Church Revitalization

What is church revitalization?

Turning a plateaued or declining church around and moving it back towards growth, is the missional work of church revitalization. It is led through a Church Revitalization Initiative, in which a local church begins to work on the renewal of the church with a concerted effort to see the ministry revitalized and the church become healthy. Church Revitalization means that the local church was, at one time, vital and must once again, learn to renew, revitalize, and re-establish the health and vitality of their church ministry.

Why revitalize?

The Great Commission
Your church has stopped growing
Your church is growing but has stopped making a difference in the community
Your church no longer addresses the Mission Field
Church members are more interested in going to church than being The Church

Does this sound like your church?

Your church is structured to make change difficult (but not impossible):
Does your church have multiple levels of bureaucracy involving multiple committees and boards and the entire congregation votes for change of any significance? This makes changes involving vision or ministry strategy particularly difficult unless the church is willing to shift its governance to one that empowers leaders; change comes from the people and leaders within.
Your church is serving inside rather than outside:
Does your church design its ministry around the preferences of the people who are already connected to the church rather than for the people the church is trying to reach?
Focus is on the next Sunday service:
Sundays (or the next event) are always coming and tend to get the most attention. We get so busy and wrapped up in the next thing, there’s no time to ask, Are we helping people become more like Jesus?
There’s no accountability for lack of growth:
When business leaders don’t produce, they get fired. When coaches don’t win games, they get fired. There are churches who have not had a profession of faith or baptism in years. As long as the right style of worship with the right length of message occurs on time every Sunday, that’s the win. It doesn’t matter if no one is giving their life to Jesus. When there is no accountability, there will be no change.

Read:

How to Revitalize Your Church by Embracing Innovation by Grace Ruiter

What next?

Learn more about the tools and resources to help you take the important next steps in your church revitalization process here (or click on "Resources" in the navigation box on the left).

Need our assistance?

Please complete the FCF Assistance Request Form:

For clergy and lay persons, click here.
For Chief Missional Strategists only, click here.