I often show the life cycle of a church as a bell curve. At the base on the left side you have the birth of the church. As one goes up that side is the growth phase, and at the top is the plateau phase. As you begin to move down the right side of the curve you enter the decline phase until you eventually get to the bottom which represents death. In my pastor seminars I point out that this curve is just like the one each of us experience in our personal lives. We are born, we grow, we reach maturity, we begin to decline until we die. There is nothing you and I can do about our life cycle, but there is something a church can do about its cycle. It can begin to grow a new life cycle.
This new life cycle can begin anywhere on the curve, but the best place is on the left side (the growing side), but it's also the most difficult place to try to begin a new life cycle. On that side things are going well, the church is growing, so why begin changing things? The reason is that eventually, if things do not change, the church will find itself on the decline side. At this point many churches become very risk-averse They may be in a survival mode unwilling to try anything that might deplete whatever resources they have.
A new life cycle may start with a new ministry that comes as God gives the church a fresh vision for ministry. It may begin with renewed leadership, both pastoral and lay. It certainly won't happen unless there is a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the congregation. The good news is that new life cycles can come from any of these and can be repeated as often as necessary to prevent the church from ever entering the decline side.
When I began my pastoral ministry in 1981 the church was in trouble. It was certainly far down the decline side. God was very gracious to a young, inexperienced pastor and the church he had been called to lead. We began to see new life cycles form in the life of the church. Positive things were happening. After a few years of growth we began to find ourselves stuck again. About that time I read a book that basically said that if the church was stuck it needed new pastoral leadership. That bothered me because if it was true then I might need to leave the church, and I felt no guidance that it was God's will for me to do that. After much prayer I decided if the church needed a new pastor, then I would become that new pastor. I would have to reinvent myself as the pastor of the church which I began to do. I realized the church was stuck because I had become stuck. In time, we got unstuck and began to do new things once again. We enjoyed exciting ministries during my remaining years as pastor of that church.
In my post last week I wrote about the benefits of planting new churches. There is also great value in replanting existing churches. In a sense, that is what we did in the church I pastored even though that language was not in use at the time. At least I wasn't aware of it. Since then I came across a book that was not available when I pastored that I wish I had. It is Replant: How a Dying Church Can Grow Again by Mark DeVine and Darrin Patrick. I believe it can be a great resource for church leaders who recognize that their churches need to experience new life.
If your church is stuck or even dying, it's time to consider a replant. Your church can start a new life cycle. It may not be easy, but it can be done. It has been done in many churches across the country, and there's no reason it can't be done in your church.
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