Exposing Ten Church Revitalization Myths, Part One

rēˌvīdələˈzāSH(ə)n,rēˌvīdlˌīˈzāSH(ə)n

Noun – The action of imbuing something with new life and vitality.

“The city has seen revitalization of its economy”

Thanks to Mr. Google for the above. The idea of church revitalization assumes that at some point in time the congregation in question was teeming with life. While this is clearly not the case with every church, it is the case with the majority of evangelical congregations.  We are people who believe that a true Christian has been imbued with life from above; he or she had been spiritually dead but has experienced the miracle of regeneration.

An assembly of such persons is a room full of miracles, a gathering of marvels who have survived the grave and have changed and are changing in ways which defy any psychological or sociological explanation.

Here’s a quick illustration: I became convinced that I had experienced the miracle of the new birth when I saw my own heart changing in inexplicable ways.  The guy who had valued his time at the bars wanted to go home and feast on the Bible in his favorite chair in his parents’ basement. I knew I had either lost my mind or been born again.

Here’s another one. Before I experienced my own new birth, I had observed, close hand, a houseful of such miracles: College kids who were new believers in Jesus.  They were full of joy and hope. They were disgustingly (to me!) optimistic and were sharing Jesus everywhere they went.  Former binge drinkers and drug users, they were finding more joy in Jesus than I even hoped to find in my “better living through chemistry” (the hippie’s favorite slogan at the time).

So what is church revitalization?  I think we know it when we see it.

A revitalized church looks like the campus group I described above – a little older and less energetic perhaps – but an established congregation of saints who are once again experiencing heaven-sent life.  They are praying and seeing answers.  They are bringing people to faith in Christ – because they want to – not because they have been “programmed” to do so. They love the Bible, not as a trivial pursuit, but as a passionate, personal pursuit. They are seeing miraculous Christian growth in themselves and in others. They are not without conflicts and disagreements, but they are handling their conflicts and disagreements with heaven-sent love and patience. They are doing good works out in the community, again, not just because they’ve been roped into it, but because they want to. They are worshipping God with help from the Spirit of God Himself, demonstrating and expressing their love and loyalty to God (even if the music is poor). Within their fellowship they are practicing the one-another commands of the New Testament and using their spiritual gifts to serve one another.

Have I missed anything?

Enough said.  Here are the first five of the myths.

1. Church revitalization is a new concept. The term might be new, but the concept is as old as Ephesians 1:15-23, Ephesians 3:14-21, Hebrews 10:19-25, Hebrews, chapters 12 and 13, James 4:1-10 and Revelation, chapters 2 and 3.  One hundred years ago the term was “revival.” Same root word.  Same miracle.  Different baggage connected with the terms. If your church doesn’t like the term revitalization then try the word revival or simply start asking if our lives and our church life look like they used to look.

2. Church revitalization is only for the severely troubled church. If my description of a revived or a brand-new, teeming-with-life assembly of Christians (above) is about right, then most churches need some level of revitalization. Does the picture I painted in that large paragraph look like your church?  (The revitalization assessment included in my Revitalization Playbook might be helpful.)

3. Church revitalization requires a new pastor. Oh dear.  This myth is pretty dangerous.  “We love Jesus so much that we have to toss out our old pastor.”  I don’t think so. Your church probably doesn’t need a new pastor, but it may need a fresh start and your pastor himself may need his own fresh start. Fortunately, our wonderful God is as willing to revitalize pastors as He is churches.

If your pastor is de-vitalized, what he may need is: (1) understanding – for your church may have dragged him down considerably, (2) a refreshing sabbatical – for he may have become too busy to enjoy God, (3) encouragement – for he may not realize that anybody cares, (4) prayer – for he may have more people criticizing him than interceding for him, and (5) coaching – for he may not know where to begin a revitalization process.

4. Church revitalization requires a young pastor. I’ve written about this before (The Myth Of The Young Pastor) but it won’t hurt to repeat it briefly. Correlation doesn’t prove causation.   Some churches call young pastors with young wives and young children.  The pastor comes with new energy, new ideas and new enthusiasm.  A measure of revitalization results.  Wonderful!

But I would venture to say that it wasn’t the pastor’s youth that brought revitalization. The revitalization that resulted was more likely a result of: (1) the new pastor’s faith and enthusiasm, plus (2) some good ideas, (3) a good attitude on the part of at least some of the church members, (4) the pastor’s availability to do disciple-making because the congregation is not yet entrusting him with their serious counseling issues, (5) the gifting of the new pastor with a few “change coupons” with which he can challenge old practices without getting in trouble, and (6) the only real source of heaven-sent life, God Himself.

In too many cases, the enthusiastic young pastor, who is expected to bring revitalization with him in his backpack, is unable to lead his stubborn congregation into a heaven-sent revitalization experience. What the faithful wanted was cheap magic, not a costly miracle.

5. Church revitalization can be produced by way of a packaged program. I’m reminded of the weight loss ads I keep hearing on You Tube: “Only 19.95 to lose 20 pounds!” I’d grab my credit card if I thought it was that simple. In the church this would mean a big box with a three-ring binder and – in the old days – a VHS video or a set of DVDs.  Church revitalization is not that simple either.

We’ll see next week that there’s no one perfect process for it either, but it is possible, accessible and available to the oldest church or the smallest church because it is a gracious gift of God, and that’s why I love to speak and write about it.