Adapted with permission from “Revitalizing a Dying Church” in The Pastor-Evangelist: Preacher, Model, and Mobilizer for Church Growth (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1987).
In the course of their ministries, most pastors will face the challenge of revitalizing a declining church. Let me explain why by classifying pastoral ministries into three basic categories.
The Organizing Pastor. The role of organizing pastor is a special calling for those who can both evangelize and equip, for this is the task of building a church where one did not exist before.
The Continuing Pastor. Continuing pastors succeed organizing pastors and minister in growing or basically healthy churches.
The Revitalizing Pastor. When a once-flourishing church is on the decline, the people call a pastor who they hope will bring them back to the glory days.
With these three kinds of pastors in mind, let me make a couple of observations. First, to be honest, only a few people have the discipline, character, skills, and spiritual gifts to be organizing pastors. We should not be hasty to accept a call to become an organizing pastor just because we do not get any other invitation. Probably few of us are so called.
Second, there are fewer healthy, growing, and successful pastorates available than many think, and even fewer will be offered to graduating seminarians going into their first pastorates. Pastoring an already-growing church will not be an option for many pastors.
Therefore, since there is no such thing as a “plateaued” church, the rest of the field is filled with churches that are experiencing spiritual decline or decay, at least to some degree. Since the majority of churches need revitalization, most of us will be called on for this kind of ministry.
From personal experience, I can say it is an exciting challenge to place yourself in the hand of God as his servant seeking to reverse the downward spiral of spiritual ineffectiveness in a congregation and to help it recapture a pattern of growth, momentum, enthusiasm, and optimism. And it is also a highly satisfying ministry, for by God’s grace, a tired, old church can be revitalized.
-Harry L. Reeder III
Christ Covenant Church
Matthews, North Carolina
Copyright © 1987 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
