The First Step in Church Revitalization

by Rik Danielsen, D. Min.

If the church revitalization consultants are right, anywhere from 70%-90% of American evangelical churches are either plateaued or in decline. That means they have peaked in their growth and have leveled off or they peaked sometime ago and are now in the downhill slide towards closing their doors. They may remain plateaued or in decline for years, but the sad truth is that things won’t turn around and healthy growth won’t take place if nothing changes. All the while many in our communities are lost and in need of Christ. Specific steps must be taken to address the lack of spiritual and numerical growth in the church. What those steps are will differ from church to church because of their unique histories, communities, and members.

I would suggest that the first step towards revitalizing a church is constant, it must be to bathe the situation in prayer. Why? Because the root of the problem is spiritual in nature and must be addressed using the spiritual tools available to all believers.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12, ESV)

Many pastors believe the people who are opposed to change are the ones holding the church back. They are not the enemy, Satan is. He is the one who wants to see your church limp along. He is the one who wants your church to continue to be irrelevant to its community. He knows that he cannot prevail against a Holy Spirit filled, on mission church.

So the place to begin with church revitalization is with prayer. If you are the pastor of the church, I want you to not only spend time in prayer, but to enlist an army of men and women who will pray for you and for your church. Please do not skip this step. You will likely regret it if you do.

If you are a “lay” member of the church and recognize your church is not reaching people for Christ and may even be in danger of closing its doors, please, please, please pray for your pastor and your church. Pray for yourself, too. Pray that God would change any attitudes that would hinder the work of God in your church. Pray that God would bring all to repentance who need to repent. Pray Psalm 139:23-24 over yourself, your pastor, and your congregation.

As a Director of Missions, I was trying to encourage some of my pastors to develop plans (with their key leaders) to turn their churches around. I shared with them that the first step had to be prayer. It would be the foundation of their revitalization plan. Prayer would begin before anything else and continue on through the rest of the plan. One of our pastors took seriously the need to revitalize his church and began developing a plan. Sadly, he skipped the first step. Later he said, “All hell broke loose.” He faced mutiny in the pews. Why? This is a spiritual matter and must be addressed spiritually.

Start with prayer. Enlist others who will pray. Continue with prayer. Of course you should preach the word. Of course you will study your community. Of course you will study the history of your church. Of course you will develop a godly vision. And of course you will develop a plan of action. But if you don’t seek God and his help, at best, you will get what you can do and not what God can do through you. At worst, you will have to do battle on your own when Satan and his minions come against you.

Copyright 2022 Rik Danielsen