It is a sad reality that many churches are finding it increasingly difficult to keep their doors open because the church is no longer viable. The reasons why churches find themselves in this situation is as varied as the churches themselves. There many be problems with people, programs, finances, facilities, style of ministry or a cumulative combination of these factors. Or perhaps the fault lies with theological issues that have negatively affected the ministry of the church and thus contributed to its decline. However, there is a way back to ministry viability for any congregation willing to invest the time, effort and resources necessary.
All congregations can plot their current state of growth/decline on a simple distribution graph which has come to be known as a Church Life Cycle graph. There are a number of different categories that can be used to identify the growth stages, I use the following markers:
Dawning: This the birth of the church. At some point in the history of the congregation someone thought it was a good idea to plant a church that you now call your own.
Development: This is the process of the church discovering who they are by answering three questions - 1. Who are we? 2. What are we here for? 3. Who is our neighbour? Policies, procedures and programs are developed around the answers to these questions.
Dependability: Once the congregation has forged a clear faith identity and has organized its church life to express that faith effectively and persistently, we could say that the church is dependable. You know what to expect in any given situation.
Decline: If you have ever watched the Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons you have seen the coyote run off a cliff and keep running for a while until he realizes that he is over the cliff and he begins to fall. At some point all churches in decline realize, like the coyote, that they are falling. They take note of the decrease in attendance, first time visitors, new members and financial giving. Often as a way to reverse the trend they are seeing, they will try to do the things they have always done, only better, while little to no energy is used to better understand their community or develop new ways to be involved in the mission they are called to as a church.
Death: If the church waits too long to reverse the decline the result is the death of the church. Death can take decades to become final and during that time the congregants often play the "blame game" as they blame the denomination or pastors or certain programs for their demise. Death does not have to be the final word for the church at this point in the life cycle. They can either die gracefully and bless another congregation with their resources (if any are left) or they can restart. More on this in a moment.
An honest evaluation by the church leaders and members can pin point exactly where the church is on the graph.
All churches that I have been involved with either as a pastor or as a consultant have wanted their churches to be growing and vibrant. For this to be a reality all the time, the congregation has to move from wherever they are on the life cycle to the "developing" stage.
There are 4 ways to reenergize the church towards growth and mission effectiveness. If you notice on the diagram to the left, the lines from "decline" to "development" vary in length. This is because the further the church slips towards death the longer the process and the harder the journey back to mission effectiveness is. Often you will see a further slip towards death before you see an upswing in growth. So what are the 4 ways to get new life into the church?
1. Renewal: For the church that is just starting to see a decline or they have been dependable for a long time, all that is needed is a fresh look at the 3 questions asked in the development stage - 1. Who are we? 2. What are we here for? 3. Who is our neighbour? The answers to the questions should inspire a renewed interest in the missional quest of the church.
2. Revitalization: This can happen when there is still substantial vitality within the church and the members want to see new things happen. Again the three questions are asked to determine how far the church has wandered from its original mission.
3. Redevelopment: If the church has been on a steady decline for years, perhaps decades, it has little of the vitality needed to turn the church around. It takes a great deal of resources - spiritual, financial and political, to see an improvement in this congregation, but it can be done.
4. Restart: If there is no possibility to bring the church out of its death spiral, a restart may be in order.
The success or failure of churches wishing to reenergize their ministry and be fully engaged in mission has much to do with the leadership within the congregation, which is what I will talk about next time.
Blessings
No comments:
Post a Comment