Avoiding the Cul-de-Sacs in Church Revitalization By Dr. Tom Cheyney.

Avoiding the Cul-de-Sacs in Church Revitalization

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Conference

By Dr. Tom Cheyney

Developing An Intentional Church Revitalization Paradigm

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1 Peter 1;3-9Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, l He has given us a new birth m into a living hope n

through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that

is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 5 You are being

protected by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in

the last time. 6 You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to

struggle in various trials 7 so that the genuineness of your faith —more valuable than

gold, which perishes though refined by fire —may result in praise, glory, and honor

at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 You love Him, though you have not seen Him.

And though not seeing Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with inexpressible

and glorious joy, 9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of

your souls.

Avoiding the Cul-de-Sacs in Church RESTARTs

A great little book on the subject can be found by: Dottie Escobedo-Frank entitled RESTART Your Church (Abingdon Press). Another is When HOPE Comes to the Declining Church: Strategies Towards Revitalization through a Restart.


Have you ever driven in a subdivision where at the end of each major road there is an off shoot which is a Cul-de-sac? These communities usually have one or two main with Cul-de-sacs running off of the main streets.


Have you seen any church Cul-de-sacs?

• These are the detractors from the appointed goal which delay us or even worse detract us from the real goal of restarting the church and bringing back vitality and renewal.


The word Cul-de-sac comes from the French language which means “dead ends.” Dead ends stop you at the moment in time when you are moving forward only to lock you in your tracks and cause you to become immoveable.

The Definition from the dictionary is:n. Noun• A dead-end street.• An impasse.• A saclike cavity or tube open only at one end.


• If you are not careful when you enter a Cul-de-sac you will find yourself going round and around until you realize you are in a Cul-de-sac. There are small Cul-de-sacs and there are big ones. But regardless of the size all of these church Cul-de-sacs are a huge waste of time and a tremendous waste of resources. Resources in people, prospects, and priorities for the restarting church.


Restarts often face these Cul-de-sacs because there are individuals within the existing church who do not want to see the changes necessary to renewal take place so they will attempt to lead you or push you into one Cul-de-sacs after another until it wears you out.


• Cul-de-sacs wear the leader out and the church seeking renewal out as well.

• Energy which is needed for thing like outreach, evangelism, and restructuring of the vision and goals of a church are tapped out.

• Leaders which are not pure Church Revitalizers often get trapped in these circles of nowhere and become stale lacking the drive to lead the church to a new horizon.


• Many churches needing to employ a restart strategy find themselves in some sort of Cul-de-sacs realizing they are going nowhere and are in a perpetual dead-end.

• Thoughts of wanting to quit become more the norm than the exception.


There is good news for you as the leader of a declining church and there is good news for the local church. You do not need to allow the Cul-de-sacs to detract you form the goal of revitalization and renewal.


Seth Godin in his book: The Dip: A little Book That Teaches You when to Quit (And When to Stick) says that what most of us are experiencing is the “Dip” which is the “long slog between starting and mastery” (pg.17).


What is the Dip:• The portion of our work where things get hard• Those times in ministry where it is just no fun• The moments which there seems to be no win

for the church nor for the Church Revitalizer.• Those times when you want to quit


What is the Dip:• There are some dips which you as the Church

revitalizer need to avoid at all cost.– Showdowns where only one wins out– My ways or the Highways moments– Patriarchal powerbrokers which refuse change– Matriarchal members which see nothing wrong with

killing the church. –


Recently I had a man who professes to be a strong Christian say to me: “I would rather see my church die than to see it become more contemporary in order to reach a younger generation!” That broke my heart.

Should a professed committed Christian actually believe that? I do not think so. Christ died for all not just our generation.


Dips can become Cul-de-sacs if you let them. Dips lead to beneficial ends while Cul-de-sacs lead to the exact same spot over and over and over again. Time after time you will find yourself back at the original starting point if you allow Dips to become Cul-de-sacs.


• There are many churches locked in a Cul-de-sac. Are you pastoring one right now?

• Dips take time to climb out of while Cul-de-sacs are a never ending series of wasted energy only to find ones self and the church back at the initial place it begun.


What is the situation you find yourself in?

• The Dip• The Cul-de-sac• The CliffIt is vital to know where you are in your effort towards revitalization.


The Dip examined : – The effort towards renewal was initially fun– You were engaged in the early beginnings– You begin to search for a short cut over the

journey.– Busy work begins to consume your efforts– Learning begins to become much harder– You move from early successes to ones much

harder.

The Dip Examined

Revitalization lesson:Church Revitalizers which are successful do not just ride out the hard times of renewal. They actually lean into it. They work harder, stretch further, change up the structures keeping them form breaking through, and refuse to quit and coast. They know they are in the dip but do not act like there is nothing they can do about it. Instead they work systematically to whittle them done one piece at a time until they have moved all the way through the dip.


The Cul-de-sac Examined:– You work hard but see little return for it– Things do not get better nor do they get worse– It is a state of drift where participants are happy

with status quo and prospects avoid you like the plaque

– You are spinning your wheels and stuck in a going nowhere effort

The Cul-de-sac Examined:

– Your only hope is to be true to your people and if they are unwilling to make changes jump off the roller coaster and look for a church willing to change

– Dead end churches say they want to change but do everything in there powers to not change

– If you want your ministry to count for something you might as a Church Revitalizer need to leave this church which really only wants a person in the pulpit weakly.

– As a Church Revitalizer the cost of investing ones life in something that is not going to get better is just too high for a revitalizer. Allow a retired pastor hold their hands a little while longer.

The Cliff Examined

• The Cliff Examined:– These are very rare and usually have led up to by an

ultimatum by either the pastor or the lay leadership unwillingness to work together

– The path the church is on seems impossible to avoid– The form and function appears impossible to quit

because you have done it that way so long that most of the participants are unwilling to change and the prospects are unwilling to settle.

The Cliff Examined

• The Cliff Examined:– The eventual outcome will be either the church lay

leadership falls out with the pastor or the pastor falls out with the churches direction of its lay leadership

– The end result is that this church will eventually fall apart terribly trying to hold on until it is too late.

– The under pinning of this is an unwillingness to change on one or more parties.


It is tremendously vital that you discover which situation you are in!

Your churches outcome and your outcome as a Church Revitalizer is a life and death concern.

So Where is the Direction?• Cul-de-sacs and the Cliff are the enemy of the dip

because they are seeking to be permanent. • These will eventually lead to ministry failure.• The hardest thing for a Church Revitalizer to do is

to tell the church that it has not changed, does not want to change, and the final option is for you to make a change. Now not later.

• You actually know it is not going to get better and yet you hang on lacking the conviction to do something about it.

So Where is the Direction?• You have a preference to not rock the boat but

the boat is sinking and you lack the commitment to challenge others to see the eventual outcome.

• Why should a Church Revitalizer stick it out if there is no eventual benefit of a changed church seeking a new direction.

• As a Church Revitalizer do you have the stuff necessary to say, “I would rather lead a smaller church over leading a larger dead one?’


“As a Church Revitalizer, if it does not cost you a commitment of your complete life,

you are not on the pursuit for church revitalization and renewal but only a ride!”

(Tom Cheyney, Biblical Foundations for Church Renewal)

Revitalization Lesson from a Woodpecker!

A woodpecker can peck on 500 trees 50 times each and find nothing!

But stay busy.

Or,A woodpecker can tap 50,000 times on a single

tree and discover dinner!


Our world is changing and we must wake up as a church:• Many churches needing a restart strategy have

failed to keep up with the changing environment around its ministry area.

• Many are closing and that sometimes happens, yet it is much better to leave a legacy and give your facility over to an association and allow it to utilize it for a restart or a new church plant.


Our world is changing and we must wake up as a church:• The very moment you sell your church you have

hurt the cause of Christ in that target area due to the increasing costs of property and a new churches lack of sufficient funds to purchase the property.

• You then sell it to a business or developer and the property which God had given you for the work of Christ is lost because of lack of understanding of the potential options.


Our world is changing and we must wake up as a church:• Many churches needing to consider a church

restart have memberships which are growing old and many of the formerly active participants have passed away.

• Young people are not drawn to your church and once they come they do not stay due to differences in what is relevant for present participants over what is relevant for newcomers.


Our world is changing and we must wake up as a church:• Many of the younger ones in the church are

there because of a family member and they feel stuck.

• Many younger prospects for the church are absent from the ministry or are there with a sense of disgust because they are powerless to change the rank and files idea of a culturally relevant church.


Our world is changing and we must wake up as a church:• Many of these churches needing a retart

strategy are not keeping up financially, numerically, nor spiritually.

• These churches are becoming dead in their forms as the lifelessness of their ministry is no longer attractive to the community it is called to serve. They have loss critical mass.


Our world is changing and we must wake up as a church:• Many of these churches no longer have the

ability to make disciples of others.

Statistical Realities Concerning Church Revitalization

Did you know that:•There are 344,000 protestant evangelical churches from the eight mainline denominations in the western hemisphere, which are in plateau and decline.•95% of all churches in North America average 100 or less.


Did you know that:•Over 82% of American Churches are in decline or on a plateau.•Each year 3,500 to 4,000 churches die in North America (900 last year within our Denomination alone).


Did you know that:•Studies have shown that churches typically plateau in attendance by their fifteenth year, and by year 35 they begin having trouble replacing the members they lose. •They have the inability to regain the critical mass necessary to regrow the church utilizing the tools and techniques they are presently employing.


Did you know that:•50 – 60 churches in North America close their door every week.


Lyle Schaller reminds us that 85,000 evangelical churches are running fewer than 50 on Sunday. • Being aware of their “critical” condition, however,

is not enough. • They have got to become convinced they need

“major” surgical treatment.


We must recreate the mindset of the remaining members within the

renewing church!


• Realize that those churches locked in the Cul-da-sac circle of turning left or right never to come out of the perpetual motion of going nowhere, are excellent prospects for a church restart.

• Churches which have bounced from one Cul-de-sac to another for years have the chance to do something significant for Christ even in its waning years.


• If these churches can set aside the traditions of a few for the focus of the many which need to be reached and need to come to Jesus, then they can begin again and have one more chance for life.

• A fresh restart is often the very thing which can give life to a community which has grown weary of the existing church.


A great little book on the subject can be found by: Dottie Escobedo-Frank entitled RESTART Your Church (Abingdon Press). Another is When HOPE Comes to the Declining Church: Strategies Towards Revitalization through a Restart.

Avoiding the Cul-de-Sacs in Church Revitalization


Conference

By Dr. Tom Cheyney


What does Restarting entail? There are five initial actions which if your church can work through these you have a greater chance of survival. If you bulk at any of these you lessen your chances for survival.– Charge– Change– Charter – Church– Control

Let’s look at them individually.

Charge

Change

Charter

ChurchControl

Can you do

it?

Let’s take a look at five things churches need to relinquish if they are going to be open to church revitalization:

R.E.V.I.V.E

Things to Be Relinquished in Church

Revitalization!

By Dr. Tom Cheyney

Things to Be Relinquished in Church Revitalization!Charge

Change

Charter

ChurchControl

Can you do

it?

Things to Be Relinquished in Church Revitalization!

• The need for revitalization often begins with the first item that needs to be relinquished within the church and that is who is leading the revitalization effort! Most if not all successful revitalization efforts are lead by a single solitary leader directing the cause. It might be the pastor who has heard from god and has been renewed or it might be a new leader whom God raises up to assit the church.

Charge