revitalization

You need a bigger fish tank…

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620-goldfish-small-bowl-claustrophobia.imgcache.rev1363017034520

Gold fish are often a child’s first pet. They’re low maintenance, inexpensive, and easy to handle. I mean, you need a bowl and some cheap food, just add water and BOOM! You have a pet.

But there’s a fun fact about gold fish that I remember hearing years ago – if you place a small gold fish in a large fish bowl, it will grow to proportionally fit the fish bowl. This means that you can take a fish you win at the fair and watch it grow if you place it in the right environment. (To be fair, I don’t think you can get a bagged gold fish to turn into koi).

This same principle applies to churches. And no, I don’t mean physical buildings (this time). Churches have little ‘fish bowls’ all over the place – little things that stop them from growing any bigger than they already are.

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How do you eat an elephant?

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elephant-in-museum_GkIPn8uu

Church leaders face a big struggle when it comes to revitalization of their congregations. 90% of churches are either in decline or stagnant, which means only 10% of churches are growing. Many churches (and, if we’re being honest, church leaders too) want simple solutions to make the process of turning around a decline quick and painless. But the reality is that revitalizing a church will take time. It may be helpful to think about the process of revitalization as the process of “eating an elephant”.

When I was in ROTC, I remember an instructor asking our class of cadets (who had noticeably become frustrated by our perceived lack of progress) a seemingly absurd question: How do you eat an elephant?

His answer?

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Growth in the cracks…

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Plant growing in cracked asphalt - vitality symbol

Finding new life in an established church can be a challenge. There are a lot of stereotypes about older (older both in age of the congregation AND age of the church itself) churches that are, unfortunately, true. And a lot of pastors struggle with “revitalization”, myself included.

Facilitating new life in an established church can feel a lot like trying to get grass to grow through blacktop. But I love the work of revitalization. Here’s why:

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