Is Church Revitalization A Scary New Concept?

Last week I wrote about disciple-making as an irritating new trend.

No, I don’t think it’s an irritating new trend; I think it’s a wonderful, old trend.

But I’m well aware of the fact that many church people have a serious case of “new idea fatigue.” They are weary and leery of new pastors with their new ideas, pet programs and new paradigms.  To many dear saints, especially those who are my age (I’m 72) or older, any new idea broached by any new pastor is automatically seen as a bad idea until proven otherwise.

So click right here if you want to learn more about disciple-making as a dangerous new trend.

This post is about another good, exciting, solidly-Biblical, so-old-that-it’s-new-again movement, one of the best things going on in the Church in America today: the church revitalization movement.

I understand why saints who have labored for decades in their churches would be skeptical.  Revitalization sounds like serious change.  It sounds too much like remodeling (which many of us have had bad experiences with), rehabilitation (which sounds painful), re-education (which sounds like something a communist government would do), redevelopment (which sounds like too much work), or revolution (which sounds like it would lead to a communist government).

And no, the term is not in the Bible, which of course, doesn’t mean it’s unbiblical; the term “Trinity” isn’t in the Bible either.

But the concept of church revitalization was planted firmly and securely in the pages of the New Testament, just waiting for us to give it a name.

The deep dive I’ve done on this subject lately – in preparation for some conference engagements – has challenged and encouraged me.  To put it very simply, the “vit” in the words “vitalize,” “vitalization” or “revitalization” means life. Something vitalized is full of life; something revitalized was full of life, ran short of life and is now full of life again.

The New Testament pictures vitalized (full of life from God!) churches in some wonderful passages:

• Romans 12-15 is a great picture of what the relatively new church at Rome could be by the grace of God: Christians presenting their lives to God, being transformed, finding their gifts and using them, loving God and each other, getting along with each other with supernatural grace, relating to the secular world and government with meekness and wisdom, dealing with our differences of opinion on moral issues with great patience and maturity.

While the Roman vitalized church hadn’t necessarily happened yet, our next picture is actual and historical and left Paul giving thanks continually.

• I Thessalonians one is an inspiring picture of an actual, vitalized church. These idol- worshipping people had experienced dramatic, dynamic conversions, in the face of persecution. They immediately began serving their congregation with faith, hope and love and they didn’t stop when they became weary. They proclaimed the gospel so broadly that Paul would try to tell other congregations about the Thessalonian church and would be interrupted by his amazed hearers who had already experienced the zeal of the Thessalonian converts.

The New Testament goes on to urge and invite one congregation after another to experience re-vitalization.

• Jesus’ invitation to proceed from fruit bearing to much fruit bearing, experiencing complete joy as a result, can certainly be applied to congregations as well as individuals (John 15:1-17).
• Paul’s prayers for the Ephesians in 1:15-23 and 3:14-21 of his letter to them may be the most expansive and profound invitations to church revitalization in the New Testament.
• The already-healthy Jerusalem church experienced revitalization – an illustration of Ephesians 5:18 – in Acts 4:23-31. Their response to persecution was to pray for boldness.  They received it, to such an awesome degree, that the building they were meeting in was physically shaken!
• Hebrews 10-13 can be understood as an invitation to church revitalization. Give this great passage a fresh look and enjoy the picture of a great church.
• James 4:1-10 seems to promise that we can be as close to God as we want to be. Surely this great invitation applies to congregations as well as individuals.
• The seven letters to seven churches in Revelation chapters two and three. Again and again, Jesus calls for repentance and promises new life and blessing.

We can safely conclude that any and every church can move from its current level of vitality to higher, nobler, more God-glorifying levels of supernatural, joyful, fruit-bearing. Any church, every church, is a candidate for revitalization.

From what I’ve studied, here’s “the catch.” The price of revitalization is to give up control: control of our own bodies and control of our churches. While we want something corporate, we must start with something deeply personal; it is personal revitalization that leads to church revitalization.

In this sense then, revitalization is rather scary, isn’t it? We do have to put our pet projects, programs, properties and priorities on the altar, as well as our weights and sins and distractions. The church which is just “one more thing” in the lives of its members is never going to see revitalization.

In the language of James four and Revelation two and three: How close to God do you want to be? How “hot” do you want to be?  How much are you willing to repent of?

Here’s my last piece of blessed good news: None of this has anything to do with eloquent (or cool) preachers, great bands, beautiful buildings, growing suburbs, flashing lights or comprehensive programming.

For most of the churches in America, which are smaller rather than larger, this is not only not scary, it’s very, very good news.

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Questions For Discussion:

1. What do you think our church thinks about the term “church revitalization”? Do our people view this as a scary concept?
2. From the New Testament passages mentioned in this article, do you have a favorite vitalized or revitalized church? Tell us why.
3. Do we know the condition of our church? How un-vitalized or vitalized is it?  What can we do to learn the true condition of our congregation?
4. What intrigues, excites or scares you about the idea of our church getting revitalized?
5. Besides discovering our church’s true condition, what else do you think we should do to begin to experience revitalization?