EP 268 – Fundamentals of Church Renewal with Brandon Moore
Fundamentals of Church Renewal
We are often asked to give a summary of how to revitalize a church. I get the desire for a quick answer and something to grab on to and implement but I have always struggled to give a concise answer. The reality is that church revitalization and renewal isn’t a cookie-cutter process, but there are some fundamentals that are consistent in healthy church renewal:
- Spiritual Renewal through Gospel Hope: Start by instilling gospel hope to renew hearts. Warm the hearts of the remaining members back to the gospel and they will be ready to be on board with the needed changes to systems and strategies.
- Biblical Assessment: If we want to know where we are going then we have to know where we are. This means we need biblically assess strengths and areas for growth.
- Shared Leadership and Radical Collaboration: Embrace radical collaboration to build a family where leadership equips, membership reflects each person’s role, and discipleship fosters mutual growth.
- Prayerful Missional Focus: Keep a prayerful, missional focus, and be ready to handle conflict with grace.
- Shepherding through Difficulties: We must be prepared to address difficulties with wisdom, grace, and humility
Spiritual Renewal through Gospel Hope:
Romans 12:1-2 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
- We all want to know the will of God for our churches but that starts with God renewing our minds andhearts back in alignment to the Gospel mercies of God that Paul spells out in Romans 1-11.
- The reason most church revitalization efforts fail is that they try to bring a strategic solution to a spiritual problem.
- Effective church renewal leaders demonstrate a love for God, His people, and their missional context. They lead with gospel joy and passion.
- Through the hope of the Gospel, we need to orient our members back to the identities of who God has called us to be as His body and bride.
- Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”
- “When things change at the spring [heart] the effects will be felt downstream. Sometimes it will not be perceptible for quite some time, but eventually the stream will change and people will notice. Even if you keep doing exactly the same things as you always did, your ministry will be different because ministry isn’t just a mechanical process. It involves the heart, if your heart changes, your ministry changes also.”
- Craig Hamilton, Wisdom in Leadership
- This focus will help us love and shepherd the church’s remaining members as we PRIORITIZE PEOPLE over programs and processes through
- Three identities Marked by Love
- WORSHIPPERS: Joy in the Lord
- FAMILY: Unity with One Another
- MISSIONARIES: Compassion toward the world
- Three identities Marked by Love
- “When things change at the spring [heart] the effects will be felt downstream. Sometimes it will not be perceptible for quite some time, but eventually the stream will change and people will notice. Even if you keep doing exactly the same things as you always did, your ministry will be different because ministry isn’t just a mechanical process. It involves the heart, if your heart changes, your ministry changes also.”
- Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”
- Helpful Leadership Characteristics:
Biblical Assessment:
Romans 12:3 “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
- In order to know where we are going, we have to be honest about where we are. This requires a sober judgement of reality through humble and biblical assessment of the church’s level of spiritual maturity.
- In a previous episode (EP 253 Evaluating Church Health and Setting Goals) we talked about how to evaluate your church’s health/maturity through this framework. Avoid the temptation to address the structures first. Make sure your congregation is headed in the right direction on the healthy identities and foundations first and then address the structures.
- Effective church renewal leaders have a passion for biblical preaching of God’s Word and lead by the Word and through the Word.
- We need to DEEPEN DEPENDENCE and make sure that our church is firmly rooted in:
- Three Foundations marked by Humility
- Hope in the GOSPEL
- Submission to the SCRIPTURE
- Dependence on PRAYER
- Three Foundations marked by Humility
- Helpful Leadership Characteristics:
Shared Leadership and Radical Collaboration:
Romans 12: 4-8 “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”
- One of the paradigmatic shifts that needs to happen in many churches is moving away from the solo leadership model to radical collaboration through shared leadership. God has gifted each member of His body to play their role properly and thus build the church up in maturity and love (Eph. 4:11-16).
- Biblical leadership requires us equip the saints for the work of ministry and share the leadership given to us.
- Shared leadership creates space for members to use their gifts, reflecting the God ordained diversity and unity of the body of Christ.
- “When we allow ourselves to be placed in positions that posture us as the hero, the savior, or the rescuer of the church, we introduce a host of incredibly powerful temptations to our own souls. The same is true if we passively allow others to place those accolades on us.”
- Scott Catoe, Effective Interim Pastors
- We can ensure we do this well by PROVIDING PATHWAYS:
- Three healthy structures marked by Wisdom
- Self-governing and wise LEADERSHIP
- Self-sustaining and wise MEMBERSHIP
- Self-replicating through wise DISCIPLESHIP
- Three healthy structures marked by Wisdom
- “When we allow ourselves to be placed in positions that posture us as the hero, the savior, or the rescuer of the church, we introduce a host of incredibly powerful temptations to our own souls. The same is true if we passively allow others to place those accolades on us.”
- Helpful Leadership Characteristics
Prayerful Missional Focus:
Romans 12:9-13 “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”
- Often times one of the greatest contributing factors to a churches decline is the community around the church has changed and the church is no longer effective in impacting its immediate context.
- Being on mission is not just about strategic outreach. Everything we have talked about is dependent on the Lord. Being on mission is the outflow of living out our identities built on healthy foundations with healthy and wise pathways.
- This framework helps us deepen our dependence on God, prioritize people over programs and processes, and provide pathways that help us continue to deepen our dependence and prioritize people.
- Effective church renewal leaders demonstrate a humble and prayerful dependence on God’s power.
- “One of the greatest lessons for anyone yearning to see a church revitalized is to learn how to rely on God alone. What we may underestimate is how repugnant self-reliance is to God, how pervasive it is in us, how difficult is is to detect, and how stubborn it is to drive out.”
- Andrew Davis, Revitalize
- Romans 12 shows us what it looks like when all of this comes together we will have a culture of making disciples that make disciples that make the community noticeably better through their gospel impact.
- “One of the greatest lessons for anyone yearning to see a church revitalized is to learn how to rely on God alone. What we may underestimate is how repugnant self-reliance is to God, how pervasive it is in us, how difficult is is to detect, and how stubborn it is to drive out.”
- Helpful Leadership Characteristics
Shepherding Through Difficulties and Conflict:
Romans 12:14-21 “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
- There is no doubt that as you work to bring renewal to your church and reclaim God’s glory for this church there will be opposition, difficulties, and conflict. You must address this with directness, love, humility, patience, and wisdom – driven by a love for the church and her members.
- Effective church renewal leaders demonstrate a readiness to stay for the long-haul with a teachable spirit.
- Helpful Leadership Characteristics
