While numbers often show revitalization progress, sometimes there are more subtle indicators that your church is revitalizing. Today, we cover eight of those markers.
Today’s Listener Question:
FROM JARED
I’m currently in the midst of a revitalization effort at the church I pastor here in Alabama. Is there any way to know if we’re making progress other than just looking at changes to the raw numbers?
Episode Highlights:
- Every church has key lay leaders who influence the people.
- Church revitalization is not a human-centric effort.
- The worship time is often a sacred cow in churches.
- You have to continually remind church members of the vision of a church—even to redundancy.
- If you want to lead real change in a church, you have to convey a sense of urgency.
The eight successful characteristics we cover are:
- The pastor formed an alliance of key influencers in the church
- The influencers made a commitment to pray daily for revitalization
- The church made a commitment to look like the community
- The church boldly confronted the issue of sacred cows
- Leadership developed a clear and compelling vision
- Leadership communicated a sense of urgency
- The pastor was willing to endure a season of intense criticism
- The leadership of the church was willing to let go of members
Resources mentioned in this episode include:
- ChurchReplanters.com
- Church Answers
- Replanter Assessment
- Find more resources at the Revitalize & Replant page at ThomRainer.com
Submit Your Question:
Do you have a question about church revitalization or replanting for us to use on the podcast? Visit the podcast page to submit your question. If we use it on the show, you’ll get a copy of Autopsy of a Deceased Church and Reclaiming Glory.