Revitalization Learnings

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Revitalization Learnings
David J. Born, Director of Mission
Revitalization, LCMS World Mission Dwight
Marable,Missions International, Consultant to
Groups Ablaze!
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Life Cycle
Maturity
Maintenance
Growth
Decline
Death
Birth
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Four Crises during the Life Cycle
Maturity
Maintenance
Growth
Decline
Death
Birth
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Life Cycle
Maturity
Maintenance
Growth
Decline
The 8 Ps of Revitalization
Death
Birth
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Problem

• Most congregations are focused inward.
• 80 of LCMS congregations have membership
  statistics on a plateau or in decline.

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Plateau

• Congregation has reached its high point and is
  starting the ride to decline
• Programs
• Institutional momentum
• Preoccupied with maintenance inward focus

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Decline

• Congregation can no longer pretend it is still
  healthy
• Longing for the glory days
• Leadership is entirely reactive
• Institution is barely viable
• Preoccupied with survival inward focus

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Breaking the cycle of decline

• Attitudinal shift of focus outward
• Culture change of congregation
• Reaching a new client base
• Serving the community around the church
• Relating to new cultures/generations
• Targeted, focused outreach
• Faithful to the substance values upon which the
  church was founded

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The 8 Ps of Revitalization

• Pneuma
• Priorities
• Prayer

• Pastor
• Passion
• Position
• Partners
• Patience

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• These churches attract a constituency for the
  same reason that a grizzly bear seeks a beehive.
  Both places offer nourishment. These faith
  communities vibrate with the presence of God.
• Cueni (Dinosaur Heart Transplants)

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• People find empowerment for lifes structures of
  meaning when they participate in the church.
  Something happens that makes the job, marriage,
  family, and faith--as well as civic
  participation--more fulfilling.
• Cueni (Dinosaur Heart Transplants)

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1. Pneuma

• Spiritual Vitality or lack of it is an issue in
  many of our churches.
• People are looking for real spiritual
  nourishment.
• Spiritual warfare is to be expected when a church
  really threatens the kingdom of darkness.

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• One of the things that I found interesting is
  that these renewed churches were all mission
  focused. In the traditional mainline way they
  seemed, by nature, to be outwardly focused.
• Cueni (Dinosaur Heart Transplants)

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2. Priorities

• Kingdom vs. institution values
• Outreach vs. maintenance
• Outreach focus on conversion growth

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3. Prayer

• Praying Church Praying Leaders 2 of the 7
  common denominators of highly successful church
  planting movements worldwide. (See Path Analysis
  on following slide)
• Praying for unchurched/unbelieving individuals by
  name.

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Every vital congregation has a vision of where
it is headed and an agreed-upon plan to get
therethese congregations seek a mission focus
renewing mainlines set high expectations for
everything they do in ministry and
mission.Cueni in NET Results, p. 6
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4. Pastor-Leader

• The pastor is the initiating leader of the
  transformation process.
• He need not be a charismatic leader, just one who
  is positive and passionate about the process.

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• Of all the trends underway today, this is THE
  Biggie. We see very few churches turning around
  where the paid staff does most or all of the
  ministry.
• Easum in NET Results pp. 9-10

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4. Pastor-Leadership Developer

• Recruits people of passion
• Shares the passion with the positional leaders.
• Train/equip leaders priority of his ministry
• Empowering Leaders is one of the 7 common
  denominators for conversion growth movements (see
  path analysis above)

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4. Pastor Coach

• Pastor needs coaching to be the coach
• Coaching is one of the 7 common denominators of
  conversion growth movements (see path analysis
  above)
• Coaching is the only single factor that affects
  all the other six factors in the path analysis.
• Coaching is the one things mainline denominations
  typically do badly or not at all.

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The existence of lay champions is one of the
most important factors in congregational
transformation. Bullard in NET Results, p. 20
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5. Passion

• People of passion support the Pastor in
  initiating a leadership community bent on
  transforming the church.
• Bullard The initiating community need only be 7
  people or 7 of attendees, but 3 of them should
  be near zealots! (NET Results p. 20)

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passionate people create and nurture a
movement. Then positional leaders recognize the
new movement as good and seek to further empower
it.Bullard in NET Results, p. 20
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6. Position

• People of position catch the passion of the
  pastor and the initiating leadership community to
  permit, empower and resource transition.
• Bullard The number of passionate and positional
  leaders needs to total 21 people or 21 of
  attendees (NET Results p. 20)

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in partnership with an outside facilitator,
clusters of congregations can effectively work
their way through redevelopment processes
that may lead to transformation. (NET Results p.
21)
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7. Partners

• Denominational staff encourages and supports
  pastors in the revitalization process.
• Coaching and learning clusters of pastors and
  churches objectify the process.
• Denominational Resources outside consultants,
  organizing clusters, funding corporate efforts.

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Once the process begins, the leaders realize
that it will take more time than they
hoped. (Johnson in NET Results p. 28)
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8. Patience

• This is slow and steady work.
• Allow 2-3 years for the process to work, and up
  to 10 for complete transformation (Johnson point
  1, NET Results p. 28)
• Transformation exacts a toll on leadership
• Things my get worse before better.

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Learnings from consultation with Paul
BordenAmerican Baptist Church of the West

• Turn denominational staff into consultants
• Train and equip staff on turnaround strategies
• Hold the staff accountable for results for
  helping turn around 6-8 churches per year
• Underachieving staff receive no raise or are let
  go.
• Work with the churches that want to grow

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The Nature of Accountability (Borden)

• Accountability for transformation must start at
  the district level.
• Holding staff accountable enables them to seek
  to hold pastors and congregations accountable.
• Staff target Islands of Health congregations
• Staff empower congregations to face systemic
  change through Church Consultations

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The Nature of Accountability (Borden)

• Pastors need to be held accountable for results.
• Ineffective pastors are asked to move on.
• Congregations must decide their priority Inward
  or Outward focus.
• Healthy congregations are reproducing
  congregations.
• Pastors and churches need coaching and resources
  to Hit the Bullseye.

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For further study

• (1)Dinosaur heart transplants by R. Robert Cueni
• Renewing mainlines as mainlines
• (2) Hit the Bullseye by Paul Borden
• How Denominations can Aim the Congregation at
  the Mission Field
• (3) Winning On Purpose by John Kaiser
• How to Organize Congregations to Succeed in
  Their Mission www.accountableleadership.org
• (4) Direct Hit by Paul Borden
• Pointing leaders toward the mission field

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For further study

• Net Results online magazine
• Organic Church by Neil Cole
• Revolution by George Barna
• Simple Church by Rainer Geiger
• Websites
• www.netresults.org
• www.accountableleadership.com
• www.growinghealthychurches.org

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This presentation was given as a handout at the
Mission Partners Conference, Orlando FL Nov. 2006

• www.groupsablaze.orgcontact via e-mail
• David Born david.born_at_lcms.org
• Dwight Marable dwight_at_missions.com