Revitalizing a Church, Part 3
JD Greear
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In Parts 1 and 2, I posed two questions that I recommend anyone considering church revitalization ask. Revitalization is nothing short of a work of the Holy Spirit. Unless you believe that God is working in the group of people that currently make up the dying church (and not the institution itself), and that he has big plans for them in the future, I would not advise trying to revitalize. There are too many lost people to waste your time with stubborn, hard-hearted religious people who don't want to change. That being said, I want to offer a couple of words of advice and encouragement to those who do feel God leading them to attempt church revitalization.
Don't Underestimate Staying Power
"Pastors consistently overestimate what they can accomplish in five years, and they consistently underestimate what they accomplish in 20 years." That was some advice I once received from Ligon Duncan, former head of the PCA (Presbytery of Calvary). Additionally, a pastor of a large, historic Baptist church told me, "You are not really the pastor until year ten. Up until then, you haven't really established trust with your leaders, and the DNA you have tried to inculcate hasn't yet set." Both of these statements make the same point: staying in one place and being a consistent force of leadership will bring lasting change.
The Flywheel Concept
Jim Collins, in his classic leadership book, Good to Great, talks about "the flywheel" concept bringing real change. Inculcating DNA works like spinning a flywheel (a big, heavy metal wheel mounted horizontally on a vertical pole). In your first "spin," you exert an extraordinary amount of effort for very little result. However, your next "effort," building on the momentum of the previous movement, takes less energy but results in a faster spin. On and on it goes until the momentum of the wheel causes the wheel to turn itself, requiring only the slightest tap from your fingertips.
Organizations are like that, Collins says. Few leaders can come in, give it a mighty spin, and be done. Most of us push, then a little more, and a little more, and over time the movement we desire is created, with each year's momentum building on the momentum from the year before.
God Wants Us to Be Persistent
Think about Jesus' story of the persistent widow and the unjust judge. The whole parable seems ridiculous—God is compared to an unjust, uncaring judge who answers a widow's request simply because she is annoying. It almost seems blasphemous, but the point is that if an unjust judge will respond to persistence, won't the just, compassionate God of the universe? For whatever reason, God has ordained that some miracles only come through persistent asking. Sometimes we give up when we don't see an immediate miracle, but we might be giving up right before God gives us what we are seeking.
To be continued
