Church revitalization:

I was appointed as pastor of a 400-member church that had only 150–180 people in attendance. If we did not regain momentum for growth, we would soon be a classic case of a dying church. How could this church be revitalized before it headed toward decline and death?

First, I needed to create a congregational consensus about the way forward. This involved getting the members to understand that even churches with good attendance and numerous activities can be in the pre-decline stage. Other symptoms of this church’s stagnation were a certain level of toxicity, low levels of personal spirituality, and plenty of spectator Christianity.

The need for revitalization is urgent because the landscape is littered with declining churches, disillusioned pastors, and disaffected believers. Many have no vision for the future and are desperately hanging on, hoping to be put out of their misery.¹ My experience at this church proved, however, that as difficult as it may be, stagnant and dying churches can be brought back to life and growth.

Three-legged stool

I am framing my experience in church revitalization on the metaphor of a three-legged stool. Each leg represents an indispensable factor. The seat of the stool is the base for revitalization to a healthy and vibrant church. The three foundational legs are key to supporting the revitalization process, contextually designed for your particular church and community. A healthy renewal requires a base on these three legs:

1. A spiritual foundation
2. Intentional discipleship
3. Discern God’s vision

Leg 1: Create a spiritual foundation

The church is a spiritual organism, not a Fortune 500 company. All successful approaches to revitalization must, therefore, be built on a spiritual foundation. The church is a spiritual building and requires a spiritual foundation. This foundation connects God with the revitalization of the church.² The key to churches experiencing a spiritual revival is the presence of the Holy Spirit and the people’s willingness to engage with the Spirit in the life of the church.³ Spirituality cannot be empirically measured, but churches that build a spiritual foundation will provide a variety of opportunities for the congregation to grow in a personal relationship with Jesus.

Creating a spiritual foundation requires making prayer a top priority. Church leader Sam Rainer affirms that leading a church through urgent change requires spiritual discernment and dependence on God.

“During my ministry I was intentional to lead the church through various prayer and spiritual growth experiences. The intent was to affirm the need for both a personal and a corporate spiritual relationship with God. I also saw how these spiritual exercises were key to engaging the members in a discipleship process.”⁴

Church consultant Russell Burrill noted that God’s power and presence for revitalizing the church are released when the church corporately and personally works with God. All church growth and revitalization are attributable to God.⁵ My experience at this point revealed that creating a spiritual foundation served to both jump start the revitalization process as well as help create the foundation for its success.

To emphasize the importance of this God-focused spirituality, I used the imagery in Ezekiel 37:7, 8. This description of a valley of dry bones reconnecting bone to bone illustrates the hopeless picture of a lifeless church attempting organizational revitalization without a genuine spiritual revival. Verses 9 and 10 show that, even when structurally reconnected, bones and tissue remain lifeless until they experience the revitalizing power of the Spirit of God.

Struggling through various attempts to lead my church into successful and consistent revitali­zation, I became more convinced that a church without a strong spiritual foundation will have neither the unity nor the energy to experience revitalization and maintain consistency in growth.

Leg 2: Be intentional about making disciples

Besides my church being stuck on a plateau and heading toward decline, there also was confusion about the way forward. Some wanted to focus on in-reach, dealing with internal issues; others wanted more outreach and evangelism. Which one should we choose? The answer is not found in trading one for the other. The solution was, instead, connected to framing the purpose of the church in the gospel commission.

Matthew 28:19, 20 commands us to make disciples. As I intentionally centered the church’s vision on making disciples of ourselves and of others, we began to experience the required balance between in-reach and outreach. Discipleship is not what we do; rather, it is who we are. It is not about information but transformation.⁶ In making disciples, the church was able to focus both internally and externally. True revival and revitalization began as we became disciples making other disciples. The members were now experiencing personal authenticity as disciples in their relationship with Jesus. This discipleship model was based on the choice to follow Christ as a way of life.

The more I began to lean into this approach, the more I could identify how connected the discipleship model is to the spiritual foundation. To be a disciple is to have a personal spiritual relationship with Jesus. Church leaders Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger understood this crucial link when they defined discipleship as the daily process that makes us more and more like Jesus. Without this change and the desire to also make disciples, churches lose their passion and soon drift into irrelevance and obscurity.⁷

The discipleship models that I followed not only involved building personal spiritual relationships with Jesus but also helped members identify their spiritual gifts and immediately take ownership of their gifts in ministry. I saw members becoming excited, passionate disciples who were engaged in ministry and making disciples themselves. Local churches need to transition from creating members to creating disciples.⁸

Leg 3: Discern God’s vision for your congregation

This leg recognizes that a renewed focus on God’s vision is vital to revitalizing the church. I began the revitalization process with repeated sermons and reminders that God has a vision and mission for a revitalized church. At birth, this church had been vision-centered and dynamic. Over the years, it slowly experienced a vision leak, and its vitality stagnated. Plateaued and dying churches are often fractured by a loss of vision. This loss of vision is a major reason for a church’s unhealthy state.⁹ Revitalization, therefore, must involve reclaiming God’s vision for mission and ministry.

My revitalization journey included leading the church through a visioning process. We took time to dream about the church’s future and what we would like to see God do through us. A good leader knows how to listen to his or her people and their visions. He or she will also know his or her own vision and then look for areas where they intersect. In designing a strategy, the pastor understands that involving the congregation in the vision will allow for ownership and unity of purpose.¹⁰ Visioning is an intentional process and may require an experienced coach to provide support.

Dying churches generally focus inward, not outward. They lack vision, leadership, and commitment to stay relevant to their ministry context.¹¹ An important lesson for a visioning and revitalization strategy is knowing how to address the church’s culture. The church may have the best strategic plan, but if it does not have a healthy culture, it will inevitably revert to its past because culture feeds on strategy. Culture provides the values and beliefs to guide the strategy.¹² Visioning, therefore, releases the church from its past culture and points forward to a brighter future.

Build a solid foundation

This article is not intended to be simplistic about how to renew declining churches. After establishing the three legs as the support footing, I needed to give attention to other revitalization factors. These factors included training and engaging members in ministry (Total Member Involvement), redefining the role of the pastor, and building a supporting team. Addressing these factors involved focus and intentionality.

Revitalizing a stagnant or dying church is difficult work. It is possible, however, and the likelihood of successfully doing so is increased when a solid foundation is designed based on the three supporting legs of (1) a spiritual foundation, (2) intentional discipleship, and (3) discerning God’s vision.

Through the grace of God, our church was revitalized with the application of these steps. Experiencing this process gives me the confidence that the intentional application of these steps can restore dying churches to life again.