REVITALIZATION IS AWOL

I Was Just Thinking About - - - 

In corporate America, there are all kinds of effort made and action taken to generate greater market share for a product or service. Mass Media is one method as increased advertisement occurs. There are times for special sales and price adjustment to generate greater public response. We have all been familiar with the White Sales for linens, etc. on Columbus Day. Black Friday is an example of an emphasis on special and lower prices within a five to seven hour time factor on the Friday following Thanksgiving. Hundreds of people jam parking lots and stores to benefit from the advertised lower prices. It becomes one of the highest sales days for most businesses. Year-round, the business model that has been attempted by well-known firms has seen the lower prices advertised but merchandise is often of sub-standard quality.

If we translate this to consider churches and their need for revitalization, we find less enthusiasm or participation occurring. Thom S. Rainer is president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. One of his reports was a feature article in the Christian Post on November 15, 2015. In that article, he states the following: Nine out of ten churches in North America are declining, or they are growing slower than the community in which they are located. Nine out of ten churches need revitalization.” There are some usual reasons given for this as churches attempt to explain their shrinkage of “market-share” in the spiritual realm. A more usual one is that demographics have shifted dramatically and people who were the likely candidates for church involvement have relocated to other less “demographically-challenged” areas. For many community churches, it boils down to a reluctance to consider or allow integration of ethnically different people into the church that has maintained restrictions in that area. 

Thom S. Rainer shares a major reason from his studies and surveys. He writes: “Many times the pastor is a major contributor to the failure to revitalize…These four hindrances are factual because pastors shared them with me. They let me know they are blockages. They let me know these four issues are a major challenge for them everyday.” The hindrances enumerated are: (1) They spend too much time trying to placate nagging critics. Ministry is totally draining if it's spent trying to appease the constant naysayers. (2) They fail to be an example of an outward focus….People will rise no higher than their leader. (3) They do not emphasize member expectations in an entry level or membership class. If there is a key characteristic of declining churches it is that the members are self-serving. They have a "me attitude." It's all about their preferences and desires. (4) They fail to focus on corporate prayer…I know a lot of pastors who do not emphasize corporate prayer in their churches. I know of one church that took five to seven minutes of their worship services every Sunday to pray that God would use them as instruments of revival and revitalization. He did.”

Revitalization is AWOL within too many churches. Harry Reeder’s paradigm for Church Revitalization is based upon one primary text, Revelation 2:5, “REMEMBER therefore from where you have fallen; REPENT, and (RECOVER) do the works you did at first.” He then adds, “Interestingly, this Divinely-designed three-fold revitalization paradigm consistently reflects the Divinely-designed three-fold emphasis in the Covenant Meals of Renewal. From the Old Covenant, the Passover meal called God’s Covenant people to “remember” the Lord who delivered them from bondage, “repent” (cleaning out the leaven) and “recover” the first things by taking up their staff to follow the Lord of Glory. Likewise, the New Covenant meal, the Lord’s Supper, commands His people, “remember” our Lord’s atoning sacrifice, “repent” through self-examination and “recover” the first things through the vitality of a Gospel proclaiming life until He returns.” Church Revitalization is possible if God’s Word is taken seriously and implemented in individual lives and corporate application. Consider these things with me!