The following 20 quotes caught my attention as I worked through Brian Croft’s Biblical Church Revitalization: Solutions for Dying & Divided Churches (Christian Focus, 2016).
1) “If there are two primary marks of churches needing revitalization, it would arguably be the absence of spiritual life and the presence of hostile division among those in the church. Either of these realities can single-handedly kill a church over time, but when both are present, death is imminent. The only hope for these kinds of churches is the same hope for Israel in the darkness of their exile — the power of God. God’s design is for that power to come by God’s Spirit moving through his spoken word. As we see illustrated in the valley of dry bones, that power harnessed by God’s Spirit and word can breathe life where there is no life and bring unity where there is division.” (30)
2) The Church Revitalization team on the North American Mission Board (NAMB) has created a list of eight characteristics that well capture unique and essential qualities of someone feeling a call to pastor a dying church (Beyond the qualifications outlined in 1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9):
Visionary shepherd
High tolerance for pain
Respect and passion for the church’s legacy
Passion for multi-generational ministry
A resourceful generalist
Tactical patience
Emotional awareness
Spousal perseverance (34)
3) “The best approach for a pastor when entering a dysfunctional, dying congregation is to simply be a pastor to those people. This is why pastors need to be trained in the practicalities of pastoral theology so as to be equipped in the work of ministry. A simple definition of pastoral theology is the application of biblical theology in a pastoral manner for the purpose of caring for God’s people. That is, pastoral theology informs a pastor of the day-to-day tasks of a pastor with the aim of ministering to God’s people. These tasks include such things as preaching, praying, visiting the sick, caring for widows, discipling others, raising up leaders, encouraging the weak, conducting weddings and funerals, to name a few.” (35)
4) “The first principle in pursuing church health is that the process from which it results is a slow one. The vision of where to go must be clear from the beginning, but the implementation of it must take years…In my experience, it takes a minimum of five years before a pastor can see real, lasting fruit in his ministry that points to church health.” (36)
5) “The key to survival in pastoral ministry is a pastor’s diligent care for his own soul. Many of the discouragements that come in a Pastor’s Ministry are about him, not his church. God calls pastors not to be supermen, but to be faithful.” (39)
6) Pastors struggle to find their true and full identity in Christ and when pastors fail to show up secure in Christ, they show up in these false ways:
Insecure
Defensive
Controlling
Perfectionistic
Legalistic
Fearing man
Manipulative
Passive
Stoic
Ungracious
7) “Pastors have Jesus’ approval, favor, and presence. What more do we need to survive? This is the key to survival in any church, but especially in a church needing revitalization. A pastor’s diligent care of his own soul and awareness of this needed internal work will be the key not just to survival, but thriving under the sovereign hand of the Chief Shepherd, regardless of the church he serves.” (40)
8) “A pastor must trust the power of the word in the preaching of the gospel to breathe life into the church. If he doesn’t trust God’s word, he will try and trust something else to bring life. If we believe God’s word through His Spirit is what breathes life back into a dying and divided church, then the most important change comes the first Sunday of the new pastor. But time must be given for the word to do its work.” (44)
9) “Many churches needing revitalized have hurting, broken, discouraged sheep that need a shepherd to care for them and nurture them back to health. This is where a pastor’s time needs to be spent as he seeks to be faithful, especially in the opening years of his ministry. If God is going to breathe life into His church, it must come through the revival of the people who are there. It is a common and costly error to immediately look outside the church for new life, when there are God’s sheep longing for that renewed life already within the church.” (45)
10) “In my experience, rarely has a pastor ready to bail at the two-year mark prayed as he ought for his flock.” (46)
11) “If a pastor will find ways to celebrate the long-term faithful saints that have kept that church going when everyone else bailed out, it will cause them to be most receptive to the younger, who also need to come to the church for the church to survive into the next generation.” (46)
12) Patience might be the most important key to perseverance as it will cause a pastor to wait when he needs to wait. It will cause a pastor to make decisions with a longer view in mind. Patience will cause a pastor to not give up on a difficult person just yet…Patience is essential for a pastor to persevere in this work.” (47)
13) “Ironically, in many cases, it is a pastors confrontation with adversaries against the gospel and their ministries that make them conclude it is time to look for the next place. The Apostle Paul takes the opposite approach — the presence of adversaries makes him conclude he must stay longer: ‘But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries (1 Cor. 16:9).’” (47-48)
14) “A key to a soldier’s survival on the battlefield is to know there are land mines out there and do whatever he must to avoid stepping on them. The work of revitalization is similar in that you can survive a long time if you can avoid stepping on those giant landmines, know what they are, and identify when they are near. There are plenty of battles to fight. The key is knowing what needs to be fought now and what needs to wait. This is essential to perseverance.” (48)
15) “As a pastor sets out to shepherd the remnant of God’s sheep in a church that needs revitalization, he must arm himself with the truth that the residual effects of the failings of previous pastors are still felt in the congregation. The hurt and pain a previous pastor caused a congregation does not vanish when the new pastor arrives. And here’s the difficult truth: you, as the new pastor, should expect to suffer because of them. You will pay the price and bear the burden for the failings of your predecessors. It is neither fair nor right, but that’s the reality.” (58)
16) “It is essential to assess who the leaders are in the church. Churches within my denomination have experienced an epidemic of short pastorates. One consequence of this tragedy is the creation of an environment in which church members have to assume roles of leadership spawned by the vacuum of leadership during the absence of a pastor…The revolving door cycle of short-term pastorates creates a breeding ground in which churches, to frequently burned, come to distrust the pastoral office, albeit unknowingly and allow others to usurp leadership roles.” (70)
17) “Meaningful membership reminds Christians that walking with Jesus in our daily life must not be done alone. We need each other. We need to be responsible for one another. Membership provides the structure for this community life that is found all throughout the New Testament. A clear understanding of how members of a church are called to relate to one another is a key in preparing them to move forward and find new life.” (78)
18) “What is too common among churches that need revitalization is that the meaning of membership is gradually lost as the backbone in the life of the church. For the sake of managing growing numbers, a process of assessing potential members falls by the wayside. But when the church begins to decline, that process that has been lost is no longer in place to hold one another accountable. Unresolved conflicts fester into divisions and the members of the church stop bearing burdens with each other and making efforts to lift the downcast among them. As the church begins to panic at their dwindling numbers throughout the decades, they begin to take any warm, willing bodies into membership with no accountability or expectation. Sins of the members continue to be overlooked, eventually evolving into no godly standard whatsoever. In fact, a common mark in dying, divided churches is a feeling of entitlement to privacy that prevents being involved in each other’s lives where we can transparently engage one another as God designed.” (80)
19) “Lasting spiritual life comes through a pursuit of God’s design for His church. It is when the older teach and mentor the younger; when the younger seek the older for wisdom and godly examples; when men and women embrace their unique roles with other men and women; when black, white, rich, poor, slaves, and masters unite under the reality of having been saved by the blood of Christ in the power of the gospel. Where that unity is found, life comes with it.” (87)
20) “Because God’s word is profitable and because preaching unleashes the profitability of God’s word in the power of the Spirit, the preaching of God’s word is truly the highlight of the local church’s weekly gathering.” (93)
Michael Carlino serves on the administrative side of the Mathena Center as the Student Associate and Garrett Fellow. He is a Ph.D. student at SBTS and was a Mathena intern in 2018-2019. Michael aspires to be the lead pastor in a church revitalization effort.