REFRESH

Generating Momentum

Many churches have a rich, bountiful history. I have been privileged to serve at several Free Will Baptists churches in my ministry. All had great histories and fruitful ministries. Each ran strong numbers, saw people saved and baptized, were influential in their communities, and were vibrant and strong. Unfortunately, three of those four churches have since closed or have declined significantly.

How does this happen? How does a church go from vibrant and growing to troubled and trending downward? I know the answer is complex and varies by situation, but I believe the primary reason most churches struggle is they simply lose momentum. I know that’s not an earth-shattering explanation, but it is true, and we must recognize it before we can do something about it.

Momentum is defined as the “strength or force something has when moving.” To determine where we are, we need to assess our momentum. First, are we moving? For most churches, unfortunately, the answer is no. According to the Malphurs Group, 80-85% of American churches are declining. This means they have zero momentum; they are not moving forward but backward.
To determine whether your church is moving, ask, “Are people being saved? Are lives changing? What are we doing that creates excitement? What is different than last month?”

If people aren’t being saved, nothing is different, and no one is excited, your momentum is probably slow, stalled, or even moving in reverse. Your church is likely in preservation mode. In this mode, churches simply exist to hold services and care for the congregation. When this happens, the church must be willing to change, so they can once again reach their community with the gospel.

One of the greatest obstacles to trying new or different things in the church is often resistance from people within. While our greatest duty is to reach the lost and spiritually dying, we tend to try to keep the church family happy. Jesus shattered this philosophy in Luke 15:1-7 in the parable of the lost sheep. With 99 people safely in the fold, we are tasked to find the single lost sheep. To do that, we must leave the 99 (not always physically but perhaps their ideas and preferences) and seek the lost. Don’t miss verse 7, which says there will be joy in Heaven when one lost person is saved. Heaven is already filled with joy—no tears, pain, or suffering—but when a lost person is saved there will be more joy!

Momentum is fueled by the flames of revival. The water that puts out the fire comes when people inside the church become more important than the people outside the church. Don’t misunderstand. Everyone is important. The church must edify, encourage, exhort, and support believers, but we are called to reach the lost. When the congregation becomes more important than the lost community, we have lost our focus, and I guarantee momentum has suffered as well.

When the congregation becomes demanding, self-centered, and inwardly focused, loss of momentum is bound to occur. At this point, churches no longer want a pastor for strong leadership skills and vision; they simply want him to be the caretaker of the flock. When this happens, ministry leaders, including staff and volunteers, become focused only on their own areas of ministry. They guard their “turf” as if they are protectors of the ministry itself. Any sense of vision for the future is lost. In essence, the church becomes preservation-minded, hoping to keep what they’ve got and keep the bills paid.

Tony Morgan of the Unstuck Group describes it this way: “Everything is pulling to the past. The people who have been around the church for decades remember when the church was vibrant, and they want to take the church back to that time even though the community and the culture continue to move in a new direction.”

As a result, Morgan says, churches in decline typically have several characteristics in common.

• They lack vision for the future.
  

• They don’t have a clear discipleship path.
  

• They have an inward focus.
  

• They are structurally complex.
  

• They don’t have strong leadership (maybe because the pastor has given up).
  

What is a church to do? Let me suggest four strategic changes to produce a reversal in momentum.

1. The pastor and church must fall on their faces before God, repent of past failures and commit to spiritual leadership in the future. This is, first and foremost, a spiritual endeavor. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us.
   

2. The pastor must communicate an honest sense of urgency to the people. Time is short, and we have much work to do. Millions of “lost sheep” live in America, many just outside your church doors.
   

3. The pastor must consistently and frequently cast vision for ways the church can reach people. This takes new ideas and much work, but if everyone catches the vision, the possibilities are great.
   

4. The church must begin and be willing to implement change. Some in the congregation won’t like it. Others will complain. But if the result is souls saved, we cannot let the voices inside the church drown out the cries of the lost outside the church.
   

I hope this short article motivates you to action and gives you cause for hope. I realize every church and every situation is different, but I also believe most churches can regain momentum. For more help and information on momentum, North American Ministries has produced a video that may prove helpful. Watch it on Vimeo.

About the Columnist: Dr. Brad Ransom is director of church planting and chief training officer for North American Ministries. Contact Brad: brad@nafwb.org.