{"id":440,"date":"2013-05-27T19:43:38","date_gmt":"2013-05-27T17:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/?p=440"},"modified":"2014-11-25T12:36:37","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T10:36:37","slug":"6-steps-dying-churches-must-take-to-find-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/?p=440","title":{"rendered":"6 STEPS DYING CHURCHES MUST TAKE TO FIND LIFE"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nby Thom Rainer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Discover these radical steps churches took to avoid impending death.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

In an blogpost earlier this week<\/a>, I presented the findings of my \u201cautopsy\u201d on a church that just closed its doors and died. I knew the church well because I had been their consultant\u00a010 years earlier. The only surprise I found was that the church kept its door open five years longer than I had anticipated.<\/span><\/p>\n

The post generated much interest. Indeed it is still buzzing today. Many church leaders and laypersons saw early warning signs in the post that related to their own churches. Many are concerned. Many want to know if there is any hope.<\/span><\/p>\n

The title of this post has a bit of irony. If a church is dying, it cannot then, by definition, find life.<\/span><\/p>\n

I must say from a purely statistical perspective, most churches with the symptoms I noted will die within a matter of a few years. Though I don\u2019t have hard data, I would be comfortable suggesting that the percentage exceeds 99 percent.<\/span><\/p>\n

But among the American churches on a death march, there is that rare exception, that one in 1,000, that extraordinary situation where a church defies all the man-made odds and moves from near death to health.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those churches are rare, but they do exist.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the midst of the gloomy news of terminal churches, I took a look at a few churches that had all the signs of impending death and then turned around to life. All of them of which I have knowledge were located in dramatically shifting demographics.<\/span><\/p>\n

They weren\u2019t merely churches that were unhealthy; they were dying. Even the most casual observer would have predicted the imminent demise of these congregations. They were truly sick unto death.<\/span><\/p>\n

So how did these churches do it?<\/span><\/p>\n

Though each of the stories I examined has its own nuances, I did find some common themes. Please take careful note. My brief blogpost is not a quick-fix solution to dying churches.<\/span><\/p>\n

On\u00a0the contrary, it\u2019s the story of six radical steps taken by key members in each of the churches.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

1. A leader must rise and be willing to lead the church toward radical transformation regardless of the personal costs to himself.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

That leader is typically a new pastor in the church, but it does not have to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. A significant group in the church must admit that they are desperate for help.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The significance of the group could be their sheer size; for example, they could be a majority of active members. Or the significance could be the influence of those in the group rather than the number.<\/span><\/p>\n

This group must lead the church from denial to a painful awakening to reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. That same group must confess guilt.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

They failed to reach the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

They held on to the idolatry of yesterday.<\/span><\/p>\n

They were only comfortable with \u201cour kind of people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

They saw the church to be a place where their needs were met and personal preferences catered.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. The group must have an utter, desperate and prayerful dependence on God.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

They can no longer look at the way they\u2019ve always done it as the path for the future. They must fall on their faces before God and seek His way and only His way.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. The church must be willing to storm the community with love.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The church can\u2019t assuage their guilt by having a food and clothes pantry where community residents come to them once a week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Members must go into the community, love the unlovable, reach out to the untouchable, and give sacrificially of time, money and heart. The community must be amazed by these church members.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. The church must relinquish control.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

If the church reaches the community, the community will come to the church.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They may be poorer. They may have different colors of skin. They may speak differently. They may have a radically different culture than members of the church.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If the church is truly to reach the community, it must be joyfully willing to let the community have control of the church. This attitude is radically different than welcoming the outsiders to \u201cour church.\u201d It is an attitude that says it is now \u201cyour church.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most readers likely understand the low likelihood of such a transformation taking place. It is so rare that, when it happens, it is often given the name \u201cmiracle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But we serve the God of miracles. Maybe we should expect more. Maybe we should do more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thom S. Rainer is the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources (LifeWay.com). Among his greatest joys are his family: his wife Nellie Jo; three sons, Sam, Art, and Jess; and six grandchildren. He was founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Church Growth at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His many books include Surprising Insights from the Unchurched, The Unexpected Journey, and Breakout Churches.<\/em><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.churchleaders.com\/pastors\/pastor-articles\/167700-thom-rainer-steps-dying-churches-must-take-find-life.html?p=3<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Thom Rainer \u00a0 Discover these radical steps churches took to avoid impending death. In an blogpost earlier this week, I presented the findings of my \u201cautopsy\u201d on a church that just closed its doors and died. I knew the church well because I had been their consultant\u00a010 years earlier. The only surprise I found […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artikels"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}