“Pastor: How’s Your CHURCH Doing?”

I have many conversations with pastors which include this question.  We talk about lots of other things, from illnesses to children to football, and then I invariably get around to the “How’s your CHURCH doing?” question.

Some pastors have the privilege of leading churches which are building the Kingdom of Christ with some real God-given success.

Most, however, do not. The statistics regarding 65 to 90 percent of churches in America being plateaued or in decline are the everyday reality for 65 to 90 percent of the pastors in America, and it’s a hard reality.

This is something that I’ve been deeply concerned about for a long, long time.  I was 21 years old and had been a Christian for about two years when the congregation I was a member of split in two.  I didn’t know what a church split was until I saw it live and in-person.  My passion for healthy churches – which give life to the lost, joy to their members and glory to God – began right then and there.

That passion continued to burn until it led to my doing interim (transitional) pastorates which deliberately targeted unhealthy churches.  The interim pastorates led to blogging, the blogging led to books and the books led to church consulting.

For years I sought to find the ideal church revitalization book that I could put in the hands of pastors. What I envisioned was a book that outlined a simple, step-by-step process for the benefit of the pastor who doesn’t have time to read all those books I read.  I pictured it looking something like the Volkswagen repair book I had as a teenager, minus the oil stains, which was written for the “complete idiot.”  I actually rebuilt an engine with the help of that book.

Unable to find such a tool for church revitalization, I decided I should write it myself.

Before I could get started a friend helped me to realize that a one-size-fits-all manual wasn’t going to work because every church is unique.  Where one is weak, another is strong.  As with remodeling a house, every revitalization process needs to be as unique as the congregation itself.

So I wrote a playbook, like those used by coaches. This isn’t just another book ABOUT church revitalization; this one is a handbook FOR church revitalization. I’ve included 5 “scripted plays” and 15 optional “plays,” but you can actually start anywhere in the book. My friend Dr. Randy Keeley created a Playbook Assessment for the benefit of pastors and leadership teams who aren’t sure where to begin.  If a church uses only one or two plays and they’re helpful: Wonderful!

The REVITALIZATION PLAYBOOK is available as a paperback but can also be downloaded in its entirety or as individual chapters as PDFs, to be put in the hands of church staff or board members – or even generic church members who are part of a “dream team” of motivated individuals. When you reach my website you’ll see two FREE download options as well.

And I expect that the book will grow.  I’m open to additional revitalization “play” suggestions as well as suggestions specific to the existing chapters.  You can help me make this thing better.

You can find the book at Next Step Resources/Church Smart Resources (nsresources.com),  Amazon.com or at my own web site:

https://helpingchurchesthrive.com/books/