written by Rod Morris, Lead Consultant - Revitalise
“They died less from lack of food or medicine than from lack of hope, lack of something to live for."
Viktor E. Frankl, in ‘Man's Search for Meaning’ reflected on the transforming power of hope. It was hope that enabled individuals to survive the horrors of the concentration camps.
The same is true in church revitalisation.
While there are many different things that churches need to address as they seek to revitalise their ministry, a common theme is always hope: developing a clear sense that God has not finished his work among and through us, but continues to delight in seeing his church bear fruit for his glory.
Over the past four and a half years, I have had the great privilege of walking alongside seventy different churches as they have considered where God is taking them. It is always an interesting journey. No two churches are the same, and I get to see under the bonnet of what God is doing in lots of different places through his people.
As part of the process, I regularly ask church leaders to make lists of the recognised strengths and undeniable weaknesses of their church. They are often very long lists.
The obvious question with the list of strengths is whether there is anything that God can use for his glory and the health of the church, and the answer is always yes. There is always something that can be used as an initial building block to help them move forward. Not one church has been left with nothing to work with.
The key question with the weaknesses is whether any of them are insurmountable. Is the situation so desperate that they should simply give up and close? The group always decides that none of their weaknesses are insurmountable. We believe in a big and active God.
Every time I do this exercise, the group sees that God can use the strengths of their church for his glory. They also see that none of their weaknesses are insurmountable. God does not give up on his projects, and he delights in seeing his Son glorified through the ministry of the local church and His people.
As a church revitalisation consultant, I think this is a really important activity because it helps church leaders recognise that there is hope. Even if their church has been in a downward spiral for decades. Even if they are totally stuck in maintenance mode. Even if they are totally inward looking and have become little more than a social club for the elderly, there is always hope.
As we talk about church revitalisation, we know that God loves to see people come to know him, he loves to see people growing to maturity in Christ, and he loves to see the love of Christ demonstrated to the community served by the local church, and he loves to see the various expressions of the local church working well together.
So one of my key priorities as a consultant is to help church leaders start to think about what they can do to help see that happen. It is interesting that, as churches wrestle with these questions, it always shapes their prayers, and then I love sitting back and watching how God answers their prayers in ways that are often far beyond my wildest expectations.