THE END OF REVITALIZATION

Ten years ago, as social conditions became less responsive to organized religion, church planting became harder than it used to be.  The number of failed church plants soared in most denominations.  Millions of dollars invested went nowhere as the new churches failed to take root.  Many judicatories decided to give up on planting and put all their eggs in the revitalization basket: seeking to stabilize the churches they had.  This worried me then, because every church has a life cycle.  As churches age, few are able to turn back time.  But revitalization became the rage - all sorts of programs were offered to help local churches get a grip, and a facelift - I have been a major player in the church revitalization industry - even as I continued to coach new church starts.

Up until the early part of this century, even as UMC membership slid steadily, worship attendance nationally held at about 3 million.  Then, it began to slip, seriously slip.  Median age rose annually, but the money stayed strong and attendance was steady.  Then, church folks started dying in  greater numbers than we had ever seen.   Add in the profound disconnect among millennials with most churches,, and throw in a pandemic for good measure - and you come out in 2023. The UMC now reports 1.3 million weekly worshipers, post pandemic.  Some conferences count online worship and some do not - so the in-house attendance is closer to 1 million.  Disaffiliation of larger churches in the heartland will likely drive weekly worship count below a million this year.  The verdict: the revitalization movement has been a bust, even as a few programs helped a few congregations improve their ministries for a few years.  We offered face-lifts, not a fountain of youth.

Today, many of us are shying away from the term Revitalization entirely.  This happens with language.  When a word becomes laden with baggage or failure, we find another word.  But whatever we want to call it, mild intervention is no longer helpful for most churches.  Existing churches say they want to find new life, but they also wish to retain their building, their style of worship, their org structure, their preschool, and the list goes on. 

Meanwhile, in one European conference, the church plants are again taking root as the young planters are told simply, “Create something that you could invite your friends to.”  And they do.  For an existing church to re-connect with modern currents of culture, the deconstruction must go much deeper than what Revitalization typically has entailed.  Everything has to be on the table, except the Gospel of Jesus.  The more disruption to the status quo, the better! 

What if we assumed that…

1. All buildings would be sold, unless we found a compelling reason to repurpose them.
2. All staff would shift to 5-year contracts, with the assumption that we do a deep re-think the ministries they oversee in their absence - unless those ministries are growing.
3. Helping people live as disciples of Jesus was always the bottom line.
4. The population we seek to reach would help in the design of each new iteration of ministry.
5. Worship attendance would no longer serve as the key measure of our church’s health - but rather ministry outputs: people served, people who join us, varied forms of tangible community impact, etc.

Tinkering with old churches is a waste of time.  The era of revitalization is officially over.