to do anything about it?

I believe there will be a line in heaven for those weak-kneed saints to stand and give an account to the Lord about why they let the spiritual wolves destroy their church (His really).

Not only are we to keep out of their way, but remove from them so that we are not in danger of becoming one of them.

How Do you Begin Blowing the Whistle on Spiritual Wolves Which Cause the Church to Drift?

Initially, The Church Revitalizer Should Observe the Church Tramps Tepid Temperature (v. 17).

“Keep a sharp eye out for those who take bits and pieces of the teaching that you learned and then use them to make trouble. Give these people a wide berth. They have no intention of living for our Master Christ.”

The Church Revitalizer should not empower disruptive people. God hates division. The presence of questionable people in every Christian congregation creates disorderliness among

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the members. It is wise then to mark and avoid them before it is too late to handle them. Church revitalizer to whom do you listen? Do you listen to the Lord your God on high, or do you listen to the one with the biggest mouth in your church?

There is within some churches an air of toxic DNA that surfaces when those wolves, who have been part of killing the church, are not happy with the pastor who the Lord is using to revitalize the church. Disruptive pastor abusers seldom repent of their sins and will seek to remain in power until someone with a stronger backbone removes them. As shepherds continue to be battered, they ask themselves, “When will the silent majority of godly church members join together and excommunicate these bullies?” My acrostic for a church bully is: Big Ugly Loner Losers Yearning Attention. These spiritual wolves create chaos and wreak havoc wherever they go. They are not only disruptive, they create and cause great division, strife, and rivalry within the fellowship (v. 17).

In Philippians 3:2-3 Paul admonishes: 2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. 3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Not everyone was working with Paul for the spreading of the Gospel. There were some who, for selfish reasons, were dividing the churches. The mature Christian is to keep his “eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances.” Paul is not talking about hair splitting over minor interpretations, or about immature believers who are divisive because of personal preferences, as disruptive and damaging as those things can be. We are to “shun foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless” (Titus 3:9). We are to “refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels” (2 Tim. 2:23). Paul is talking about something immeasurably more serious. He is warning about those who challenge and undermine the teaching, preaching, and leading that is part of your calling as a church revitalizer. It is astonishing just how many churches are run by a male lay leader which is controlled by a stronger spouse with a vicious tongue. Often, they will become the church receptionist so they can have immediate information to what is going on at church and what the staff are doing.

“Keep your eye on such men,” Paul says. “Mark them out as false teachers” who are to be opposed and avoided. It carries the idea of looking at or observing with intensity. It is from the noun form of that word that we get the scope in telescope and microscope. It means more than simply to look at, but to examine and scrutinize carefully. We are to see the danger of spiritual wolves in the church. Mark those who cause such divisions and create ongoing offences. Jesus told us there would be divisions and offences, but had entailed

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a warning on those by whom they come (Mt. 18:7). Pastor, whatever varies from the form of sound doctrine, which we have in the scriptures, opens a door to divisions and offences.

If you allow the truth to be deserted even once because you are afraid of that mean-spirited person in your church, unity and peace will not last long. Now, mark those that thus cause divisions. Observe them. There is need of a piercing watchful eye in the local church today in order to discern the danger we are in from such people. Remember, a danger discovered is half prevented.

What are we to do with them in addition to watch out for those who cause dissensions and obstacles? Paul says two words relating to keeping away clearly: These two words are: “to shun” and “off.” It is a pretty powerful statement relating to pushing them off, or shoving them away. Please hear me, division has ripped apart so many churches and ruined so many relationships and it is so unnecessary! Many times, someone becomes this way because they do not get their way, their pride is hurt, so they attack. Anything which speaks of advancement is a challenge to these individuals. The larger you grow the less control they will have and these spiritual wolves will be scared of losing their strangulation hold on the church.

Interestingly, these people have not been pleased with or supportive of any of their previous pastors, and they are not happy with you. They have in fact sought to undermine God’s leader at every turn. This happens when people stop focusing on their relationship with the Lord and start focusing on all the imperfect humans in the church. Each and every one of us must tend to our walk with the Lord. We ought to be focused on how He can use you and me to build up others.

What Does Shunning Mean?

To shun it means to “Avoid them.” Shun all necessary communion and communication with them, lest you be leavened and infected by them. Do not align oneself with any dividing interests, or embrace any of those principles or practices which are destructive to Christian love and charity, or to the truth which is according to godliness. The Bible declares that: “Their word will eat as doth a canker.” Canker is the same Greek word in which we get the English word gangrene.

Let me tell you how you can spot these spiritual wolves. When these predators are on a rigorous oppositional crusade, they will devote whole entire Sunday mornings hovering in the foyer, backyard, or parking lot; dispersing dissatisfaction and venom without so much as even joining the worship service!

Also, whenever there is a difficulty, a setback, or a hindrance surfacing within the church, they are not far away. These spiritual wolves thrive on creating conflict and trouble. They are unrepentant and unconfessed of their individual sins. That is why people who blow apart churches do not become people who edify and build up people. These types just go on to other churches to blow up even more churches. These

church tramps go from church to church to church seeking who they can destroy. We need to watch out for the snipers in any church. Be on guard – for yourself – and for others. I don’t mean you can never question anything – but ask yourself what is the motivation behind it – the good of the body or the good for you? This may seem a bit harsh, but there are some people the church does not need. You may say, “We need every member we have. We need the help of everyone.”

That is very true. But we need the help of everyone whose heart is right with God and wants to help the church, not hurt it. Let’s face it there are some people that the church would be better off without.

process. We must: Recognize the Methods of Trouble–Makers (Romans 16:18b) as we learn their behavior. We must: Discern the Spirit of the Trouble–Makers (Romans 16:19) as we try the spirit by the Spirit.

Lead your church members to avoid such toxic people within the church. They teach false doctrine. Those who cause divisions are not serving the Lord but are “slaves of their own base desires” (v. 18). Instead of sharing the truth, these men spread their own religious propaganda, using deceit and clever speeches. As church revitalizers, we should beware of the glib tongue and the deceptive argument. Though they call themselves Christians, they do not serve Christ; do not aim Secondly, The Church Revitalizer Should Recognize the at His glory, they do not promote His interest, nor do they Church Tramps Nauseating Notification (v. 18). follow His will, no matter what they pretend. Because of the malicious policy of these wolves, the worse they are, the more “They’re only in this for what they can get out of it, and need we have to watch against them. They have corrupted aren’t above using pious sweet talk to dupe unsuspecting heads, deceiving hearts, and perverted judgments and we innocents. And while there has never been any question must protect the flock. Paul tells Titus as a Pastor to “warn a about your honesty in these matters—I couldn’t be more divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. Afproud of you! — I want you also to be smart, making sure ter that, have nothing to do with him” Titus 3:10. He seems to every “good” thing is the real thing.” recognize that a single attempt to deal with a divisive person may not always be adequate. This is the malicious nature of These spiritual wolves cause great offenses and snares which a troublemaker. For some it has become a way of life, and it become stumbling blocks for those in the church. Understand, not only makes their life miserable but everyone else around truth without unity leads to pride; unity without truth leads them. Paul explains the nature of a divisive person: Titus 3:11 to a departure from the true gospel itself. Part of the job of “You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he the shepherd is to protect the sheep from “ferocious wolves” is self-condemned.” This was a constant problem in the early (Matt. 7:15) and thieves who come to “steal and kill and de- church and it has been a problem throughout the ages withstroy” (John 10:10). We have, just like the Apostle Paul, two in the church. Most churches are not destroyed from outside great weapons at our disposal in our role as the under-shep- forces, but usually they succumb to forces that happen within herd: declaring the truth and warning against intruders. Paul the body of Christ itself. did not and neither should you, provide a platform for those who professed Christ but taught a false and perverted gospel. The answer to dealing with these Church Tramps and SpirListen, such people are not to be debated but denounced. itual Wolves is to Wait Upon the Lord and Use the Power of God (Romans 16:20).

Paul’s words “be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil” parallels Jesus’ words to his disciples when he Paul compliments his readers for their faithfulness to the Lord. sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God (Matt. 10:16): But, at the same time, he warns them to be discerning about “Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” what is good teaching and what is not and to remain separatThe harshness of Paul’s words—will soon crush—is cast in ed from evil. Trust in the Lord. Wait for His wonderful working stark contrast to the backdrop of his earlier declaration—”I through our lives. Live by the grace of God. I know the threatam full of joy.” Both are true in the Christian life—joy in the ening forces of evil sometimes seem too strong for us to face, midst of war. The joy comes from knowing that the war has but cheer up for He who is within us is surely stronger than been and will be won. Our part is to be alert and vigilant un- all the enemies of Truth. There are some sinners to avoid in til the final victory has been won. It is the grace of God that the church. Verse 20says: It is “the God of peace” who will put empowers us to understand, and stand boldly in the conflict. down Satan. In the meantime, we are to resist him, always being sober and vigilant (cf. Eph 6:11ff ). Paul hastened to assure Thirdly, the Church Revitalizer Should Denounce the Church the Romans that he did not consider them naive. Their obediTramps Poisoned Perception (vs 19-20). ence to Christ was well known and Paul was glad for them. But he was concerned that they be wise about what is good, and These Spiritual Wolves take what they have been taught from innocent about what is evil. Christians should be innocent holy scripture and make it look as if it is not affective or valid about evil, not following the ways of the world (Rom. 12:2). To for the day in which we live. We must: Identify the Motives of conclude this warning Paul added the promise, “The God of Trouble–Makers (Romans 16:18a) as we learn their thought peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”

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In Proverbs 26:20 “Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.” As Church leaders and members, we must never put more wood on fires in the church.

Instead, we must try to put them out and often, the best way is not talking about them. Stay away from troublemakers and keep from causing more trouble. Be a problem-solver, not a troublemaker. Focus on those who are actively walking with the Lord through the local church.

One day Clyde Roark Hoey, the fifty-ninth governor of North Carolina (1947-51), was visiting the western part of his state and met a country pastor. The usual question about how many members there were in the church brought the response from the pastor “Fifty.” When the Governor asked, “How many of them are active?” He said, “They’re all active.” “My,” governor Hoey remarked, “you must be an unusual preacher to have a 100 percent active membership.” “Well,” the preacher admitted, “Twenty-five are active for me and twenty-five are active against me.”

If you have a congregation split over anything or anyone, you will have division and trouble. Psalm 133:1 declares: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.” Do you know that there are some people for the sake of their point of view would destroy the unity of your church? How do we deal with them? “Avoid them.” We must keep our eye on them and turn away from them. We do not listen to them. We are never obligated to hear a person out when what they are saying is not consistent with Christian speech. If they are tearing down the church, tearing down the pastor, tearing down the leaders or Sunday School teachers or any believer, we should not listen. Because even out of a misguided sense of courtesy, our listening to them would make it seem that we agree, while what we are doing is giving them another chance to vent their verbal poison.

It is right for the church to keep an eye on “spiritual wolves” that run from one church to another, causing trouble and division. We serve in our communities to conquer Satan, so do not let him conquer you. Because of the promise of God, we shall have victory at last. It is a very sweet promise (v.

20): “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet.”

When we come to God for spiritual victories, we must not only eye Him as the Lord of hosts, but as the God of peace.

Our God at peace with us, speaking peace to us, working peace in us, and creating peace for us. There is perfect unity in God. The Lord detests division and is against those who stir up disunity, because it is contrary to His nature and His

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plan for the church. The body of Christ is called to be one and to love each other genuinely. Division hurts everyone.

It even hurts the name of Christ. Ask yourself this question: Are you a uniter or a divider? God, as the God of peace, will restrain and vanquish all those that cause divisions and offences, and so break and disturb the peace of the church.

Church Revitalizer know that, Christ has overcome for us.

Christ has disarmed the strong man for us. Christ has broken his power for us. He has done all of this for us and we have nothing to do but to pursue the victory. Let us fight the good fight of faith. The victory shall be speedy. He shall do it shortly. He has said it, “Behold, I come quickly.”

Hold on church revitalizer. Have faith and patience just a little while longer. One day we too will walk in ways we never have before. We will walk through our own seas of red and we will see our spiritual enemies lying dead on the shore as we join the one sitting on the throne in heaven and unite with Him triumphantly singing the song of the Lamb. Oh, Dear Church Revitalizer: Conquer Satan—don’t let him conquer you. Mark them that hurt the church. Avoid them that seek to destroy God’s under-shepherds. Watch them and don’t become one of them. Stamp out evil. Do not listen to it. Reassure the weak, each and every day. Hold on a little while longer. Hold on.

Tom Cheyney is the Founder & Directional Leader of the RENOVATE National Church Revitalization Conference (RenovateConference.org). Some of Tom’s books include: The Church Revitalizer as Change Agent, Slaying the Dragons of Church Revitalization: Dealing with the Critical Issues that are Hurting Your Church; and Church Revitalization in Rural America: Restoring Churches in America’s Heartland. Tom lives in Orlando, Florida with his wife Cheryl and travels all over North America assisting declining churches by bringing revitalization and renewal to the congregations.

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Centrifugal Buzz:

Shortchanging Revitalization

By Ken Priddy At the risk of gimmickry, I’m playing with a play on words. That play is the word shortchanging. Revitalization demands change and most congregations, particularly those in long-term plateau or decline, tend to resist change. However, many congregations eventually reach a point of realizing that revitalization is not simply an option, it’s an absolute necessity. Therefore, change becomes an absolute necessity and so, however reluctantly, congregations begin the journey toward revitalization which presses them to begin to navigate over the rocky terrain of change. Often, that journey is not completed. The rocky terrain of change proves too difficult so the journey toward revitalization is abandoned. Change is shortchanged against the long game backdrop of holistic revitalization. Why? Before I take a shot at answering that question, let me spotlight a dynamic that makes obvious sense but that is often not considered when revitalization is first attempted. In most cases, churches have taken years and, perhaps, even decades to arrive at where they are, whatever that condition might be. As such, revitalization is not a quick fix that is going to manifest as a result of a weekend seminar or having leaders read the latest book on revitalization or attend the latest conference on how to turn your church around. It’s going to take many months of concentrated effort that will probably stretch into a few years if revitalization is to take hold firmly. Church leaders must adopt a long view if true and sustainable revitalization is to be established. Otherwise, revitalization, and its attendant change, will be shortchanged.

Shortchanging revitalization has numerous causes and I’ll cite three here: 1. Negative Motivators, 2. Internal Matters First, and 3. Permission Over Authority. We’ll take a brief look at each of these respectively.

Revitalization is shortchanged due to a faulty foundation of Negative Motivators. In broad strokes, church leaders are compelled toward revitalization by either negative motivators or positive motivators. Positive motivators include falling under the conviction that the ministry of the church must become more proactive and effective in its commitment to reaching lost people with the Gospel. Perhaps there is a sense of a higher calling to serve God in more intentional and robust ways that are centered on the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. There might be a divine discontent among leaders that the church is not fulfilling its God-given purpose or mission and, therefore, must change its approach to ministry in order to foster both spiritual renewal and strategic focus. Positive motivators, such as these, challenge and inspire a congre-

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gation to step out boldly and pursue God’s Great Commission vision of a reached community. When the going gets tough, leaders stay the course and the revitalization effort sustains.

This is not the case with negative motivators. These might include legitimate concerns such as declining attendance or giving, a shortage of leaders, or a vacant staff position that continues to go unfilled. The problem with negative motivators is that, often, once the pain of the negative motivator is relieved, church leaders abandon further revitalization effort, reasoning that their need has been met. Negative Motivators shortchange revitalization.

Revitalization is shortchanged due to prioritizing Internal Matters First. As a revitalizer, I’m always excited when I hear from church leaders that they want to pursue revitalization in order to become more effective in the harvest. However, a natural tendency is for them to think that the first step in revitalization is for leaders to pour themselves into their congregations to prepare them. This is a faulty premise that can lead to revitalization’s never getting off the ground.

First, one of the leading causes of plateau and decline in churches is their inward focus. Preparing a congregation as a prerequisite to reaching out is just another form of inward focus and it will prove to be counterproductive, squelching rather than boosting revitalization. Second, it’s important to

tually happened yet. Leaders are projecting into the future and imagining a revitalized church. When approval to move forward is forthcoming, that approval usually stands on permission rather than on authority. In other words, leaders have granted permission for revitalization to be engaged, but they continue to hold authority over that revitalization effort rather than giving revitalization full reign to stay the course and go the distance. As permission granters, they retain the authority to rescind that permission if the course that revitalization is taking becomes uncomfortable.

The problem, of course, since revitalization requires change, is that it’s inevitable that the revitalization effort will create discomfort. Therefore, it’s inevitable that permission will be rescinded and that the revitalization initiative will die.

realize that revitalization doesn’t flourish as a result of preparing to reach a community. Revitalization flourishes BY reaching a community. In my many years of revitalization ministry, I have seen church after church invest in months of preparation to reach a community and then never actually get into that community.

The priority is to go into the community and begin to be a good neighbor to the community, building relationships and learning to be more effective as real community ministry unfolds. In short, the typical church is already ready to go into the community. People from the congregation are already connected to people in the community. People in the congregation already have a testimony to share. People in the congregation already know much about the Bible and biblical theology. The secret sauce to revitalization is not found in preparation; it’s found in being active in the community. As Jesus said, “Go and make disciples.” Internal Matters First shortchanges revitalization.

Revitalization is shortchanged due to granting Permission Over Authority. This final cause that stalls revitalization concerns the working platform that revitalization is given at the outset. Many times, revitalization is granted permission, but is not given authority. It’s important to note that, when discussion regarding the commitment to revitalize is first engaged, it’s operating in a theoretical environment. Nothing has ac-

This is why it’s so important that the revitalization campaign be firmly rooted in God’s calling and vision for a church. Follow this reasoning: if the revitalization effort is centered on God’s Great Commandment to love Him and love neighbor, and if the revitalization effort is fueled by God’s Great Commission to go in the authority of Jesus Christ to make disciples, then the revitalization effort should be granted God’s authority. When all that revitalization has as its backing is the permission of people, it will surely collapse under the pressure of navigating change. If, however, revitalization is viewed as God’s mandate, it will operate in His authority and will be given the steadfast commitment of leaders for as long as it takes and as hard as it gets to succeed. Permission Over Authority shortchanges revitalization.

Again, churches move through a lifecycle of many years, or even decades, to arrive at where they are in terms of health, growth, maturity, and effectiveness. This cannot be turned around quickly but must be given time to gain traction and change the trajectory. However, despite a church’s long journey to plateau or decline, leaders expect a quick turnaround.

When that turnaround doesn’t come quickly, revitalization, regrettably, is often shortchanged.

Ken Priddy (D.Min., Ph.D.) is Founder and Executive Director of the GO Center, a training and consulting ministry committed to church vitalization and revitalization. Ken also directs LEADERTOWN: A Laboratory for Organization & Leadership Development.

His thirty-plus year journey in church planting and revitalization has grown into a national presence among evangelical leaders. He’s an effective trainer and consultant, but perhaps his most significant contribution is his extensive development of training curricula.

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Dealing with Bacon Jams

By Bill Tenny-Brittian I’ve been a preacher and a writer for over thirty-five years now, so you’d think I’d know better than to rely of “cute and clever” article titles. Cute and Clever are the Tweedledee and Tweedledum of communications … they may catch your attention, but they give neither a hint nor a reason for anyone to stop and pay attention to what you’re trying to say because they have no idea if it’s relevant to them – and if they don’t believe something’s relevant, they’re not going to bother taking the time to listen (or to read the article).

That said, there are times when bending the “rules” may be appropriate. In this case, I’ve stuck with this article’s title because I’m hoping you’ll remember it because it’s so ridiculous.

Dealing with BACon Jams stands for dealing with the jams your church Bullies And Controllers are getting you into – because if your church turnaround efforts are going into a U-Turn, there’s nearly a moneyback guarantee that there’s a bully or a controller who’s responsible.

Church Bullies And Controllers In a perfect Kingdom of God kind of world, all our church members would actually be fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ – men and women, boys and girls, who have laid down their sin, their lives, their proclivities, and their personal preferences for the sake of the Kingdom and for the Church. But let’s be honest, when you read the phrase Church Bully, someone’s face leapt into your mind. That

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church member may or may not be in your current congregation, though if you’re trying to revitalize an existing congregation, they probably are (even though you may not know who they are, it’s pretty likely they’re there).

Virtually every stuck or declining church has at least one church bully.

You can easily identify a church bully – they’re the ones who, when they don’t get their way, resort to using either their pedigree as a weapon (“My grandfather helped found this church and I was baptized here when I was nine”) or makes a threat (“If you don’t use the KJV I’m going to withhold my giving”) to try and intimidate you and the church into submission. You see bullies in the both the Gospels and Acts, typically wearing the robes of the Pharisees or the Sadducees.

Controllers are a little more difficult to identify since they tend to be a bit more subtle. Instead of throwing a temper tantrum to try and get their way, they tend to work behind the scenes to maintain their control. They’re often the ones organizing the parking lot meeting after the council meeting or facilitating the telephone tree in order to line up the alliances needed to undermine the latest decision.

Now, let me clear. I’m not talking about simple differences in opinion. Every church … every relationship … has conflict. I’m a Chunky Monkey ice cream fan. Dan is all about vanilla. If we can only buy one flavor of ice cream, there’s going to be a conflict. However, Dan and I aren’t going to

fight about it. He won’t threaten me and I won’t try to undermine him. In fact, when Dan and I get ice cream, we typically get chocolate because we’re both good with that. On the other hand, sometimes I insist we get vanilla and occasionally he’ll insist on Chunky Monkey – which is exceptionally generous of him, since he really doesn’t like banana ice cream. That’s how most people settle most conflicts. But when you’re making changes in a church, changes that are necessary for the sake of the church’s effectiveness, faithfulness, or sustainability, then you’re messing with tradition. And Jesus got a personal taste of what life was like when he challenged the religious leaders’ traditions – and it wasn’t pretty. If you’re a revitalizer, then I’m sure you’ve experienced some of that too.

The question is … what do you do about the jams your bullies and controllers are getting you into?1 BaCon Jams There are three kinds of BaCon jams most pastors have to deal with. The first jam you’ll find yourself in is when a bully or controller get wind of an upcoming decision that s/ he opposes. The second jam is when a bully or controller finds out about a decision after it’s been made. And the third kind of Jam is when they launch a personal attack that’s designed to remove you. We’ll look at the three most common kinds of BaCon jams and then address what you can do about them.

1. Jams Before Decisions When a bully or controller hears of a pending decision about a change they’re unhappy with, their first response is generally to rally their troops. Sadly, some of those that the bullies and controllers pull into their corner are well-meaning church members who are either uninformed or else weak-willed and easily manipulated. The bully/controller often spin the changes as something designed to further the pastor’s agenda, to bolster the pastor’s control over the congregation, or to divert the church’s resources away from what the members want/need – in other words, the changes will be “bad” for the congregation. These accusa1 The most effective thing to do is to give the bullies and controllers an opportunity to repent and if they don’t, then show them to the door (see Matthew 18:15–17 and Titus 3:10 for biblical instructions). As the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” You can find more about removing bullies and controllers in the blog “On Not Being Nice for the Sake of the Gospel” at https://effectivechurch.com/on-not-being-nice-for-thesake-of-the-gospel/.

tions quickly spread throughout the church and often the pastor/leadership team will decide they face insurmountable odds and will give up the notion of change.

If the leadership team decides to move ahead with the decision anyway, the bully may escalate the conflict to the next level with bluster and threats (“If you … then I’ll …”) – this is especially true if the bully is on the decision-making board. However, most of the time, if the bully/controller is on the board, their objections will be enough to undermine the decision, even though a majority might be supportive of the decision. Sadly, most good-hearted church members prefer to avoid conflict and will acquiesce to the opposition even when to do so will undermine the church’s mission and vision. When this happens, the bullies and controllers are empowered because of their “victory” which ensures they will be emboldened when future decisions need to be made. (All that’s to say, wise pastors do everything in their power to ensure controllers and bullies don’t serve in any leadership positions – including serving on committees.)

2. Jams Following Decisions In many churches, the bully/controllers “serve” behind the scenes, that is, they don’t hold a decision-making position on the board or on a committee/team. Unfortunately, just because a bully/controller isn’t in leadership doesn’t mean that they are powerless. Once a bully/controller discovers a decision has been made that they disapprove of, again, they’ll reach out to those in the congregation they believe they can depend on to rally to their side. I’ve been in congregations where the bullies found out about decisions before the board had adjourned and they managed to orchestrate a parking lot meeting before the board members even left the building. Regardless of how the bully/ controllers convene their supporters, their goal is either get the decision reversed, to undermine the decision so thoroughly that the change is abandoned, or in some cases to get the key leader removed from the leadership, which in most cases means that their intention is on either the removal or the neutralization of the pastor. I call these Personal Attack Jams.

3. Personal Attack Jams The third jam you may experience is the personal attack jam that’s designed to remove you or other key leaders from positions of influence in the congregation, or to remove you or them from the congregation completely.

When you find yourself in this kind of a jam, resolution may be very difficult, depending on how long you’ve been

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in the congregation and how much influence you’ve developed with both key leaders and the congregation as a whole.

Dealing with the BaCon Jams If you’re in professional church work, or if you’re a leader committed to church growth, then you’re going to experience one or more of these BaCon jams. In fact, if you’ve been in church leadership for any significant time, it’s likely you’ve met any number of bullies and controllers and have almost certainly found yourself in one jam or another (or one jam after another!). Again, let me say that in a perfect Kingdom of God kind of world, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. However, that’s not a reality and virtually every plateaued or declining church has at least a couple of church bullies and controllers. That said, the best way to deal with church bullies/controllers is to convert them, neutralize them, or remove them before church revitalization strategies are put into place, good decisions are made, and sustainable church growth begins. If you haven’t dealt with them before the revitalization process begins, you will find it increasingly difficult to move forward. However, if you find yourself in a BaCon Jam, here are ways to deal with it.

Pre-Decision Jams If you’re fortunate enough to discover that a batch of BaCon Jam is in the works prior to a decision, your best defense is to go on the offence. By that, I don’t mean you should attack the bully/controller, although a conversation is in order. Start by taking a key leader with you and make an appointment with the bully/controller as quickly as possible. It’s best if you can have the meeting in the church office or at least on the church property. If you can’t meet at the church building, the next best option is to meet on neutral ground, though a caution – meeting a bully in public does not guarantee the meeting will remain civil. More than one pastor has found themselves in public being yelled at, threatened, and humiliated by an antagonistic bully. Of course, the last place you want to meet is in the bully’s home. Before you meet, bathe the appointment in prayer and be sure to tune into the Holy Spirit prior to and throughout the meeting. Once you’re there, stay as close to the point as possible. This isn’t the time for small talk or idle chit chat. However, don’t be any more confrontive than you have to be. The point of the conversation is twofold: (1) to understand the objection; and (2) to dissipate the opposition if possible. In other words, go with the intention to understand more than to be understood. Of course, you’ll want to explain exactly

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what change is being proposed and why it’s beneficial for the church. This may defuse the situation, but in our experience, that’s pretty unlikely. Bullies/controllers tend to make a decision and stick with it, regardless of what facts are presented – they’ve made up their minds and that’s the end of it. So, once you’ve shared the details and reasons for the change, ask about what they object about it – then listen. It may be possible that the objection is valid or that a compromise may be possible. No matter what, though, do everything in your power to keep the disagreement from escalating. If you can do that, there is a chance that the opposition won’t be fully mobilized, but if you manage to escalate the conflict, know that the bully/controller is likely to redouble their efforts to scuttle the decision.

If it’s not possible to deescalate the conflict, then your next step is to build alliances so that the opposition is unable to derail the proposed change. Begin by meeting one-on-one with as many of the decision-makers as possible. Share the proposed changes and why they’re beneficial/necessary for the sake of the church. Once you have their buy-in, you will want to share the reality of the opposition. Don’t be bashful about sharing their objections, but be sure to offer your own responses to them. Finally, ask these leaders for their commitment to support the decision with their vote and with their voice.

In our experience, if you take the time to build alliances prior to the vote on the decision, the change is likely to be adopted and successfully implemented. In fact, bullies and controllers lose much of their power when they discover their objections repeatedly go unheeded and they find themselves being outvoted.

Post-Decision Jams Many times, a decision gets made that inflames the church bully/controllers and they jump into action to try and undermine or reverse the decision. This often begins with an unsanctioned meeting after the meeting where the bully and his/her allies gather to share their grievances and sometimes to make specific plans to scuttle the decision. Unfortunately, often the church’s leadership hears about these meetings and conversations too late to do much about them, not that there would be much you could do about them even if you could show up in the nick of time (but if you do, approach the conversation similarly to the plan in the previous section).

Dealing with bullies and controllers after an onerous decision has been made is significantly more difficult than

when you can confront the issue prior to the decision. In many, if not most cases, when the bully/controller raises their head following a decision, you’re facing the potential for serious church conflict. Depending on the influence of the bully/controller and the size of the church, you could be looking at a church-wide fight. In other words, this is not the time to “hope it will all blow over” or to put off dealing with it. The longer you allow the conflict to go unaddressed, the more allies the bully/controllers will recruit. It’s better to take swift action.

Again, this all begins with a conversation designed to understand. Take a key leader with you and listen to what the objections are. Again, take the opportunity to share the reasoning behind the decision, but don’t be argumentative and do your best to not escalate the conflict.

Of course, if you can come to some sort of an agreement, great. As Jesus put it, “You have won that person back” (Matthew 18:15).

If, however, the conflict isn’t resolved, then it’s time to neutralize the issue. There are two effective ways to do this. First, you can follow Jesus’ plan of reconciliation in Matthew 18:15–17 (see also Titus 3:10). Sadly, few churches have the stomach for following through on Jesus’ mandate and Paul’s reiteration of Jesus’ commands in his letter to Titus. Therefore, it’s necessary to neutralize the bully/controller. To do this, first the bully/controller needs to be removed from any positions of authority.

This may take board action, but hopefully the board will understand the need for this – especially since it’s their decision being undermined. Next, the church leadership, preferably not the pastor, should visit with as many members of the congregation as possible, especially those members who are influential. These visits should be made two-by-two and the agenda is simply to explain the decision and the events that led to the conflict. This is not the time to engage in the vilification of the bully/ controller, though their actions and the dilatory effects their actions are having on the church should be clearly outlined. The goal of these conversations is twofold: (1) To garner support for the decision; and (2) to neutralize future actions of the bully/controllers. The fact is, until the bullies and controllers are neutralized or removed, any revitalization processes are doomed to failure.

Personal Attack Jams When the attacks become personal, then it’s time for the church’s leadership to step up and act decisively. At this point, the conflict has become out of hand and the bul-

lies/controllers must be dealt with in a thoroughly biblical manner. There is no room for excuses such as, “Ahh, you know Kelly. Kelly’s got a good heart, but let’s emotion take over sometimes. Kelly didn’t mean anything by it. Don’t make a big deal over it.” If the church’s leadership won’t deal with those “Christians” who engage in personal attacks and character assassination, then it’s time to tender your resignation because there is zero possibility that the church can be revitalized.

When conflict has escalated to a personal attack stage, then Matthew 18:15–17 must be employed. In general, the board chair or congregational president and one other highly respected church leader (again never the pastor) should meet with the bully/controller and follow Jesus’ plan of reconciliation by the letter. Confront. Ask for confession and repentance. If that is offered, then the next step is for the penitent to clean up the mess by going to their allies, making confession, and mending the broken relationships between them and the pastor. Similarly, the penitent must make amends with the pastor. Even then, the former bully/controller should not be placed into leadership again, especially not while the current pastor still serves. In addition, the church’s leadership should monitor the situation to ensure the bullying never happens again.

Conclusion Sadly, virtually every church has its share of bullies and controllers. When they are allowed to get their way through intimidation, there is no possibility of a church’s revitalization. When a congregation stands up to these men and women, debilitating conflict becomes a thing of the past. When a church becomes a safe place to worship, to meet, and to make the changes necessary to reach the unreached for Jesus Christ, transformation becomes possible. Don’t let your bullies and controllers continue to cripple your church’s future.

Bill Tenny-Brittian is the managing partner of The Effective Church Group. For over thirty years, The Effective Church Group has been equipping churches and church leaders so they can be successful in reaching their mission. He is the co-author of The Role of the Senior Pastor and also teaches Pastoral Leadership for Phillips Seminary with an emphasis on leadership.

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Let’s Cover the Land in

Thank You Jesus Signs!

How it all started...

In 2016, a young teenager named Lucas Hunt prayed for help to display Easter signs in his hometown of Asheboro, NC. Also, he prayed that these efforts would have a giant impact on the Kingdom. A few weeks later a board member at his church, Connie Frazier, sought the Lord’s direction concerning an Easter project for their congregation.

Lucas and Connie were unaware of each other’s prayers and desires. Then, God spoke very clearly to Connie instructing her to design a Thank You Jesus yard sign that would be distributed nationwide.

Thank You Jesus signs were embraced and the wave of gratitude took hold.

Lucas’ prayers and vision, support from Lucas’ parents and Connie’s design and business background led to the creation of the Thank You Jesus signs. This project, with its roots in a small rural church, has turned into a 501(C)3 that receives royalties from the artwork to invest in sharing the Gospel. The investments include grants to spiritual non-profit organizations that seek to share God’s love and the many reasons why we Thank Jesus.

Over 250,000 signs have been sold along with car magnets, gar den flags and bracelets. Hundreds of people have been led by the Lord to purchase and display the signs as a ministry of sharing God’s goodness through Jesus Christ. Become part of the Thank You Jesus movement as it spreads throughout the country!

t r a p e m Becof the o T!

N E M E V MO

www.thankyoujesussigns.com

Don’t Say That—Say This!

Revitalize a Church With the Words You Speak

By Bob Whitesel When leading a church it is very easy to miscommunicate your intentions. It usually happens because you’re concerned about pressing organizational needs as well as the needs of the believers you shepherd. Subsequently, we often use phrases that appear to prioritize the needs of the saints over the needs of the non-churchgoer.

I’m going to show you how this happens in your greetings, your announcements and even your church vision statements … and what you should say instead.

Jesus’ message of compassion for the not-yet-believer.

Jesus emphasized the importance of meeting the needs of those who don’t yet have a personal relationship with him. The “parable of the sheep” (Matthew 18:10-14) where the shepherd leaves the 99 to retrieve the one lost lamb, visualizes this. And in his actions, Jesus demonstrated a deep concern for the wellbeing of not-yet-believers (Mark 1:33-34, Luke 5:1-11). Mark records a poignant image of this when the crowds followed Jesus and his disciples to the seashore. Jesus saw their desperate needs and Mark noted: “So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mark 6:32-34).

Your message for the not-yet-believer.

Many times those first messages a visitor receives will inadvertently push them away, rather than draw them in. This is because when welcoming church visitors, leaders use phrases often tainted by the concerns of the congregation. Church leaders are worried about church finances, not having enough

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volunteers or reaching a new culture of people. And, this comes out accidentally, but clearly in your welcome. The result is often an unintended pushback by church guests.

I don’t believe that most churches are intentionally putting the church family’s needs over the needs of non-churchgoers. It’s only that we spend so much time every week deliberating on the church’s internal needs that this colors the things we say.

And though we intend to reach out to newcomers and help them experience a new life and growth in Christ, we often share those concerns in a way that communicates the organization is more important than the people who need Christ.

What is the most important type of church growth?

Donald McGavran, the Fuller Theological Seminary professor credited with founding the study of church growth, said there were three types of church growth - but only one was desirable.

Biological growth: This is a church that grows because families within the church are expanding.

Transfer growth: These are people who are moving into the area and transferring their attendance or membership. In my research I believe this may be the largest contributor to church growth in America. Often we find growing churches in growing suburbs. The growth is often fueled by transfer growth, not by new believers. McGavran said that this type of growth means, “The increase of certain congregations at the expense of others… But transfer growth will never extend the church, for unavoidably many are lost along the way.” Transfer growth grows one church at the expense of other churches.

Conversion growth: The third type of growth is what McGavran calls conversion growth. This is a church that is growing be-

cause people are being spiritually transformed from their former lives and embarking upon a new Christ-centered journey.

McGavran stated, “The third kind is conversion growth, in which those outside the church come to rest their faith intelligently on Jesus Christ and are baptized and added to the Lord in his church. This is the only kind of growth by which the good news of salvation can spread to all segments of American society and to earth’s remotest bounds.”

3 categories of crises that push people to want to change their lives.

Researchers (using the Holmes-Rahe Social Readjustment Scale) have found that people who are interested in changing their lives are usually motivated by a combination of three categories of crises.

Say This: “How can I help you?” “How can we help you?”

Why: When you say, “I’m glad you are here,” it is usually a true statement. You are glad that they are present. You see their potential to encounter Christ and become a committed part of the faith community. But what they hear is a statement focused upon you and the believers, it’s not about helping them, but it’s about us being happy. Remember, people often come to a church because they have needs and crises in their lives. And healthy church growth comes from people’s lives being transformed for the better through the community of faith and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Don’t Say That: “We want to tell you about the church.”

Say This: “We want to know how we can help you.”

Concern about death and the afterlife. The first crises that drive people to seek to change their lives is a concern about death and dying or a loved one’s death. They have questions about eternity and heaven. They wonder if their loved one went to heaven and who will help them with their grieving. Churches can meet these needs in part by preaching/teaching on the afterlife and offering grief share ministries.

Why: The purpose is not to tell them about the church, but for them to tell us about their needs. Though it is helpful to offer information on the history and theological perspective of the church, guests are usually not ready to learn about this unless they are engaged in transfer growth. Most guests want to let you know why they came to church and what they’re looking for.

Family or marital difficulties. A second area that drives people to want to change their lives is marital or family difficulties including marriage problems, child-rearing difficulties, divorce, adultery, etc. Many times they feel inadequate or a failure due to such difficulties. They come to the church seeking to change their life and to be a more adept and competent person. Little wonder that child-rearing classes, marriage enrichment seminars and divorce care have been helpful (and popular) programs in our churches.

Don’t Say That: “I love being in the house of God.”

Concern about illness: The third category that pushes people to change their lives is illness they are experiencing or someone they know is experiencing. They have questions about healing, helping others and improving their outlook on life. Need-meeting congregations have embraced prayer ministries, counseling programs and support groups for those who are suffering.

Because these three major categories cause people to want to change their lives, we must welcome guests and greet them in a way that shows we know they have needs and we are here to meet them.

THE LIST: Don’t Say That - Say This!

To help understand how to communicate your true intentions (of meeting the needs of others) I have created a list I call: “Don’t Say That - Say This!” Consider each statement and then notice how one better communicates your true intentions.

Don’t Say That: “I’m glad you are here” or “We are glad you are here.”

Say This: “God is here and he wants to connect with you (or help you, or fulfill your life).

Why: As Christians who are growing in our faith journey, we often talk about our growing enthusiasm as we know God better.

But for people who are just beginning their journey of discovery about God’s love, we may seem too far ahead of them to lead them forward and be a relevant leader. Though you love being in God’s house, re-phrase that statement in the context of God‘s presence being there and that he wants to connect with them.

Don’t Say That: “We have a gift for you.”

Say This: “We would like to know how we can help you. So please visit one of our guest services booths so we can help.”

Why: Even though you want to show your gratitude, an appreciation gift can inadvertently create a sense of this-for-that at best, and manipulation at worst. In the leadership world we call this transactional leadership. You give something in order to get something. A person gives 40 hours or more a week at their job and they get a salary. If a better job comes along, they might leave because their motivation is based upon a transaction: giving their time in order to get money. Can you see how a gift might be perceived as a lure to sign a card or visit a booth can feel transactional? One former student of mine offered a $100 gift card to be drawn from the names of newcomers who visited each month. I know him and his generosity is exceptional (they have a region-wide food pantry in their smallish church). But the message he was sending was not helpful to the newcomers.

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Instead tell them you want to know about their needs and see if we can help meet them.

Don’t Say That: “I don’t know.”

Say This: “Let me find out.”

Why: Many people have heard about the art of hospitality practiced by the Walt Disney organization. Part of their Disney hospitality is to never say, “I don’t know,” and instead to respond along the lines of, “Let me find out for you,” or “That is a good question. I will find out.” This takes the emphasis off of the lack of knowledge of the hospitality person. And instead it puts the emphasis upon the hospitality person’s desire to help the newcomer find an answer to the problem.

Don’t Say That: Our mission statement is Belong - Begin - Become Say This: Our mission statement is Begin - Become - Belong Why: “Belong - Begin - Become” is focused on how the organization sees the newcomer’s journey. The organization expects a commitment, to which the organization will respond with tools and community for the newcomer to become a new person.

But look at this from the newcomer’s perspective. They want to know more about you first. Unless they are transfer growth, they are not ready to “belong” in their initial step. Rather, starting this mission statement with “begin” reminds new travelers that there is a process in getting to know one another, experiencing the community of faith and encountering Christ. One of my former professors, John Wimber, described this relationship as dating. When a person first learns about the Good News, your relationship with them is similar to dating. There is no commitment, but you’re getting to know one another. The next stage of the relationship is engagement, and that’s where a new believer begins to give of themselves and the church responds by giving back even more. Finally, marriage serves as Wimber’s metaphor for when a person is ready to make a commitment to both Christ and the church. So, check your mission statement. Even run it by people who are not churchgoers. Look closely and you may find that its focus is on inspiring churchgoers rather than informing those who are just beginning their journey with Christ.

Don’t Say That: “You’re welcome.”

Say This: “I am happy I was able to help.”

Why: Of course if you’ve helped people at your church they will be appreciative. They will usually say, “Thank you.” And the most common reply is to say, “You’re welcome.” But that has become so overused that it’s almost like adding a period to a sentence, rather than opening up to converse further. Instead it’s better to say, “I am happy I was able to help you.” That lets them know

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that you derive your happiness in part because of your ability to help them. Though it may be focused on your happiness, that happiness is based upon your ability to help others.

Don’t Say That: “Come back soon (or next Sunday).”

Say This: “This week, think about ways we can help you.”

Why: As we’ve seen above we want to leave the message, and especially with our parting words, that we are here to help.

Now, make your own list!

This list is not mechanical phraseology to be memorized or anemically repeated. Instead this list is designed to remind leaders how our intentions can be miscommunicated due to the words we use.

Rather than memorize this, do these three things.

1. Re-read the list often and add more phrases to it. Create an ever-expanding list of things you don’t want to say and things you should be saying to better communicate your heart. And, you can join together as a ministry team and create a ministry team list. At your meetings add an agenda item to add to your list and ask people for their suggestions.

2. Re-write and edit the short paragraphs that explain each of your list items. Help someone who is reading your list for the first time to understand why one phrase is preferable over the other.

3. Resist shaming or criticizing others who say the wrong thing.

Everyone goes through cycles where their own pressing needs cloud what they want to say. After years of doing this I still catch myself saying things because it’s customary or because my own needs are driving my attention. Have grace in the way you encourage one another. Don’t criticize or tease those who speak out of their needs rather than the needs of others. Rather, use this exercise and your expanding list as a reminder about how to keep the needs of others first.

Bob Whitesel is an award-winning author/consultant on church health and growth. He has been called “the key spokesperson on change theory in the church today” by a national magazine, co-founded an accredited seminary (Wesley Seminary at IWU) and created one of the nation’s most respected church health and growth consulting firms: ChurchHealth.net

The

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Leading Major Change in Your Ministry, by Jeff Iorg, is a book you needed to read yesterday. Published by Broadman and Holman in 2018, Iorg combines principles upon principle with and intermixed narrative to help pastors and ministry leaders navigate change in their ministries. Iorg draws upon biblical principle and his experiences as a pastor in Missouri, a church planter in the Pacific Northwest and perhaps most recognized for transitioning the now entitled Gateway Seminary out of the San Francisco Bay area. There are three reasons why you need to read this book.

First, Iorg approaches leading change with the skill of a master technician. Iorg is a seasoned change agent. His book identifies key strategies necessary to create and successfully lead major change. Unlike other books on leadership, Iorg identifies his failures and the lessons he gleaned rom them. Those lessons became catalytic moments in leading successful change.

Second, the book flows from the heart of a pastor.

Often change leaders are accused of caring more about the change than the people they are leading. Iorg places a priority on people. He stresses how to bring others to see the need for change and how to lead them through it.

Finally, the chapter on “Leading People Though Transition” is worth the price of admission. Iorg writes, “Change is the new circumstances introduced into organizational life …Transition on the other hand, is the emotional, psychological, and spiritual adjustments people go through when change is implemented (53.) The transition through change last longer than the moment the change happens.

A building may be complete, but the transition to the new space takes longer. A ministry may have began, but transition from the past ministry must be worked through. Change is change, transition is care.

Iorg’s work is a handbook in leadership. The revitalizer will benefit tremendously from this book and embracing the principles. An excellent addition to the revitalizer’s library.

Rob Hurtgen is the Pastor of First Baptist Church Chillicothe, Missouri.

He holds an M.Div from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree in Church Revitalization from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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Dealing with Resistance & Opposition

By George Thomasson Perhaps the most challenging things you may face as you partner with the Lord to resuscitate your gasping church will be resistance and opposition. Resistance because you must lead the church in massive changes. And no one likes to change. However, wasn’t it Albert Einstein who once said, “To keep on doing the same old thing the same old way expecting different results is insanity.” Opposition is the natural overflow of resistance. Often someone who resists change will garner others who also disagree, and they will “gang up” on you. I have learned that no matter how small or great the opposition may be, it always hurts. Unthinkable and hurtful things may be said and done that can leave gaping, emotional wounds.

The question is, “When resistance and opposition occur, how should we respond?” I want to offer some suggestions from Scripture and personal experience.

1. Don’t be surprised.

Jesus said in John 15:20, “…If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” (emphasis mine) And Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:11-12, “…What persecutions I endured!

Yet the Lord rescued me from them all. In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

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(emphasis mine) Unfortunately, it is inevitable that leading God’s church to fulfill its redemptive mission will be met with resistance and opposition. So, don’t be surprised!

2. Identify the source.

Adrian Rogers spoke to this. “Be warned! From Satan’s viewpoint you are a pawn in his game of cosmic chess. Plans have already been made in Satan’s underworld to sabotage you, your loved ones, and your family. How does he plan to gain the upper hand over you? He uses two chief weapons—the world and the flesh. Together, with his orchestrations, they make up a trinity of evil—the world, the flesh, and the devil.

They are interactive forces in a three-pronged attack.” (The incredible Power of Kingdom Authority, Nashville: B&H Publishers, 2002, 3) Often the primary and most hurtful opposition comes from within the church family. Since the unity and oneness of a local church is a powerful evidence of how Jesus Christ can transform lives, Satan will do all he can to bring division resulting in disunity. Jesus knew this well and addressed it in his high priestly prayer on the eve of His crucifixion as recorded in John 17.

“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one…I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one as You, Father, are in Me, and I in you; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent me.” (vv. 15, 20-21) Jesus prayed to the Father that disharmony would not infect His Church.

Jimmy Draper said, “Christ knew there were already tensions and a tendency for divisiveness among His disciples. Some were jealous of James and John, some fought their own insecurities, and some were given to their own egos and mostly concerned with looking out for themselves…It is no wonder Christ was concerned about the group’s unity after He was gone and petitioned God to bring them together.”

(Don’t Quit before You Finish; Franklin, TN; Clovercroft Publishing; 2015, pp. 78-79) When church members resist and oppose necessary changes, often it is because of carnality. Paul addressed this in the Corinthian Church in Chapter 3 of his first letter to them.

“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” Then he gets specific. The Corinthian believers were at odds over whom they wanted to follow. Some followed Paul, others Apollos and still others pretended to be super-spiritual and said they followed Jesus Christ. As a result, disharmony negatively impacted the church family, because church members were in the flesh and not in the Spirit. The same will happen when you begin the journey of resuscitation. Mark it down. Expect it!

3. Respond with kindness.

Jimmy Draper offers wise counsel.

“Make every effort to respond to your critics with kindness. Be the example Christ was to his persecutors—not repaying evil for evil, but kindness for evil. Paul quoted Proverbs 25:21-22 as an example of this when he said, ‘…If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.’ (Romans 12:20-21) …When you show love to all those you are called to

serve and ask only that God’s will be done, you will always please God, even if your opposition may not be pleased…The threat of Satan bringing harm to my family and my church are serious fighting words! It makes me want to do everything within my power to defeat the enemy and protect them. If that means resisting the temptation to get even or not engaging in heated arguments with my most vocal opponents, or not reacting impulsively when confronted, I am all for fighting the battle with kindness and restraint.” (pp. 74,75, 78) 4. Lead in maintaining unity.

Paul drew a graphic picture of what this looks like in Ephesians 4:1-3. “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (emphasis mine) Notice—it is the unity of the Spirit and we are encouraged to keep it in the bond of peace. I guess you could say it is unity produced by the Spirit and preserved by the saints! The word “keep” means to guard or to build a garrison around. As you deal with the resistance and opposition, always remember that your God-given responsibility is to fearlessly and relentlessly guard the unity of the Spirit.

5. Move forward toward God’s vision.

Remember, your church is gasping, and it desperately needs resuscitation. If not, it will surely die! Keep your eye on the ball. You have hopefully helped your key leaders come to grips with the current reality; they have identified the limiting factors that are holding you back from realizing God’s amazing vision for your church. You should develop a game plan to address these factors with solutions. You must facilitate the implementation of the plan. The eternal destiny of many depends on it.

George Thomasson is a native of Arkansas but spent most of his ministry in Florida and Texas. He holds degrees from Palm Beach Atlantic University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He presently serves as Mobilization Pastor for Christ Place Church in Flowery Branch, Georgia.

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Four Characteristics of Positive Church Members in Church Revitalization

By Gary Moritz Church members who try to sabotage efforts in a church revitalization are a threat to the Great Commission and are anti-Christ in nature. These members can use their influence to thwart positive change which can slow down the revitalization process. In a church revitalization, you will have people who do not want the church to find renewal. However, you can build a culture of positive change with those church members who are ready to dig in and move the church forward. These positive church members can become your wall of defense against any attempts at sabotaging the church’s mission and vision as you revitalize and renew your church.

The character traits of a positive church member dictate a strong cultural fortitude for the entire church. I have had to deal with some negative church members in revitalization.

But I have also had the pleasure of leading some incredible people that are still with me and are involved in helping to build a great church. Unfortunately, it’s the sabotaging church members that keep us up at night. They can cause us to lose focus and lead us to believe that the minority voice is the majority voice.

Your job as a church revitalizer is to protect the culture, vision, mission, and values of the church you are leading. These are what give you the ability to do what God has called you

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to. The sabotaging church member is not for you but against you. Chances are they do not respect you as the pastor or head of Christ’s church. It is very difficult to lead someone that does not respect you. All you can do is try to train your church members and attenders to be positive contributors to the process of revitalization.

Here are four key characteristics of positive church members and attenders in a rebuilding and revitalization.

1. Positive church members understand the mission of the church.

Most church members in America do not understand why they attend their church and what their part is in moving the mission and vision forward. The pastor must keep mission and vision front and center and share how church members can become a part of it. The “why” behind what the church does drives the behavior of the church. When a person becomes a member of your church, it is important for them to understand why it exists and how they can immediately become a part of it as they grow closer to Christ. If they do not know the mission, they will stray off course. Teach your church members through your preaching to filter every idea and opportunity through the church’s mission statement.

Sabotaging begins when a church member abandons the mission of the church. If a softball player starts to wear football gear to practice, everyone will notice that he or she is dressed for the wrong sport and that they will not contribute effectively to the team. The same goes for the behaviors of your church members. If certain church members decide to start working against the mission and vision, people will notice. Keep the biblical mission and vision of church in front of people’s minds so that they can continually work towards helping you accomplish it.

2. Positive Church members are thinking of a better way to do ministry.

Positive church members are thinking of a better way to work towards vitality in the church. They don’t just settle and coast, rather they are continually looking for better ways to reach people. It is your job as the pastor to empower your people to make things better. You do this by developing them into better leaders, entrusting them with the mission, and then deploying them to recruit others to join them on the journey. The people in your church must become the vision carriers. There will always be consumers in the church, those that attend but do not contribute. Focus on and pour into the people that have a passion to change the world for Christ. It is difficult to teach motivation and passion. People usually have it or they don’t. Passion and the call of God are the rocket fuel for the Gospel. When passion in a church member dies out, it is a sign that they are disengaging. Monitor the passion of your people. A lack of motivation and passion can lead to sabotage. Challenge your people to think of better ways to do ministry.

3. Positive church members work hard.

Positive church members are teachable. They possess a love of learning and are hungry for the “What’s next?”, “Who’s next?”, and “Where’s next?” They work hard, play hard, and rest knowing they did what they could to help make a kingdom difference. They will bring you new ideas and a plan for integration and movement. All they need is a blessing from you. The energy and enthusiasm they bring to the organization is contagious. Negative church members can sabotage a church revitalization with their attitudes and behaviors.

Instead of being all in and digging in, they complain and try to distract others from working hard. They can be a negative influence on your church, your people, and on you. It is important to teach the people in your church to not listen to the negative voices around them. Challenge them to only listen to God’s voice and to work hard to see the mission and

vision accomplished. Find people in your church that are passionate and work hard and give them something to do in accomplishing the mission.

4. Positive church members say “we” over “me”.

Lastly, positive church members continually say “we” and not “me”. Having the opportunity to change lives and being a part of a healthy, growing church is a privilege. Positive church members see their church as the hope engine for their community. They love Jesus, their church and think of their church as an eternal family. For them, the weekend is another opportunity to impact and change another life. A positive church member lives for others and to make their church great. The idea of team is important to them, and they take their role seriously. They rarely speak negatively of people, their church, or their leadership. They understand empowerment over entitlement. This framework of thinking is essential for the kingdom because unless the people in the church are working together with a strong Gospel focus, it cannot accomplish all that God desires for them. We know that Jesus Christ is the hope of the world, and He wants to change the lives of people. Challenge your people to continually focus on others and not be consumed with self.

If you are fostering and encouraging a positive culture within your people, it will be very hard to sabotage the culture of the church through negative voices. Positive church members can be the majority voice. A church focused on humility, prayer, and repentance will create a positive church environment, and it will be almost impossible for the Devil to use a negative church member to sabotage the organization.

What steps do you need to take to develop positive church members within your church?

Gary Moritz is the lead pastor of City United Church, located in Lunenburg, MA. With a church planter mindset, the Lord called him and his family to New England in 2013 to take over a church in need of revitalization through a pastoral succession. He also works for Liberty University as a subject matter expert on church revitalization and as a assistant professor in the School of Divinity, and he serves as the Director of Church Revitalization for the Baptist Convention of New England.

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It Can Be Done!

By Ron Smith Gideon Judges 6 We all have Midianites in our lives. Each of us have those things that spoil the harvest of life. Gideon was a man marked by insecurity and timidity. We, like Gideon, long for the help and hope of God, but wonder why God is allowing this time in our lives.

Judges 6:13 “Oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?”

Midianites come from the most unexpected places and often in the middle of a harvest.

Here are a few powerful takeaways from the life of Gideon: #1. Midianites are not powerful enough to place you out of God’s reach.

Gideon was hiding from God – he was in the winepress doing the work of grinding wheat. Gideon was hiding, but God found Him. This to me explains the daily life of a Pastor – working hard in your calling, grinding away at the tasks – praying for a breakthrough! #2. Where God has you is a place for Him to work through you.

In Judges 6:12-13 we read of an encounter with Gideon and an angel.

Angel: “The Lord is with you” Gideon: “Oh yea” (paraphrase) The Midianites of your life are either God arranged or God allowed. Either way God will use them! As a pastor, I feel this same way. I often feel as though the task is too big and that God could have possibly forgotten about me. I have questioned God many times when in the process of leading a church; “God, why are you using ungodly people?” “God, why are you allowing such things to happen?” These are common questions in leading a church.

Here’s the lesson; Your winepress, your place of timidity and insecurity, is a place where God desires to make you stronger so He can do the greater work.

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#3. Midianites do not dictate your capabilities, destroy your ability or even detract God’s Sovereignty Midianites create an opportunity for you to be in the presence of God. We must have our spiritual radar up in anticipation of His presence in our lives. If there is one thing I keep learning over and over – Look for God! When I see God then I receive the energy needed to go on. And when I see God, the church sees what I am looking at and then they receive what is needed.

Know this; there is never a time or place where you are that He is not! There is never a time or place where you are that God cannot speak, call, direct, provide, and move! God is daily preparing us to serve Him. We are not a valiant warrior before He call us – we are valiant warrior when He calls us. We do not become valiant in a grand battle – we become valiant in moments of living in His presence!

Let me show you how this looks. In Judges 7 we can glean some very practical lessons that will keep encouraged, focused and prepared for the battles and blessings that are to come.

Lesson #1, Lead out with worship Judges 7:7 “I will save you” Judges 7:11 “You shall hear what they say and your hands will be strengthened…”

Judges 7:21, “Every man stood in his place…”

Here’s the deal Pastor, know your place and the Pastor, put the people in their place and let God work through us right where we are.

Lesson #4, Use the right weapons Judges 7:20-22, “Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” 21 Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. 22 When they blew the 300 trumpets, the LORD set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah,[a] as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.”

Note they yell, “a sword” but they don’t have swords.

What are our Weapons? - Prayer - Belief (Faith in Christ) – Obedience – Worship and God’s Word. These are the weapons we use daily.

Pastor learn this - What we see during the week is what we present on the weekend!

Judges 7:15 “he worshipped” Psalm 22:3, “God inhabits the praise of His people.”

How is your prayer life? Your worship life? What are you reading to fill YOU for the work? Can you name some promises that God is using for you and for the church?

Pastor, How is your worship life? Often in the Old Testament we see worship leading the charge into battle. We do more than deliver messages from the pulpit. We do more than lead from our position. As Pastors we lead from a place of worship. Know this, what we worship is what our church will worship.

How we prepare during the week empowers to fight the battle on the weekend. The victory that is experienced on the weekend carries the church through the week – helping them see the God you declare on Sunday (and the cycle continues).

Lesson #2, Walk In His victory steps

The vision, remember is not a statement, it’s not a strategy. Vision is seeing God! The Victory is God breaking through us and moving around us.

Lok at Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk with Him.” I love these words; “Arise… HAS Given.” (Judges 7:15). From this we learn that God HAS already given the victory. Much of we fear, the obstacles to church growth are already taken care of.

Ours is the job of proclaiming victory. Proclaiming victory is huge in church life. Standing firm on the provisions and promises of God is half the battle.

Ron Smith is the Senior Pastor of WaterStone Church in Longwood and Lake Mary, Florida. Ron is the author of Churches Gone Wild. Ron serves as the National Coach for Renovate and the Co-Leader of Renovate One Day with Tom Cheyney.

Lesson #3, Advance into the battle from your place Listen to Judges 7:16, “And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars.”

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Leading Change: A Six-Step Process to Help See Change Accomplished

By Michael Atherton Church revitalizing leadership must be practitioners in the discipline of leading change. Though leading change is challenging and difficult, it is necessary when dealing with a church that needs revitalization. One reason we often fall short of actually seeing change come about, is that we have not thoroughly given through to how we should go about bring change to the church.

Almost every leader who has ever written on the topic of change has developed a change theory to help practitioners think about change in 4, 6, 8, or 10 steps. Though it would be disingenuous to suggest that every change you lead will be successful by using our six steps, I do want to offer you six steps to help you think about leading change. Equally true, not every proposed change you lead will need all six of these steps in order to be successful. You cannot forget that the church is dynamic and always changing. So, do not run the risk of getting caught in a rut that suggests there is only one way to do something. This taxonomy is just a way, not necessarily the only way. In order to lead change, you must first: Step 1: Identify the challenge When you are in a ministry context that needs revitalization, you must give careful thought to challenges at hand. Likely you will not be able to address everything in one fail swoop. You need to pray, talk, think, consider, pray, discuss, and pray some more. Do not rush this process. Sometimes you are in a position that do not afford you mulligans. So, when you are ready to act, you want to know that you have spent the necessary time needed to correctly diagnose the challenges and prioritize them thereof.

Step 2: Create urgency around the course correction After you identify the challenge and the appropriate response, you need to begin the laboring work of creating urgency around the course correction. This takes time, so do not be in a hurry. In earnest, what you are doing is helping to move people from a state of complacency to a position of action. In order for you to be successful at this task, the leader is going to have to begin removing the reasons for complacency. Though these factors can vary from church to church, consider some of the most common factors that lead congregants to complacency: 1. Low Expectations: There is nothing that breeds complacency faster than setting low expectations that challenge nobody.

2. Unreasonably High Expectations: Have you ever had expectations leveled upon you and are so lofty nobody would be able to achieve them? When a church is constantly facing expectations that are unreasonably high, they may eventually throw their hands up in exhaustion.

3. Dishonest Evaluations: More than one pastor has used a time of revitalization as a tool for manipulation. They offer dishonest evaluations of the church in the attempt to coerce the church to do what they desire.

4. Crises Ministry vs. a Ministry of Crises: Many churches do not find their joy serving in crises ministry environment, rather they are defined as a ministry of crises.

They must jump from one crises to the next crises, to the next crises. Constantly fighting preventable crises wear a church out.

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5. High Pastoral Turnover: Churches become despondent and complacent when they have a new leader at the helm every 18 to 40 months. They would just assume out live your tenure than to have to pay the emotional price of enduring another round of changes that do not fix the problems.

There may be other factors that contribute to the complacency within your ministry context. At this juncture, you need to begin to think through how you eliminate those factors contributing to the complacency of the congregation so that you can create a sense of urgency around the course corrections needed to adequately address the challenges preventing the church from experiencing revitalization.

Step 6: Make any additional course corrections that are necessary After you evaluate the consequences of the changes, when necessary, make course corrections. Nobody has ever expected you to make perfect choices. Predicting every potential hurdle or pitfall is nearly impossible. You will be surprised at how many people will learn to respect their leader when their leader is willing to acknowledge a plan’s shortcomings and make the necessary course corrections.

Step 3: Build consensus

A Concluding Thought…

You never want to walk into a business session or leadership meeting unknowledgeable of where people are standing on the issues. Who are the stakeholders and what are their positions as it relates to the matters at hand? You will be unsuccessful at leading in substantial and sustainable revitalization, if you are fighting the battle on your own. You must build consensus and allow some of your other leaders to help carry the weight of revitalization. Consensus makes vision contagious.

Isaac Newton’s first law of motion states: Everything continues in a state of rest unless it is compelled to change by forces impressed upon it. Churches just seem to naturally gravitate to a state of rest, if they are not inspired to change.

Even when confronted with change, some will resist it, others will tolerate it, while seemingly only a few will embrace it. Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of a church revitalizer to seek God’s direction for the church body and to impress change upon the people in a way that brings honor to God and expands the Kingdom of God.

Step 4: Implement the change As you build consensus, you are working to implement your changes. There are a couple of things that you will want to keep in mind during this phase.

1. Stay in communication with the church.

2. Celebrate the wins, with grace.

3. Keep your ears to the ground.

Step 5: Evaluate the consequences This is really where you as a leader must exhibit humility.

There are times that unintended or unforeseen consequences emerge from change, that one must be willing to acknowledge is not for the good of the church. In those moments, what are you going to do? Will you develop a stubbornness that does not allow you to evaluate the situation objectively? Will you press on despite the unnecessary costs that will be required? Will you dig your heels in and be unwilling to course correct? A humble leader will

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acknowledge that an additional change is required to either harness the power of the original plan or minimize the collateral damage of the changes already enacted.

Michael Atherton has served as the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of O’Fallon, O’Fallon, MO for 15 years. Leading a church in a church merger, he has learned firsthand the challenges of a revitalizer. Mike is the author of The Revitalized Church. Mike leads a Mentored Master of Divinity program at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and is past President of the Colorado Baptist Convention.

The Messy Middle and Adaptive Leadership

By Steve Smith Prepare yourself to face The Messy Middle. You will arrive at this stage soon after the initial steps of revitalization in your church. It occurs between the start, where you begin to address long-standing issues and the end place where the church is evangelistically effective again. The middle stage can be really messy. This is not meant to discourage you, but to prepare you so you won’t be surprised by it.

When you are in The Messy Middle you will sense that: • Not everything is working. In fact, some things you try will absolutely never work for your church. This feels frustrating.

• Not everyone is coming on board with the changes.

Perhaps you’ve got your early adopters, but not the majority yet. Or some of the people that were joining you earlier are now pushing back because they don’t like the changes.

• Some people are leaving the church over the changes. That hurts.

• Some influential people are demanding that you go back to the way things were.

• You don’t seem to have momentum. It feels like you’re pushing everything uphill but never reaching the top.

• Some people that you are partnering with are not working collaboratively.

What do you need to do in order to get through this time?

The first thing is to recognize that change disrupts people’s comfort zones. Choose to accept this. There is no spoon full of sugar to help the medicine go down. People have gotten comfortable with doing the wrong things or following ways that have outlasted their day. You’re asking them to invest in new wineskins. It will take time for some of them to see the value of the new thing God is doing among them.

What’s the late majority? On the Rogers Innovation Curve, changes have their genesis in people who introduce new and better ways of doing things. These changes are very appealing to the early adopters. Together, these people only represent 16% of the congregation. The majority of the church are not sure if they’re going to adopt or even like the changes. The challenge for the 16% is to win over the early majority by allowing them to see lives changed. This part of the process can take anywhere from 6-18 months before the 34% who make up the early majority join your efforts. That still leaves the late majority who are still not ready for the changes. It will take longer to win them over, often through the testimony of the those in the early majority, not the early adopters. The late majority have a lot of reservations. That doesn’t make them bad people. And if they’re among your leadership, you need to adjust your style of leading to help them understand better what the changes are really about.

Recognize that underneath the presenting issues could be the unfinished spiritual business people have in their hearts.

This is the reason why you need to disciple your congregation so they will address this as the first step in revitalization. If it is your leaders who are pushing back, help them to see what is in their hearts that they need God to address.

Either reason for the pushback is good! Knowing they have unfinished business or that they are part of the late majority is not a disaster. It’s honest. And it’s helpful. They are now willing to allow their convictions to come out into the open.

It may feel like they’re being harsh or unreasonable, but at least they’re telling you how they truly feel.

Such is the nature of the messy middle. If it’s any comfort, it happens to everyone. because it’s not just about people. It’s about spiritual warfare. It’s about what Satan does not want to see happen in your church.

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On the other hand, some people may push back because they are part of the late majority. They’re not ready for the change even though they may have appeared to agree with you early in the process.

confused, or resigned, or glad? Gaining all three of these characteristics—self-awareness, other-awareness, and community impact—are necessary to become an adaptive leader.

Adaptive means redefining what the ‘win’ is. You may believe winning means you get to reach all goals that you set. But perhaps the ‘win’ is about the spiritual change that God wants to do in the lives of your leaders first. Perhaps the ‘win’ needs to belong to everyone and not just you. Perhaps the goals you have set are the wrong ones, needing to be rethought.

Adaptive means you will allow other leaders to share their concerns without it becoming a fight. People become angry and combative when they feel they’re not being heard.

Being heard does not mean you have to agree. It means you have to listen. And to respond with understanding.

This means your people are actually ready to grow. They’re open to being persuaded in a way that they haven’t been when they were withholding the truth from you.

What should you do to lead your church at this point?

Conflict and tension challenges you to operate as an adaptive leader—someone who recognizes the emotional discomfort of those with whom he works, listens to their concerns and either redefines the changes needed to be made or adjusts the speed by which the changes are to take place.

To be this kind of leader, you have to develop self-awareness.

What are your inner motivations? Do they flow from your relationship with God or your self-will? Do you see opposition as a problem or an opportunity? Are you secure enough to know you’re leading in the right direction? This last question is important because if you don’t, you’ll never convince others to follow you.

Secondly, you need to develop other-awareness. Are you reading their needs and emotions well? Are they uncomfortable with the idea of change, or with you, or are they uncomfortable with themselves? What do you need to do to help them gain understanding about what God is saying to your church at this time?

Finally, an adaptive leader needs to understand community impact. If your church makes these changes, how will the congregation respond as a whole? Will they be angry, or

Choose not to see their concerns as a personal rejection of you. If the changes you’re advocating mean more to you than being a servant of God and a pastor to your people, you need to take a step back and think about who you are in Christ first.

Adaptive means keeping their concerns on your leadership’s agenda until they’re resolved, but also taking time to have personal conversations. In other words, don’t sweep conflict under the rug. People will walk away from the church or even divide it if you handle them with such little respect. However, do take time between meetings to talk with those who have expressed concerns and answer their questions. Doing this well could recruit them to be part of the change God will bring. You yourself can learn things from these conflicts to guide your own planning and implementation of changes.

Lee Kricher says this: “Keep moving fast but slow down on major turns.” What he means is you do not want to stop the revitalization process because there is conflict. But when you know you are facing a major change that might upset people, slow down, listen more and explain thoroughly before you implement that change. This is how you get through The Messy Middle.

Steve Smith is the founder of Church Equippers Ministries, serving churches by training them in transformational discipleship and church systems. He is the author of several books including The Key to Deep Change and The Increasing Capacity Guidebook.

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Does God really set people free?

Or are we just talking?

Transformational Discipleship was developed to train leaders how to guide both brand-new and longtime believers towards deep spiritual change.

This training is foundational for every believer. It guides people who are stuck on their faith journey due to unresolved, often hidden issues in their lives towards true spiritual, emotional and mental freedom through intimacy with God.

“It’s not like anything I have been through before.”

Pastor John Wright, Titusville, FL “This is life transforming. I’m going to teach the socks off this thing.”

Dr. Phil Phillips, Ft. Myers, FL

Obsessed With Change

By Tracy Jaggers I have become obsessed with the topic of change because it has stifled effective revitalization. I tried to soften the term by using other synonyms, but to no avail. Adjustments mean change; adapting requires change; renovation involves change and revival demands change. No matter how we look at it, change is inevitable, and change is occurring all the time and all around us. It is happening whether we like it or not!

Just a few examples of why I have learned to embrace change: I don’t want a car that only goes 25 mph, has no air conditioning or heating and no windows. I don’t want to go back to a phone attached to a wall. I love color television; you can keep your Black & White set. I love indoor plumbing, especially in the winter. You can keep your drafty old outhouse. And running water; need I say more! And finally, can you imagine life without Amazon?

So, what is it about change that we hate so much? Dan Brown, author of Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code says, “We fear what we do not understand.” His quote is probably one from an unknown author. It is older and longer - “What we don’t understand, we fear. What we fear, we judge as evil.

What we judge as evil, we attempt to control. And what we cannot control…we attack.” Democrats are afraid of Republicans; Republicans are afraid of Democrats. Those who are technologically challenged are afraid of new technology.

Teenagers are afraid of senior adults and senior adults are afraid of teenagers. We fear what we do not understand and what we cannot control.

It is this type of fear that keeps a church from experiencing real revitalization and revival. Members often fear change because they can’t anticipate or envision the outcome. However, staying put can be riskier than changing; whether it’s in a career or a relationship. We risk being left behind if we refuse

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to adjust and grow. The paradox is that although we reject uncertainty, we have the skills to change and evolve beyond our unknown. Fear is an emotion that gets in the way—we lose clarity about our possibilities. On one hand, we resist the unknown preferring what is comfortable and predictable, even though we recognize our path may end negatively and with failure. But, on the other hand, our society is flexible and adaptive. Because of it, we are trained to excel, to thrive and to be successful.

Our fear of change is based on rumors and inuendoes. Life is always morphing, always changing, and we must never allow ourselves to believe the lies that change is not beneficial. We must resist the fear of change and allow ourselves to be a source of fresh, new ideas and innovative adventures.

The only book that is written specifically for the vital life of humanity teaches that change is both natural and healthy – the Bible. Six times in Matthew 5, Jesus says, “You have heard it said…. But I say to you…” All these statements reveal His change from the rules of the past to the examination of the heart. Change is invigorating.

How have we come to the place where a church would rather decline and die as an ineffective tool for the spread of the Gospel instead of being pliable clay in the Potter’s hands? Our Heavenly Father is the One Who is the creator. He is the Potter, and we are the clay. What right does the clay have to tell the Potter what type of vessel he or she should become?

This is the heart of the problem why some church members are hijacking revitalization processes across our nation. We think we should be the one who decides the fate and direction of our churches. We want church to look like what we envision. We want the music to satisfy our preferences, and we want the sermons to soothe our guilts and fears. We have

become the barrier to a mighty move of God, and we seem to be incredibly happy about it. This is both ungodly and counterproductive to the Gospel message!

Why do church leaders interrupt or reject change? It might be that it does not benefit them or make them look good. A church that is in decline or dying does not make for stellar resume documentation. It could be that the new vision did not look like what they were hoping for or what they were working toward. They may not be comfortable with the expected outcome. It will take entirely too long to be realized and they may have future plans that do not include this present location or, it is just not worth the headache or the risk. Whatever the excuse or reason, those in leadership become the barrier that stalls or stops the renewal process.

What then would make a church and the leaders more receptive to change? First, a crisis. Whenever there is a crisis, there is a greater license for doing something new and compelling.

A fire, an attack on the congregation, a hurricane or tornado, government interference or any other crisis gives the leader the availability to make adjustments that were once unwelcomed or rejected.

Second, a clear and compelling plan with attainable goals and incremental checkpoints offers the church a palatable process. Congregants are much more receptive to small, baby steps than large leaps for mankind! Take it slow and be patient!

Third, stories and testimonies of other successful processes display future success. These recommendations are proof of attainability. It can be done; it has been done! Have leaders of past revitalizations speak about the process, the risks, the gains, the losses, and the results. Everyone finds hope in a job well done!

What reveals that change is inevitable? The first sign is usually a decline in attendance and income. The church is losing ground even though most members see it as maintaining or holding its own. The church does not look like their community. The people around the building are of a different ethnic background or socio-economic status. Most attendees are driving into the church and there are few or none who live within walking distance of the facilities. The back door of the church is bigger than the front door (we are losing more than we are gaining). Members are faced with the stark reality that closing the doors of their church forever is going to happen in their lifetime.

Who/what is going to have to change for the church to be revitalized and revived? What MUST change? Ineffective

systems and strategies must be discarded. Antiquated documents (Constitution and bylaws) must be reviewed and revised to allow for adherence to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. The spread of the Gospel must be the highest priority. Every Sunday should have an expectation of God’s presence and power, and people responding affirmatively to the preaching of the Word. We must be prepared to receive the miraculous. New technologies must be embraced and utilized. Attitudes, tolerances, and worldviews must be founded in the Word of God. This whole church thing is not about me, it is not about what used to work, and it is not how we have always worshipped. It is ensuring that Jesus is honored and exalted. I am afraid that we have bought into the lie that, “what is right is what “all of us” want or like and what we know has always glorified the Lord.”

How can we help ensure a plausible change process?

• Find out what our congregation is observing.

• Use terms that make change more agreeable and achievable.

• Offer clear and compelling goals, and checkpoints that will keep us on track.

• Set goals that are incremental (baby steps).

• BE PATIENT! • Give testimonies of other turn arounds and benefits.

• REMIND THEM: New birth is always accompanied by pain. We can never avoid some level of pain.

• Train for shared leadership and burden bearing – use a vision team approach.

The need for change does not mean our past was a failure.

Change allows us to pass on our legacy, our victories, and our successes to a new generation who is striving to build their own. Let us learn from one another and value each other’s gifts and skills and passions for the good of the church, the deliverance/rescue of the lost and the glory of God. Our church’s goal should be to change the world but let us be wise and start by changing ourselves!

Tracy Jaggers is the Associational Director of Missions of Gateway Baptist Association, Edwardsville, Illinois.

Tracy’s doctoral degree is the DMin in Church Revitalization from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, MO. He writes for state and national revitalization websites and speaks for revitalization conferences and webinars. He is a contributing author for the book entitled, Practical Tools for Reinventing the Dying Church. His website is: www.churchrecharge.com.

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Aristotle is the Problem

By Pete Tackett Every church committee or board that that has ever interviewed me said some variation of the same thing. They offer such statements as, “We are poised and ready to go and just need the right leader to come in and lead the way.”

“Things have been difficult lately, but we are ready to do whatever it takes to move ahead and we need a leader like you to get us there.” My favorite is “We are just a bunch of hungry sheep in need of a shepherd to get us to greener pastures.”

For the record, I don’t believe those boards/committees are knowingly lying about the willingness of the church to do what it takes to revitalize. However, we all know that rarely is a church as ready to follow a revitalizer as they say they are. In fact, a church has to be almost dead and unable to move in any direction to just follow the revitalizer in faith. Otherwise, there will be opposition.

Others will address many of the reasons why, but I want to focus on just one reason why lay leaders who love the church and have served it for decades are often the most vocal saboteurs of the revitalization process. In fact, right now, I am regularly praying for a young revitalizer that I helped connect with the church he is serving. I know many of the “old guard” at the church from my time in the area many years ago and they want the church to be healthy. The pastor knows how to get it there, but the old guard continues to make life difficult for him.

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In another situation, I presided over the death of a congregation and the hand off of their assets to a sister organization and a young church planter. I spent years praying for and with those older people and know they loved their church. Yet, each time a pastor tried to lead them, he was blocked.

These are just two examples of a story that is told a thousand times in revitalization. If both the revitalizer and the old guard yearn for church health and vitality, where is the road block?

I don’t know if any empirical evidence exists in the form of a study anywhere, but I have come to believe Aristotle is the problem.

It was Aristotle who coined the phrase, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” In organizations of any kind, I have seen that to be true, especially in church world. If a pastor does not possess leadership gifts and fails to give a clear call directionally, that vacuum will suck in a lay person or group who may or may not have the gifts, information, and insight to lead well.

Sometimes, those people who rise up to fill the vacuum are naturally gifted leaders who are not spiritually mature enough to lead God’s church. After all, God gives us pretty clear standards for those elders who would presume to lead. Other times, the problem is gifted servants see no one else is doing it so they step into a role they are not prepared to fill. In my denomination, many churches are dea-

con-led, but elect men based on their service gifting and then demand they exercise leadership when something goes wrong. There are also times when plainly wicked, unbalanced people step up just because no one else will and they like being in charge. Regardless, when that happens, God’s plan of church leadership is thwarted and it almost never goes well.

Surprisingly, that is not the problem when a church starts toward a path of revitalization and then turns back. After all, if the church elders won’t put Biblical leadership in place and teach the church to follow it, what would you expect to happen? No, the problem is simple.

Once you have filled either an official or unofficial position of leadership in a church, it is hard to give it up, even if you want to be free of it. Many times a church revitalizer is surprised to find the very person he had counted on to help him lead the process is privately undercutting him because of either old friendships with people who are unhappy with the change or because in their pride, they are feeling left out of major decisions for which they would formerly have been asked for input.

The other issue is that the church has been looking to those people for leadership either officially or unofficially for years and when things get tense they turn to them rather than to the pastor for direction and reassurance. Early in my current pastorate, I was asked at every major turn if I had talked this over with James and Peggy (the names have been changed to protect ME). I had to explain that I usually consulted the Holy Spirit before checking with James and Peggy. To their credit, they filled no official role and did not want to influence the process, but people kept coming to them and they did not know how to deal with them.

Another church pastored by a friend of mine is still stuck because the founding pastor in nearly 90 and is still in the church. He is gracious, kind to the pastor, and never speaks publicly, but the people know they can bend his ear if they don’t like what is going on.

There is an old adage in financial world that says, “The best day to start planning for retirement was yesterday and the second best day is today.” Likewise, dealing with both official and unofficial leaders who sabotage revitalization

needs to be done at the earliest possible time. If you are considering a church revitalization role, you need to make clear up front that those who have been making the decisions need to step back and make room for new leadership.

After all, if what they have been doing worked, they would not need you.

If you are already in the middle of a revitalization project and you are running into the “shadow government” problem, I suggest two things. First, go to the person or persons everyone else is looking toward and lay the cards on the table. If it’s early enough in the process that it has not grown confrontational, you can ask them to either get on board or step aside. A second option is before it turns into such an entrenched, personality driven chasm, have an honest conversation with the church, letting them know that the inevitable outcome of division will be failure and nobody wants that.

In my first months where I serve now, we had to have that conversation in a church listening session. I simply said there are going to be rumors and fears but if and when we make a decision of any kind, we will bring it to you for discussion and input. In the meantime, if you hear someone talking, ask them if they heard that from Pastor Pete or the chairman of the revitalization team. If the answer is no, rebuke them for gossip and tell them to come talk to us.

Three months later, I was making a prospect visit to neighbor of James and Peggy. He told me he had to informed James he would not come because he heard I was leading them away from our denomination. James had rebuked him and said if he didn’t hear it from Pastor Pete or the chair of the team, it was sinful gossip. That was the day I knew revitalization was going to work.

Pete Tackett is Lead Pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Johnson City, Tennessee, and a Pastor Connector for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. He regularly partners with churches and pastors engaging in revitalization. He is the author of re.Vital.ize: Lessons Learned in a Recovering Church.

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We’re Burying the Wrong People

By Matt Henslee Change is hard. As church revitalizers or replanters, we know this to be true. Whether it is overhauling systems and structures or changing something innocuous like carpet, if you want to test the thickness of your skin, just change something—even if it is the bulletin layout! You might see more pitchforks and torches than water stains on the ceiling tiles.

And if you want to change those, they might decide to bury you with them!

As I said, change is hard, but it is also necessary. Maybe the logo is 90s-era clipart, or perhaps you discover Bro. So and So uses his Sunday School class as a weekly political rant-fest or rally. Maybe the letters on your sign have seen better days, or perhaps their idea of a projector involves transparencies. The list of changes you might need to make over time is limitless, but one thing is as certain as death and taxes: opposition.

A few months ago, I got to hang out with a few pastors. We talked about our families, our spiritual walks, and our churches. In this tiny sample size of pastors, all of us, by God’s grace, shared encouraging things happening in our lives. All of our families seemed to be thriving, as were our walks with the Lord. By all accounts, everything was going well––until we got to the topic of our churches.

Some were growing and facing spiritual warfare. Some were declining and battling discouragement. One was open and honest about struggling with complacency. We talked through our varied experiences, but one went silent. No one noticed at first as we went back and forth in our discussion, but then one member of the group asked, “What about you, Bartholomew (name has been changed)?”

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“Can I be real for a moment? We are burying the wrong people.”

An awkward, uncomfortable silence ensued, and he added, “I’d heard some churches are a few moves or funerals away from health, but the wrong people are moving or dying, y’all.

I’m just struggling.”

After the immediate feelings of ‘what did you just say’ ran their course, each of us empathized with the struggle and began to offer much-needed encouragement to this dear brother at the end of his rope. He had been implementing changes in his church, and some of his biggest supporters passed away in only a few months. Unfortunately, the deaths only served to embolden his opposition.

Therefore, with fewer people in his corner as he navigated necessary changes, the naysayers seemed magnified in his mind. As we pursue change amid our revitalization efforts, it can be tempting to merely want the right people to get out of the way so our efforts are more effortless. Maybe you have been there, too, and you might have even prayed as I have, “Lord, just get Mrs. So and So out of the way.”

Addition by subtraction.

In one of my church revitalization seminars at The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Kenneth Priest pushed back on the adage of “addition by subtraction.” During the discussion, I pushed back against his argument, although he made an excellent case for it that began to change my outlook. His convicting counsel had more to do with humility.

Yes, sometimes it might seem like a good thing when someone, especially someone who appears to be in the way, moves on. But pastor, tread carefully here. After all, we have one enemy, the evil one, and rarely (if ever) a church member.

In fact, our biggest struggle will almost always be our pride and the temptation to celebrate the departure of someone we’ve chalked up to as the enemy. When a member seems to oppose us at every turn, it is easy to move them into the same category as the devil himself.

And I get it.

If you are leading change, there will be opposition. And that opposition may be influenced by our true enemy, but brothers, be careful. We do not know their hearts; we do not know their motivations. It could just be an adverse reaction to change.

Our church has grown as high as 325% in my time here.

Many changes had to be made for this to happen, of course.

Most celebrated and embraced the changes in a reinvigorated church. Most, but not all. Some changes saw opposition, and others led to departures. To be honest, it was tempting to be disheartened by the opposition and celebrate the departures. Honestly, it was also tempting to scrap it all and go elsewhere.

As you aim to see God revitalize the church you are pastoring, stay focused on preaching, praying, loving (yes, even the hard to love), and staying. It is easy to let a few naysayers take your focus off the main thing or throw in the towel too soon.

Don’t. Stay focused.

2. Do not give up on anyone.

In a given church, you will have your fans, your foes, and those on the fence. Your fans will love you even if you preach in a hideous Christmas suit (trust me, I have tried this). Your foes only celebrate if you leave. Those on the fence are still undecided, but a few things...

• Don’t let your fans give you a big head.

• Don’t let your foes make you wish you were dead.

Whether a fan, foe, or fence-sitter––all are made in God’s image, loved by Him, and placed by Him in your church. Accordingly, if we genuinely believe passages like Philippians 1:6, knowing God will not quit on ‘em––will you?

3. Do not give up on yourself.

Just get out of the way.

You’re putting in the hard work of sermon prep, training your folks well to share their faith, and seeing (or not seeing) growth. As you are leading and face opposition, it will feel like you’re not enough.

When I speak with pastors, especially pastors doing the hard work of revitalization or replanting, I sense a similar struggle.

Most do not come out with it as blunt as “we are burying the wrong people,” but we do tend to share a hope that some people would just get out of the way.

Mrs. So and So sends that negative email on a Monday, and you are just done. Well, let Spurgeon cheer you up: “If anyone thinks ill of you, don’t be angry with them, for you are far worse than they think you to be.” Encouraging, huh? But it is a good reminder.

What if, and hear me out here, the biggest win isn’t them getting out of the way? What if the biggest win isn’t them moving on but getting on board? What if the biggest win is to lay down your pride, humble yourself, and pursue these socalled enemies we’ve created?

Stay lashed to the cross and remember your identity and worth is in Christ, not someone’s opinion of you. Stay in the fight, and you might just see that foe become a friend. Or, God might use them to keep you humble and reliant on Him. Change is necessary, and pushback is inevitable, so lead on with grace, patience, and thick skin.

Keep at it.

I realize there is tension here; I realize it may seem wholly impossible. And do you know what? It might never work, but I did not learn to ride my bike without a few scraped knees.

With that in mind, allow me to make a few suggestions as you aim to follow through with necessary changes in your church...

1. Stay focused.

God has placed you at ________ Church as their pastor. Accordingly, you are called to “preach, pray, love, and stay,” as some replanting leaders like to say.

Matt Henslee is the pastor of Mayhill Baptist Church. He earned his BA in Christian Ministry from Dallas Baptist University, his M.Div. in Theology and D.Min. in Church Revitalization from The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and is a consultant with SWBTS’ Center for Church Revitalization. He hosts Not Another Baptist Podcast, The Potluck Podcast, and is the author of seven books, including Replanting Rural Churches.

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Fresh Starts Needed; How Nostalgia Holds Us Back

By Brian Thorstad Many church leaders are telling us that there isn’t going to be a return to “normal” any time soon, or ever. Even if your “good old days” were in 2019 (instead of 1955), the 2019 version of “church as usual” isn’t coming back.

Even churches which weren’t even slightly interested in experiencing revitalization are facing the prospect of needing just that. It’s like being tossed into a leadership role when it was the last thing that you wanted.

But here’s something that could jettison the fresh start your church needs: Nostalgia.

I had always thought of nostalgia as something warm and fuzzy and harmless, like the feelings I experienced watching “It’s A Wonderful Life” or driving past the homes I grew up in.

But Robert Dale’s wonderful little book, “To Dream Again” changed my mind. Nostalgia is derived from two Greek words, nostos (to return home) and algia (a painful condition). You could say that “good nostalgia” is the warm and fuzzy feeling you experience when remembering a good past which you don’t want to return to, while “bad nostalgia” is the painful feeling experienced when remembering an idealized past that you want to – but can’t – return to.

So it’s no wonder that the word sounds like a disease: Nostalgia can be a painful condition which causes people to fail to face the real world and take needed action.

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Here are four ways nostalgia holds us back in churches which need fresh starts: 1. Nostalgia remembers our church family as complete and whole.

I’ve been laughing at myself over this one. Lately I’ve been thinking about the hundreds of wonderful people who attended the church which my wife and I were part of for 17 years. Looking back, our perspective is skewed. In my rearview mirror, I see all those people worshipping, loving and laughing together.

But that’s not the way it was. Most of those dear folk “passed through” the congregation over 17 years. In truth, we never had more than a couple hundred of them in the church at any given time. My memory is sweet, but it’s a fantasy.

Here’s how this can be a problem in your congregation. People looking back remember the church as larger than it ever was. Current reality is no match for our delusions. As Elwood P. Dowd said, in the play (or movie) Harvey: “I struggled with reality for 30 years and finally won out over it.”

More problematic still is the notion that our church will be what we think it used to be when we get all those people back. Sometimes the new pastor is saddled with the impossible task of regathering scattered sheep, or – worse yet – regathering angry sheep who are never going to be cheerful members of the church in its present or future form.

I had an unforgettable job interview with a church board which wanted me to come as their interim pastor and win back the 350 people who had left their church and gone elsewhere. It seems that their super-star pastor had been followed by a much less gifted man who allowed half the flock to slip away. Somehow, I was supposed to lure them back.

I told them that I’d love to help their church move forward into the future and learn how to win lost people, but I had no magical ability to woo back their 350. I didn’t hear from them again.

The Chinese proverb says that “you can’t step into the same river twice” and the saying holds true for congregations as well. There simply was no ideal time when “all the members of the church family” were there.

2. Nostalgia idealizes a perfect past.

If we really could go back, what year or month would we go back to? Would two people be able to agree on this?

If I try to go back to a near perfect time in my childhood, I’m hard pressed to say which year that should be. If I go back to, let’s say, my eighth birthday, all my grandparents were alive and my family had not yet experienced the turbulence of the 1960s.

But in reality, I was sick a lot, my sister and I fought like cats and dogs and I was bullied in my neighborhood. Fast forward a year and my first grandparent was gone as well as my first girlfriend (yes, I started early).

Everybody’s smiling in those family photos of course, but that doesn’t mean that we were having a great time. Even on a bad day we all smile for the cameras.

In our old church photos we’re all smiling too, but that doesn’t mean that we had a perfect congregation.

3. Nostalgia promises a world without change.

Back to the photographs: No matter how long we keep them they don’t change. The freezing of the action accomplished by the camera makes us think that things weren’t changing, but we’re mistaken.

In truth, our lives were changing constantly, even back when those photos were taken. Within two years of that eighth birthday I mentioned above – pizza and Coke bottles on the table as usual – we had moved to a new town, my dog had died, my cat had abandoned the family, my siblings and I had hit adolescence with a bang, we were all having a terrible time with the move and my father had a miserable new job.

Things changed more slowly back then, but they did change, and the changes were as unstoppable and unsolicited as they are today.

4. Nostalgia precludes adventure with inertia.

It’s easy to see this fault in others. The Jewish people wanted to return to the security of slavery in Egypt. The first believers didn’t go into “all the world” until they were scattered by persecution. First century Jewish Christians wanted to return to the certainty of the Law of Moses and most of them weren’t interested in reaching Gentiles. My mother wanted to replace her old broken radio with an identical new one. My wife still likes clunky old land-line telephones. Most of us would rather be safe with the familiar than sorry with the unfamiliar. “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

But God is always calling us to embrace change, risk and adventure, and sometimes He rocks our world with plagues, persecution, grace, transistors, smart phones, pandemics and much, much more. ……………………………….

Thousands of brave leaders – who will call God’s people to leave their nostalgia and embrace fresh starts – are needed now.

This is a tall order. God’s people must face the reality that their boats have been burned on the beaches of the post-COVID world. There’s no going back to the early Spring of 2020. The leaders who help God’s people to face this will need courage, conviction and patience.

Will you rise to the occasion?

Can you help pastors and lay leaders to rise to the occasion?

After thirty-five years of pastoral ministry, Brian A Thorstad is now serving as a Church Health Consultant with Church Assistance Ministry. He lives with his wife Donna in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. He is the author of three books: Heaven Help Our Church!, Redevelopment: Transitional Pastoring That Transforms Churches, and the newly released A Really Great Church!

Find him at www.helpingchurchesthrive.com

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Why Church Turnaround Leads to Conflict and Sabotage

By Gary Westra Most churches tend toward the conventional and value tradition. By virtue of the fact that a church is a system composed of human relationships, its default setting is “preserve the status quo.” But the static or declining church’s best chance for renewal is to follow the pastor’s lead when that pastor upsets the status quo. Church turnaround demands that the pastor be given the freedom to run in the open field.

But most churches will resist or openly oppose the pastor who operates in this fashion. This is why conflict is usually inevitable.

Not always, of course, but usually.

Pastor Phil from Spring Valley Church (a real pastor and church with the name changed) fits the Turnaround Pastor profile, according to our research at Turnaround Pastor. He is verbally assertive and values freedom and change.

Spring Valley was on life support when he accepted their call.

They were landlocked in a decaying neighborhood with no room for expansion and working out of an inadequate facility. This moribund church had dwindled to a small handful of people. It was in great need of help.

Spring Valley had been struggling so badly that they actually were reincorporated under Phil’s leadership. Then, within just a few months, this Turnaround Pastor had led them from 40 to 70 in worship. After almost doubling the Sunday attendance with Phil’s leadership, you would assume that Spring Valley Church was thrilled!

They were not.

When the church was being reincorporated, Pastor Phil appointed five trusted leaders in the church as an advisory council. Being new to the church, he trusted the insights of others in the choice of council members.

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Conflict erupted almost immediately. Things were working, but people weren’t happy. Two of five council members soon began to oppose Phil. “I constantly was accused of ‘trying to take over.’”

The church had a history of making but not acting on decisions.

Pastor Phil did what turnaround leaders do – he acted on and implemented things the council affirmed. Even though the council had affirmed them, he reports, “This raised some people’s blood pressure.”

Over the next several years, Spring Valley grew to 200 in worship, baptizing over 50 new believers in that time. In the midst of seeing the church reach people for Christ and seeing life transformation, one of the antagonists said (without realizing the irony), “I’m waiting to see if God is in this.” Phil responded to that by saying, “If people are coming to Christ and being baptized and being transformed by Christ, how could God not be in it?” The antagonist said nothing.

But open conflict broke out once again, and the church fell back to about 100. Do you see that irony? After that latest brouhaha the church still hovered at the century mark, more than double the size it was when Pastor Phil arrived!

Turnaround and conflict go together. Change, a prerequisite for turnaround, usually results in conflict. Turnaround Pastors like Pastor Phil are not conflict adverse (unlike their maintenance-oriented colleagues). As hard as Pastor Phil’s journey and the journey of Spring Valley Church has been, today they believe they are in a better position to be in mission to the community and make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Today, Spring Valley hovers around 100, but they finally have a unified leadership, a shared vision, and they have sold their landlocked and inadequate facility.

Now worshipping in a beautiful school auditorium, the church is looking for a full-time children’s pastor. Those that remained and have followed this Turnaround Pastor are part of a church that is now poised to move forward.

NAVIGATING THE WHITE WATER Spring Valley illustrates an important challenge that turnaround leaders have to face. Even when things are going well, the Gospel is advanced, and people are growing in Christ, there’s a good chance the church will explode in conflict. This happens when the church reaches the critical inflection point – that moment when newcomers become a majority. “The white-water stage of church growth is when the newcomers outnumber the existing members.” (Carl George and Bob Logan) Pastors desiring turnaround and revitalization must learn how to pilot the church through the turbulence.

If you’ve been white-water river rafting, you know the cause of the turbulence is below the surface – a hidden sandbar, unseen boulders, or a pinched channel. A contest for power lurks, hidden just beneath the surface of the turnaround church. Gene Wood has asserted, “...95 percent of all serious problems in the church stem from a power struggle.” When new members assume leadership positions or begin to influence policies, programs, and procedures, a wild ride is close at hand.

Carl George and Bob Logan give timeless counsel on this issue, timeless because the sociology of groups does not change.

Their “Berry Bucket Theory.”

• The Older Former Berries (those who are older than the pastor and were there when he arrived).

• The Younger Former Berries (those who are younger than the pastor and were there when he arrived).

• The Older New Berries (those older than the pastor but came after the pastor).

• The Younger New Berries (those younger than the pastor but come after the pastor).

One way a pastor survives the “white-water” stage of a growing church is to know how to interact with each of these four groups. With the Older Former Berries, the pastor serves as a chaplain. To lead these people who are older than the pastor and were there before he or she arrived, ask them questions.

“Where do you think God is leading us? What direction are we heading?” Then, you help them reach their objectives.

With the Jr. Former Berries, the pastor provides vision. Yet, these Jr. Former Berries are hard to predict, because they sometimes side with the Older Former Berries (who are often their relatives) and sometimes they follow the lead of the new pastor. A wise approach is to seek to assimilate them with Jr. New Berries – their contemporaries – so that they build relationships with them.

The Jr. New Berries follow the pastor as a default setting. He or she is older and wiser than they are and was already in the church when they came. They joined the church in part because of the pastor. So too the Sr. New Berries. Yet the Sr. New Berries have a great deal of life experience. While they are inclined to trust their pastor, they need to see credibility and that the pastor has done his or her homework. They will follow, but only when they see the wisdom of a decision.

I still recalls the tension of the days when I pastored Princetown Church. The church had added about 100 members over the first several years. I sensed the Elder and Jr. Former Berries being guarded and reticent. The church was thriving, but I didn’t sense enthusiasm and “buy in” from them. In the providence of God, this coincided with my being in a Doctor of Ministry class where Carl George presented the Berry Bucket Theory. That moment, and the results that followed, are still clear in my memory.

“What are some things I can do about this?” I asked. “Go back and share this material with your church board,” Carl responded.

“Yikes,” I thought, “that sounds risky!” But I did it. I still remember standing at the white board in the boardroom drawing the buckets. For one thing, I can’t draw! And I was really nervous how people would react to this material. Contrary to my concern, it was an “Aha!” moment for the board. It was like letting air out of a balloon. Tension was released.

It was clear that the Berry Bucket expressed their feelings. Most were Former berries. I’m certain they knew many friends and family who shared their feelings. The ensuing dialog gave everyone a voice and helped us understand one another. As a result, Princetown avoided some conflicts during this “white-water” growth period.

The critical issue here is pastoral differentiation. Is the pastor differentiating himself from the different groups? It is imperative that the pastor not “join” one of the groups, but stay connected to all the groups. To survive the white-water phase of church turnaround and growth, hang on and stay connected!

This article is excerpted and adapted from the book “Pastor Unique: Becoming a Turnaround Leader” Gary Westra has served churches of under 100 to over 1000, primarily serving as Senior Pastor in multi-staff churches. Gary now serves as Vice President and Director of Coaching at Turnaround Pastor Inc, training church revitalization leaders. He led a study of the statistically significant characteristics of turnaround pastors. He is co-author of Pastor Unique: Becoming a Turnaround Leader.

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Read From It. Learn From It. Lead With It.

Help Your Church

THRIVE! NEW! A Really Great Church!

A primer on how ordinary church members can help their churches become extraordinary.

Made for small group use including discussion questions at the end of each chapter.

ISBN: 978-1-93681-2387 Also available from Brian: Redevelopment: Heaven Help Our Church!

Transitional Pastoring That Transforms Churches A Step-by-Step Survival Guide for Christians in Troubled Churches Provides a complete guidebook to the revitalization of Gives the reader a roadmap through the rugged territory of church difficulties. Available on Kindle or Paperback.

ISBN: 978-0-91180-2542

a congregation by way of a Redevelopment Transitional Pastorate. It is simple, readable, practical and includes a treasure trove of appendices which give the reader tools to put to immediate use. ISBN: 978-0-91180-2917

Available at NextStepResources.com or on Amazon 1-800-444-2665

The local church is the only organization that can facilitate eternal hope, lasting change, and total transformation in the lives of people and communities everywhere. Even so, today’s local churches are often in desperate need of renewal and revitalization themselves. In The Revitalized Church, Pastor Michael Atherton uses his firsthand experiences to show how a local church community can once again become vibrant. The Revitalized Church shares Atherton’s eighteen-month journey merging two church communities with a common vision and discusses the challenges and the victories he encountered. In addition, he examines the key biblical leadership principles that were used to help sustain the church community.

Five Best Practices of Growing Sunday Schools

By Fred Boone What would Jesus say to the world if he had 30 seconds to speak to the entire world? Would He say repent and turn from your sin? Would He say love me with all your heart, mind and soul? I believe He would say what was recorded in the Gospel of John. John 4:35, “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” The challenge for the church of the 21st century is to keep an evangelistic focus. The churches that embrace these five practices not only teach the Bible effectively they also reach more people for Christ.

In the fall of 2019 issue of SBC Life – J.D. Greer (President of the Southern Baptist Convention) talked about an evangelism strategy that the SBC adopted in 1954 to enroll 1 million people in Sunday School in one year and they called it a “Million More in ‘54” and this resulted in a record number of baptisms that year. J.D. said that gave birth to “Who’s Your One” campaign his church adopted that resulting in a record number of baptisms. This is an example of the result of one of the five practices.

Several years ago, the Georgia Baptist Convention did a study of the 100 fastest growing churches in Georgia. In

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their research they discovered some common factors. Five of the common factors related to their Sunday School or Small Group ministry. Those factors are what we will be discussing in this article.

Thom Rainer did several research projects which further confirmed these five practices. His research was documented in three of his books: Effective Evangelistic Churches, The Unchurched Next Door and Surprising insights from the Unchurched.

Practice One – Workers (Servants): “A worker is any individual that is prayerfully recruited and trained to staff the Sunday School.” It begins by praying for Laborers – Luke 10:2 “Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.” It is interesting fact that the only prayer Christ ordered us to pray was for laborers. The growing Sunday School knows it needs many recruited and trained team members to build a growing group. Not only a teacher but you need an Outreach leader and Care Group leaders for every 4 to 6 members. A prayerfully and trained team results in a growing and effective group.

Practice Two - Prospects: “A Prospect is anyone that you know general information about, and your Sunday School could minister to.” The growing class is always thinking about that next new member because they believe Luke 10:2, “The harvest truly is great.” The class Prospect list should equal the class Member list (Enrollment). There should be a systematic method of following-up on the Prospects. They should be assigned to Care Groups. The group is using weekly contacts – to show love, concern, compassion and care to members and prospects with the goal of involving the member or prospect in life changing Bible study. Another name for the Prospect list would be the class – Prayer List.

Practice Three - New Units (Classes): “A Unit is a Teaching Unit – in the youth and adult areas, the teaching unit is usually called a “Class”, but in the children and preschool areas, the teaching unit is sometimes termed a “Department”. A teaching unit is a group of pupils and a teacher. Growing Sunday Schools understand that new classes grow faster, win more people to Christ, provide more workers and encourage constant growth. New units reduce Teacher - Student ratio and make outreach and ministry more effective.

Classes reach their maximum growth or “saturation point: within 18 - 24 months after their beginning. They follow the basic laws of biology. The fruit develops on the new growth only. Addition = Multiplication. Growing Sunday Schools practice a minimum of one teaching unit for eighteen enrolled for total Sunday school.

Practice Four - Outreach: “An organized effort to go outside the walls of the church to share the gospel and enroll people in Sunday School. It is the Great Commission in action.” The growing group understands the truth of Mark 1:17, “And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” The command to GO was given by Jesus in 5 books of the N.T. It was the first command given, Mark 1:17 and it was the last command given, Acts 1:8. Outreach is taking our warm hearts out and touching the worlds cold hearts. Enrollment and attendance increase in direct proportion to the number of personal contacts and visits. The growing Sunday School is always seeking a method that allows them to get beyond the four walls of their class. They understand that that fishing takes place outside.

Sunday School has experienced the truth of Psalm 126:5-6, “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.” Enrollment is the most powerful number the Sunday School keeps. The Power of Enrollment – for every 3 lost people enrolled 1 will be saved, where only 1 in 250 outside the Sunday School be saved. Southern Baptist proved this fact after years of research on thousands of churches.

Another name for the Enrollment list would be – A Ministry List.

Conclusion: Psalm 126:5-6, “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”

- Sow (seed), The word of God. - Tears, compassion – Matt. 9:36, “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd.”

- Goes out weeping – A broken heart for the lost. A burdened person.

- Bearing the seed for sowing – to increase the harvest you must plant more seed, to do that you must expand the field (Enrollment).

- Bringing his sheaves – the harvest (salvations) - RESULT – Shouts of Joy! Growing churches have used many different methods and strategies to grow. Some were unique to a particular church and could not be duplicated by others. Some used methods that only a small group of churches could master. But the Five Best Practices have proven to work in any size church regardless of location or cultural setting. They have worked in the rural church or the city church. They work because they are biblically based strategies that were born from a heart for lost souls. I would suggest that every church should prayerfully consider embracing these practices in their small group ministry.

Fred Boone is the Executive Pastor and LIFE Groups Pastor of First Baptist Church of Mount Dora, Florida.

Practice Five - Enrollment: “Enrollment is the process of registering a prospect as a member of a Sunday School class. Sunday School Enrollment is the “Welcome Mat” for an outsider to become an insider in a class.” The growing

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Six Reasons to Rebuild the Church on the Foundation of Christ

By Desmond Barrett The church seems empty. The parking lot only has a couple of cars in her large lot. There appears to be no life left in the once-thriving church. In a last-ditch effort to save the church, the church board hires a pastor with a family believing that a younger pastor will save the church. When the pastor begins to change the ‘way it has always been done,’ there is a strong push back. Over time the pastors’ efforts to revitalize the church are thwarted at every turn. Out of frustration more than a call, he leaves the church to become the pastor of another church. Sadly, this scenario plays out weekly in dying churches all over America. Churches must begin asking themselves; Is this God’s best for the church, to either die in self-rule over God’s rule? If a church is to move from the death spiral into stabilization and eventual healthy growth, a church has to realize that the church is not ‘there’s but ‘His.’ Recommit to serving the community instead of just serving those on campus.

Far too many churches are tucked away off busy streets, an island unto themselves, a club, more than a religious center, with the full benefits of membership and fellowship, but isolated from their call to serve the community. If one were to dig into the past of the church’s history, they would find not one major decision to isolate themselves from the neighborhood but slow, steady decisions that drew the walls closer and closer in on themselves. What was sometimes decades in the making will not be a turnaround with one blockbuster outreach event or even several throughout the year but a consistent outward-focus where members walk in partnership with the needs of the community.

If the church wants to move from lip service to community service, it must serve the community with a God-centered fo-

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cus rather than an us-centered focus. This takes lots of prayers, a full-surrendered spirit, and deliberant outreach where the focus is on the agency, the program, or person in the community rather than the church.

Resubmit to the authority of scripture and to Christ, and not just an influential leader within the church.

Who is running the church? God? The pastor? Or the church boss(es)? The temptation in a declining church is for a member or members to cling tightly to control because they are invested in seeing the church stay open. Too often, the investment that was started out of a place of love for the church is quickly overtaken by pride and arrogance that they are the only ones who can save the church. This misplaced authority eliminates the authority of God and scripture and hardens their unwillingness to cede control over to the pastor or new attenders in the church. Fiefdoms become the norm, and the kingdom of God becomes less and less. While outsiders may realize this is scripturally backward and threatens the spirit of God within the church, the church boss tightens his grip on the church.

Lay leaders are not the leader of the local church. God has called an under-shepherd to lead the local flock in the mission and vision that he has spelled out for every church. If a church is to grow spiritually healthy, they must resubmit to the authority of scripture and God’s called pastor and to allow him to lead them forward.

Restore what has been lost by not holding on to the past.

As the church lies slowly dying, the memories of days long past seem to engulf the church. Tokens of celebration (me-

morial plaques, a dedicated room, etc.) become golden calves that enshrine the church in idol worship. What was meant for good has become the final nails drilled into the coffin of the soon departed church. Revitalization is about celebrating the past, evaluating the present, and preparing for the future. Restoring what has been lost (families, neighborhood relevancy, and Christ engagement) lets go of past practices to claim what God has for the church today. It does not mean a church has to forget its history, but it does mean they cannot cling to that history, or the church will become history.

to the changing nature of their time and community needs.

Sometimes that means programmatic or wholesale structural change within the church.

Throughout scripture, God did a new thing using an ancient thing (His Word, his guidance, and people’s obedience) to build his kingdom. Restoring the declining church is more about restoring the church’s relationship with God than attachment to things. Submission is not easy, but it is needed if the church will become the church that Christ has called her to be in this season of her life.

Refire the passion to allow new programs and people to lead.

Repair past hurts to restore God’s legacy within the church and community.

Prayer becomes the central tenant of a turnaround. Prayer, which leads to repentance for past wrongs and hurts that the church has caused, is crucial in the church evaluating where they have been and where God wants to take them. Restoration comes to a church when she can see past wrongs, seek forgiveness, repent, and turn from those wicked ways. The church’s legacy is not a negative one but one of grace for those around them. To win the community, the church must first win the spiritual war through prayer. Prayer cannot be a two-minute bullet point printed in the bulletin as part of the weekly service line-up but an intentional part of who the church is becoming.

Repairing past hurts will not mask that those hurts affected people; it will prepare hearts for what God wants to do new within the church’s life. Prayer positions the power of God to prepare the way forward to become a community-centered church.

Redirecting from what has always worked into adapting to what needs to be changed.

Change is not easy, or it would already come about. Change brings out the worst in people when the change arrives at their ministry doorstep. Change can cause church splits or, at the very least significant fights within the church. Who wins when change is denied or delayed because of a minor, powerful cluster in the church? The devil. The evil one wants nothing more than to sow division and discord within the walls of the church. If the demonic forces can keep God’s people fighting inside, they will miss opportunities to expand the kingdom for God outside her walls. Churches that revitalize adapt

Instead of protecting programs, the church must turn from professing Christ with mere words to partnering with agencies and groups that reach people groups that the church is not currently reaching. A gospel-centered Christ-focused church is a church that walks alongside people to make Christlike disciples. That takes intentionality and adaptability.

Can a church be saved after years in the death spiral? Yes, the simple answer is if there is a remnant of believers who will allow themselves to be the spark of renewal. Revitalization is all about rekindling the passion for what God wants to do amid death. Scripture reminds the reader that old bones can come alive again if there are willing people to move past problems through prayer into a spirit of passion for the lost. Everything that the church has done in the past must be assessed for gospel effectiveness. If a program does not reach people for Christ, then the program should be retired to prepare for a program that will enable the church to reach the community in a new way.

As part of the refiring process, turnaround leaders should pray for new people to lead or current members to refire their passion for the lost so that the church can become an effective field hospital for the sick.

The church of Jesus Christ is not dead. While a building may lay dormant and His people scattered, the church of Christ is very much alive. For far too long, the world has had a hold of the church and has slowly killed her. It is time that the church takes back the power by becoming a church built on the foundation of Christ as her cornerstone.

Dr. Desmond Barrett is the Lead Pastor at Summit Church of the Nazarene in Ashland, Kentucky and is the cofounder of the Rural Revitalization Network. He is a graduate of Nazarene Bible College (BA) and Trevecca Nazarene University (MOL) and (EdD) in leadership and professional practice. He has done extensive research in the area of church revitalization and serves as church revitalizer, consultant, coach, podcast host, mentor to revitalizing pastors and churches, and the author of Revitalizing the Declining Church: From Death’s Door to Community Growth.

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Come On Up!

By Richard Harvey Our home has always been filled with books—all kinds of books. When the boys were very young and just starting to read, they would often say, “Daddy, read to me.” I loved to hear those words. They would usually come with arms stretched out and stubby little fingers grasping a tattered and well-worn favorite. One of those frayed little “classics” was a First-Start Reader with the curious title, Come On Up!1 The book is about a fuzzy and very nervous cat named Lucy who found a whole new level of enjoyment in the top of a very large tree.

fearful. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of losing some sense of control, all kinds of fears plague our lives, even in the body of Christ. Worst of all, fear of change is corrosive at the very core of a congregation. Church revitalizers are all too familiar with people’s fears. The deadly curse of resistance is the constant foe of the church revitalizer. But we have to remember that there is nothing new under the sun.

People are a lot like Lucy the cat. God has been calling us to “Come on up” since the garden. But fallen people are

1. Face the fear. Admit it. Own your own vulnerability to fear. Help your people recognize that there is nothing new under the sun. Setbacks happen. Own the setback, but don’t let the setback own you. There is an enemy that has

Moses witnessed such fear even among the group of people who likely witnessed the greatest series of miracles in The birds and the animals that lived in the tree wanted Lucy the history of the world. Even after God led the people to “come on up and play” with them, but she just couldn’t out of captivity in Egypt, at the first sign of trouble, they seem to gather the courage until a growling pooch forced turned on Moses and begged to go back (Exod. 16: 2-3, her hand and she finally went scurrying on up the tree. Num. 14:2-4). How could they do such a thing? And then It was only then that she discovered how much she had we begin to lead God’s people out of a captivity to fear and been missing with her paws stuck to the ground. In fact, failure only to see them beg to return at the first obstacle she enjoyed it so much that she called down to the snarl- in the path. Setbacks happen in revitalization. The quesing pooch below, “Come on up! Come on up and play!” tion is, what do we do when people want to go back to What irony! “the way we’ve always done it?”

1 Joy Kim, Come On Up! Illust. Paul Harvey (Troll Communications LLC , 1985).

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one goal and that is to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus told us this would happen. In fact, he even said to face it with joy in our hearts. “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets” (Luke 6:2223, ESV). Nothing new under the sun! Face the fear with a joyful confidence and lead your people to recognize that God is still at work even in the setback.

2. Embrace God’s grace. When Paul was given the thorn in the flesh, he pleaded with the Lord to remove it. The answer was a resounding NO! Why? God has his reasons, and for Paul it was to keep him humble. Human nature being what it is, the church revitalizer is often tempted to say, “look what I have done” when there is momentum and success. We would never do that intentionally, but the enemy will allow just enough pats on the back to get a little pride started in the heart. He knows pride is the ticking time-bomb. So, pray for grace—lots and lots of grace.

Though the Lord did not remove Paul’s thorn, neither did he leave Paul without any hope. He said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9, ESV). Paul’s response, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” In other words, Paul said, “Lord, I can live with that. Bring it on. Give me grace. It’s not about me. This is about you and your kingdom and your glory.”

Don’t ever forget that revitalization is about Christ and his kingdom and his glory.

3. Preach the Word. When Paul told Timothy to be ready to preach God’s Word “in season and out of season,” (2 Tim. 4:2, ESV) he used the combination eukairos akairos. Another way to translate that pair would be to say, “when it’s convenient and when it’s not!” Church revitalization does not happen apart from the faithful proclamation of the truth of God’s Word even when it is inconvenient—even when it hurts. We can do that in a way that is blunt and forceful, or we can choose to exercise grace and some personal vulnerability. It is okay to let our people know we are human, and we struggle with the same emotions they do when we hit roadblocks. But what we cannot do is let the feelings overcome the facts. God allows setbacks to teach us to trust him more. Preach the Word and then practice what you preach.

4. Practice forgiveness. The most difficult part of church leadership, and especially revitalization leadership, is people. Who would have guessed, right? We know people will be people, but when they act like people somehow it still hurts. There will be relationship issues, personnel issues, all sorts of people issues that will have to be addressed in church revitalization. There is no way around that. Remember the grace thing—embrace the grace my friend! But if we are going to allow God’s grace to work in us and through us to build his church, it will require lots of forgiveness.

Bill Henard writes about the human obstacle to revitalization and the often-entrenched church lay leadership who “[do] not believe that change or revitalization is needed.

The same people remain in charge and are myopic to their own demise.”2 Even if you have to part ways with people you believed would support the revitalization effort (and trust me, it will happen), let it go—practice forgiveness, and let God give you his grace and peace.

People do what they do out of fear. So, face the fear, embrace God’s grace, preach the Word, and practice forgiveness. Maybe, just maybe, God will send a gnarling mutt to run them up the tree and from that newfound perspective your people will learn to enjoy the view and trust him more. Just keep calling out, “Come on up! Come on up and play!”

2 Bill Henard, Can These Bones Live? A Practical Guide to Church Revitalization (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2015), 51.

Richard D. Harvey is the pastor of Eastwood Baptist Church in Bay Minette, Alabama. He is a 2020 D.Min graduate of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with specialization in Church Revitalization.

He has served churches in Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, and Florida and is also author of the forthcoming book Fail Proof: Eight Biblical Principles That Will Keep You from Falling.

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Forthcoming from Renovate Publishing Group The New Testament does not present a “cookie-cutter” approach for the local church. Each local congregation has its own unique qualities and personality. However, there are some very specific foundational elements that should shape the DNA of every Christ-following local church. In his forthcoming book from Renovate Publishing Group, Dr. Richard D. Harvey uncovers eight biblical principles for church revitalization.

Fail Proof is designed to help revitalization l eaders and struggling churches rediscover their biblical DNA and to begin a revitalizing process that will help them rise up from the downward spiral of unhealthy habits. The ultimate purpose of Fail Proof is to keep the church upright and standing strong in the battle to win the lost and disciple the saved for the glory of God. “For if you do these th ings, you will never fall” – 2 Peter 1:10b.

——— Endorsements ——— Dr. Tom Cheyney, Founder & Directional Leader of the RENOVATE National Church Revitalization Conferences and Executive Director for the Greater Orlando Baptist Association, Orlando, Florida – “Fail Proof… is very well formed and will be a great asset to the local church.”

Rick Ellison, Director of Missions, Baldwin Baptist Association, Baldwin County, Alabama – “In this resource Richard Harvey explores deeply the biblical teachings for church health. That part of his presentation is the best I have ever read. It … challenges leaders to examine themselves and look toward what God would have them and the church do in the future.”

Dr. Alan Floyd, Lead Pastor, Cottage Hill Baptist Church, Mobile, Alabama – “In your teaching, you make the statement, ‘Church revitalization is hard work.’ So very true!

But you present a material that walks a church through the essentials of that hard work. The church leadership is led/equipped to identify the core values, mission, and ultimately, the development of a strategy of church health and revitalization. …I definitely see your curriculum utilized by local associations and churches. A great resource for revitalization!”

New Resource to Assist Leaders in Praying for the Church New Resource to Assist Leaders in Praying for the Church Churches are the same, yet each church is different.

Churches are the same, yet each church different.

Everiswonder how to pray for YOUR church?

Or the church down Ever wonder how to pray for the YOUR street? Or the church down the church? street?

Praying for Church Revitalization answersfor your question.

Praying Church Revitalization answers your question.

It provides a clear strategy for praying for aall types of churches.

It provides clear strategy for praying for all types of churches.

In Praying for Church Revitalization: Overcoming the Challenges that Different Churches Jim Harrell delivers anOvercoming excellent look who the real enemy is in In PrayingFace, for Church Revitalization: theatChallenges that Different church revitalization and renewal andanwhy we need to at bewho prepared forenemy the battle.

Churches Face, Jim Harrell delivers excellent look the real is in This is a wonderful reminder justand howwhy significant of prayer to theThis church revitalization andabout renewal we needthe to discipline be prepared for the is battle. process of church revitalization. …how Thissignificant is a great the book to give out to yourisentire is a wonderful reminder about just discipline of prayer to the church leadership team.

It will challenge them to be all in as they pray first and work process of church revitalization. … This is a great book to give out to your entire second.

Without the first,Itthe second is inconsequential. church leadership team. will challenge them to be all in as they pray first and work Tom Cheyney, Founder & Directional Leader Renovate National Church second. Without the first, the second is inconsequential.

Revitalization Tom Cheyney,Conferences Founder & Directional Leader Renovate National Church Revitalization Conferences “In Praying for Church Revitalization, Dr. Jim Harrell sets out a refreshingly new and practical way do theRevitalization, old-fashionedDr. hard of praying local churchnew renewal.

“In Praying forto Church Jimwork Harrell sets out for a refreshingly and He explains how the Seven Churches of Revelation 2 and 3 are archetypes for the practical way to do the old-fashioned hard work of praying for local church renewal. patterns of theological shift Churches and missional drift of so2many churches.

Using He explains how the Seven of Revelation and 3declining are archetypes for the this valuable tool, pastors leaders canofnow diagnose the conditions patterns of theological shiftand andtheir missional drift so many declining churches.ofUsing decline and pray the Lord the Church specific ways for the correction, healing, this valuable tool,to pastors andoftheir leadersin can now diagnose conditions of and restoration toto spiritual health.” decline and pray the Lord of the Church in specific ways for correction, healing, Rev. Dr Jack L. Daniel, Pastor Emeritus Free Christian Church, Andover, MA and restoration to spiritual health.”

Rev. Dr Jack L. Daniel, Pastor Emeritus Free Christian Church, Andover, MA

When the Picture of the Future is Different

By Jim Harrell Why do church members appear to change their minds and begin to sabotage change efforts - the very change they appeared to agree with. Why the sudden change of heart?

One reason for this seemingly odd behavior is because they are not actually changing their minds. Rather, it took them time to realize the change advocated is not a change they want. They were never actually on board to begin with. They were not lying or purposely being deceitful, they simply misunderstood. It takes people time to grasp the change they are picturing is actually quite different from the change leadership is proposing.

Theoretical change is easy to agree with, because one rarely pictures it affecting what one truly values. Values are assumed to be, well, valued. In fact, it doesn’t even occur to the one agreeing to the change that leadership is actually talking about changing something they value. This is because values are part of the culture of the church. Culture is in the background, not something front and visible. Especially in established older churches, the values are assumed, like the air we breathe. The air is there, but no one is thinking about air until it’s not there.

The other problem with accurately picturing a theoretical change is including the emotional impact a change can bring. Most folks are not very aware of their own emotions as they happen in real time, let alone when thinking about the future impact of something. As a result, it is easy for someone to underestimate how a proposed change will impact them personally and emotionally.

Expectations are another area of potential misunderstanding. Such as who will do the work and when. Nehemiah

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faced this several times over the course of rebuilding the wall.

In Nehemiah 3:5, the nobles from a nearby town refused to join in the work. From their point of view, they should not be expected to do manual labor. That was beneath them. Their picture of how the work would get done was very different from Nehemiah’s.

Often how people are picturing is not even close to what the leadership is picturing. This is true even though they are using the same words to describe this future reality. For example, older long-term members will often talk about the need for growth, which is music to a young pastor’s ears. The pastor is typically picturing a full sanctuary and potentially multiple services. He envisions a church being on mission reaching the community for Christ. Yet, often the older members are envisioning only slight growth. A few additional people to meet the small budget of the church, but not so many more people that it changes the look and feel of the Sunday service. Both are picturing something they call growth, but they are radically different pictures.

The challenge for a pastor leading change is to paint the same picture of where the church is heading in each person’s mind. This cannot be a stick figure picture. Rather, the pastor must take the time to paint the picture with many brush strokes, laying out the new future in full color detail. What this proposed change is really going to look like. What and what not is going to change. What it will feel like. How this change is going to affect church size dynamics.1 What are the intended benefits and the required costs.

1 See https://gospelinlife.com/downloads/leadership-and-church-size-dynamics/

It will take repeated interactions with people to help them accurately picture the intended change. Leadership will need to keep envisioning the change until people can actually see themselves in the new icture and embrace what the required changes will mean to them personally. They need to be able to articulate for themselves what the actual costs and the actual benefits are going to be.

will look like. It will take repeatedly painting the new picture leadership is advocating. People need help internalizing why God is asking the church to make this sacrifice? To move from asking “what is in it for me?” to “what it in it for the Kingdom of God?” We must take the time required to help members walk into this new picture and feel what the change will be like, both positive and negative.

Unfortunately, what is obvious to the pastor can at the same time be completely inconceivable for older members. I know of a church in New England that had once been the flagship church in the state. However, it had steadily declined over the past 50 years to the point of being unsustainable. The elders and denominational leader approached another denominational church in the next town over about helping this church. The healthy church agreed to adopt this struggling church and make it a second campus.

It takes much prayer, both for the church and with the church.

Hearing people pray about a proposed change gives leaders additional insight into what people are picturing the new change will look like. Praying for this new picture will engage the hearts of members to want to see this new picture become a reality for the sake of God’s kingdom.

There were numerous meetings about the upcoming adoption, becoming a campus and so forth. I knew one of the members of the struggling church. She was confused. I also explained how her church was going to become a second campus of this healthy church. The struggling church was closed for a few months. Building upgrades were made and paid for by the adopting church, A new campus pastor was hired, and the service changed to match the parent church.

Six months after reopening, I received a call from this older member. I asked her how the church was doing.

She replied, “It’s like the other church took us over.

You would think we were now part of them.”

I replied, “You are part of them. You are now one of their campuses.”

To which she replied, “What’s a campus?”

What was supposedly an obvious future for this struggling church, was not only not obvious but almost impossible for the struggling church members to picture what was being proposed. After many meetings between both churches and changing the church name to include “campus,” this new picture that was unfolding was completely missed. Because leadership assumed the people in the pew had the same picture of the future as they did, all the time, energy, and money the parent church invested was both misunderstand and unappreciated.

Simply presenting information and even answering questions does not mean that leadership has communicated.

Communication requires an ongoing dialogue. It means asking members to describe what they are picturing the change

I know of another situation where a struggling historic church was enfolded into a church plant. The church plant was given the building and the members of the struggling church joined the church plant. The process took place over the course a year. Lots of listening by the church plant leadership to these older saints, vision casting, and praying for the future of the church. There were many honest conversations about what was going to change. They had these older saints visit the church plant so they could experience what the service was going to look, sound and feel like.

After the enfolding was complete, the pastor asked one of these older saints how they liked the new service, the new lobby area with a coffee bar, and so forth. The saint’s reply was, “I hate the music, its too loud and I miss the hymns. I liked the way the lobby used to look. However, I am ok with all of it. This church is once again reaching people for Christ and my grandkids are coming.”

Change is hard, but if everyone is picturing the same change, God’s kingdom moves forward with less conflict and difficulty.

Jim Harrell is the Founder and President of Overseed, an organization that coaches pastors and church leaders in New England through the difficult process of revitalization, so they can successfully lead their church to health and reach their community for Christ.

Jim’s latest book, Praying for Church Revitalization is being released in May. He is also the author of Church Replanter: Learning from Nehemiah’s example of leading change when things are really broken. You can contact him at jim@overseed.org.

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Sabotage “Do Smell What The Rock Is Cooking?”

By Rob Myers Did you know that most pastors cut and run under the negative influence, or threats, of merely 7% of their congregation?

Let’s lay that issue to rest and determine to be the leader who has been assigned by God to lead his flock. Most of those people who are vocal and rebellious (note this), usually don’t have many friends! I want to focus on a more insidious problem, the issue of sabotage that is “S.B.D.” Silent, But Deadly!

Like the double entendre that I am using here, you can usually smell it before you figure out where it is coming from!

So let us assume that you have done everything right in your preparation to lead the church to greener pastures and, for some reason, when you give the signal or sound charge on the bugle, everyone seems to run for the cracks in the floor like roaches when the lights come on. When I smell this cooking, I return to an evaluation that is healthy. The book, Natural Church Development by Christian Scwarz, gives great analytic tools for assessing the health of an organization, but it does not fix the issues of the S.B.D. So, I want to lead you through a simple process that I have developed which is: Relational Mapping of your Church. The idea is to learn your church’s relational culture so you can sniff out where your problems are originating from. In this case let’s do this order: Who, What, Where, When and How. Who is throwing out the anchor, paddling, or steering a different direction, influencing the negative Nancys? Here is a checklist that you can print out and make your own notes on:

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Staff Staff should never be a source because that is clear insubordination. If a staff person is holding back the situation, it must be fixed quickly. A write-up and/or dismissal are the minimum; that is if you have been absolutely clear about your direction. (Your notes on this area)

Deacons Deacons are to serve at the will of the pastor, making his load lighter so he can focus on more spiritual things. They are not to give orders to the pastor or the church, but they can be affected by other models of churches where the deacons are a board of directors and run the church. In our church we had to flush out the non-Biblical “boss model” and wait six years to implement a new model of Deacons who serve. The former were a source of holding the church back and the new are marvelous and are at our side in vision and service. This was one of the main “fixes,” we accomplished that has made us a very health church. (Your notes on this area)

Small Group Leaders Small group leaders can be a marvelous group of influencers in the body of Christ. When properly trained and resourced they can become the front door keepers of your church in community. However, when selected quickly with little to no screening, they can become a disaster. When you hear possessive phrases like “my small group,” or comments that they don’t like the curriculum, don’t try to reform the leader…

move the leader out of leadership and relocate the attenders in that group. Our small group lessons are generated by our small group’s pastor based on the sermon from the previous Sunday. That keeps everyone focused and on the same page.

We spend a lot of time on leadership development and discipleship with these folks. It’s the personal touch that is important! (Your notes on this area) Choirs Choirs can be glorious, but they can also steer the church by starving the resources of time and steering the direction of the calendar. Many churches are eliminating this ministry rather than let it be an all-consuming church program. People can only do so much. Many choirs operate as a church within a church. They can become myopic and focused on only one thing. How many of you have seen choirs begin prep for Easter right after Christmas and visa-versa? If you are going to have a choir, your director has to really guide them to other ministries and work with everyone on timing. (Your notes on this area)

Praise Team The people on the praise and worship team are seen as de-facto leaders in your church. If they are carnal or egotistical, they can make everything about them, and send glaring double standard messages to the congregation. We don’t pay standard musicians, nor do we have a “green room” for them to retire to during and between services. Does the 1st impressions team get a green room, or the children’s workers? We require them to all attend one service fully; to go through our class structures (i.e. class 101). They must be in a small group. They must act like a team and be flexible. Because of their perceived leadership in the church, they need to attend church counsels so they can get on the same page as the rest of the church. They are the cheer leaders for the vision of the church! (Your notes on this area)

Senior Adults Ralph Neighbour wrote a book entitled The Seven Last Words of the Church. The key phrase of his book was: “We’ve never done it that way before.” This is the mantra of seniors who are mainly dead now (Ralph R.I.P. May 19, 2019). On the other hand, Paul McCartney is now 79 and kicking out music still.

Seniors have come a long way, but if they are disgruntled they need to be visited and brought into the planning of the hip new thing you are trying to pull off. They usually don’t drag their feet if not ignored but can give you pleasant support if they are asked for it. (Your notes on this area)

the organization? Here are some, but definitely not all, of the issues that sabotage the goals of the church that you can look for in the groups or individuals that we have already mentioned.

What: • Fear of unknown • Uncertainty • Change • Laziness • Time issues • Program fatigue • Prayer ministry during first impressions time The next step is to find out Where the sabotage is occurring.

Where is the source getting traction to be heard? Where is the seed being planted? The goal here is to intercept the saboteur and implement damage control. A lot of pastors fail at this point. The saboteur has sown what the Bible describes as seeds of division. Part of the job of the pastor is to foster unity. This must not be done brutally to those who have been infected, but with surgical precision and loads of love.

When goes hand in glove with location and can be dealt with. The only real caution is to not wait, deal with this quickly as soon as you have all the facts.

How is the after-the-fact analysis. When all is done, learn this problem, so that it does not repeat. If it is a problem related to your flaws or the flaws of the organization, learn from them and fix them.

Rob Myers is the Pastor of Miami Baptist Church a turn around church located in the multi-lingual community in South Florida. Rob has been in ministry for more than 39 years. He has been in church planting and pastoral leadership for 36 of those years, which includes 15 years as the Senior Pastor of Miami Baptist Church. His is Adjunct Professor of Indiana Wesleyan University and President of Baptist World Charities. Rob has an earned Doctorate in Ministry Leadership from John Wesley University, a M.Div. from Southwestern Seminary and a B.A. From Palm Beach Atlantic University.

After the analysis of Who, move to the What. What is the cause of this person or group’s overt, or covert, sabotage of

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