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Growing Faith

by Paul B. Nickerson, Associate Conference Minister for Evangelism, Vitality and New Church Starts

September/October 2009

The Growing Faith monthly newsletter will put you in touch with a variety of resources from around the country to help your congregation go deeper in faith and reach out in new and powerful ways.  You will learn what other congregations are doing in Massachusetts and what assessment, training and coaching tools are available to you.  

Below is an article reprinted from the May issue.

If you want to help your church grow, sign up for Growing Faith.

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How to do a church turnaround

Many churches talk about turning around after a long period of decline, but there is much confusion about what it really takes to do this. Below are some of the essentials to actually do a church turnaround.

• A “New” pastor

The church has to have called a new pastor or the existing pastor has to have had a transformation that makes him/her “new”. If the pastor is not excited and motivated about the faith and reaching new people, turnarounds do not happen.

• A team of lay people who are willing to lead change 

It takes a team of people to turn a church around.   Business as usual will not turn a congregation around.

• No financial secrets

The pastor and lay leaders need to know the giving patterns of the church and to have in leadership only those people who are financially committed to the church.  Financial secrets kill congregations.

• Nominations

The pastor and lay leaders have to take control of the nominations process and as Jim Collins says in Good to Great, “get the right people on the bus”.

• Mission field

The pastor and leaders of the church have to prayerfully discern who they can reach in the community and spend time with those not yet in the church. This requires a pastor to spend at least 25% of his/her time in this mission field.

• Preaching and programs

Based on the mission field discernment, preaching and programs have to be on target to the needs of those who the church is trying to reach.

• Culture of Invitation

87% of the people in this country who go to church do so because someone invites them.  Turnaround churches develop a culture of members inviting guests regularly to events, mission efforts, programs and worship services.

Turnaround work is not easy!!!  But for those who want to make a difference, it can be a very exciting and faithful journey. 

If you want more information about being a turnaround church, please contact Paul Nickerson at Nickersonp@macucc.org.

Options For Struggling Churches

A workshop hosted by Pleasant Street Church in Arlington in March focused on congregations that were struggling with viability issues for their future. Six church teams looked at a variety of options, which included:

• Doing a radical turnaround. Rev. MaryLou Gifford shared her experience of turning around Wollaston Congregational, UCC.

• Merging.

• Consolidation: when two or more congregations sell all the buildings and move to a new site with a new vision.

• Adoption: a smaller congregation approaching a larger congregation to become a satellite of that larger church.

• Yoking with another church.

• Part-time ministry. Rev. Michael McSherry spoke to this option out of his experience from being a part-time pastor at Central Congregational in Jamaica Plain

• Legacy:  a variety of options from closing and re-opening to selling all the assets and buildings to fund other mission opportunities.  The Newton Central Congregational Legacy Fund was held up as a model.

It was emphasized that there is not a “right” option that fits all situations, but rather each church has to prayerfully discern what will be the most faithful response in their particular setting.

Subscribe to Growing Faith here:  http://www.macucc.org/subscribe