Restarting your revitalization team in your church
The fall is a great time to begin revitalization in your church. It is a time for a fresh start, new calendars, a new school year, and to reset your outlook. It is a perfect time to set sail into new beginnings and horizons. When revitalizing your church, you must choose to move ahead. Some pastors will most likely coast into the fall and not give a second thought to how to leverage the school calendar to bring people together and reset the vision after the summer break.
This season is an opportunity for you to gather individuals and build momentum in your church so that it does not become stagnant as you move into the fall. I have learned that when it comes to getting things done, people are not created equal. As the pastor, you must unite people each year when you hit the fall season. The two people you do not want on your team are the characteristics of anchors and waves. Anchors are people that are going to slow you down, dock the ship, and stop you from sailing, and the waves are those people that are going to disrupt the current by crashing your course.
Revitalization takes a healthy team and is not one voice, so you must choose to assemble your team with wisdom and care. Your team must have suitable characteristics if you lead a healthy revitalization. Maybe you are thinking, "I don't have these people in my church." But I guarantee you have at least a few people around you who embody these characteristics. I want to share five features of people you need on your team for church revitalization and renewal.
1. Outreach-driven people:
You must have people who attract people to revitalization. You must have people sharing their faith daily, having conversations about investing, and inviting people to Jesus and your local church. These people embrace the culture, navigate through it, and understand it. Outreach-driven people help build God's Kingdom by bringing life into every situation. They love their community, speak into it, and help it grow with a Kingdom outlook.
2. Unity-driven people:
You must have people of collaboration on your team. These people will work together, and they can work together to unify the church. When your team has unity-driven people, they will commit to reaching a goal of revitalization. They will understand the pastor's vision and mission from Jesus and see it come to fruition. These people are the encouragers of the church. They will continue to encourage you as the pastor and other church members, pressing the boat into full throttle as they move forward to see life change in people.
3. Loyalty-driven people:
When you have loyalty, you have dedication, and no matter what the journey will bring, these people stay. Loyal people are committed to seeing completion. They will persevere, endure, and work hard. Loyal people always remain steady when the storms get rough. These characteristics are part of the crucial team-building process of church revitalization. They commit to bringing the Gospel into the community, which is at the forefront of their minds.
4. Optimism-driven people:
These are some of the best people you can have around you as a pastor. Church revitalization is a challenging endeavor, but it is not impossible. Optimistic people refuse to disagree over non-essential matters. They do not accept the status quo and push the bar higher than what is in place. Optimistic-driven people are not stagnant, like anchors who want to dock the ship. Optimistic-driven people are opportunists seeing the positive in the worst situations. Leveraging these people in each season will bring renewal into your church.
5. Faith-driven people:
Faith is the key to revitalization. If a pastor is going to move the church ahead on the mission of Jesus, he must have obedient faith. The surrounding people must have the same faith to see revitalization happen. Immense faith focuses on a big God. When somebody has little faith, they can accomplish the task, and God does not have to be in the picture. Immense, faith-driven people understand the task is enormous, and only God can achieve it, but they will trust Him for the outcome.
No matter what phase of church life you are in, God wants to do great things in and through your local church. As you look towards the fall and think about the areas in your church that need revitalization, look for these types of people to bring on your team, help you pray, and see God work. Who knows, maybe you are one of these types of people, and maybe God wants you to step in and be part of the team that brings solutions and renewal.
Gary Moritz serves as the church revitalization director at the Baptist Churches of New England.
