{"id":404,"date":"2021-12-16T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/stages-in-replanting-a-church-plowing\/"},"modified":"2021-12-14T16:50:29","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T21:50:29","slug":"stages-in-replanting-a-church-plowing","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/stages-in-replanting-a-church-plowing\/","title":{"rendered":"Stages in Replanting a Church: Plowing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The church I now pastor was founded in 1958, and peaked in attendance in 1967.<br \/>\nSix decades of decline followed\u2014with a few plateaus in subsequent years, instances of historical conflict, numerous pastoral transitions and several events that led to departures of members.<\/p>\n<p>When we arrived toward the close of 2012 we found a faithful remnant. As a group they endured many seasons of conflict. They were faithful and worked hard to keep the doors open, giving, serving and praying. They were hopeful but weary and somewhat skeptical but ready to try anything to get the Church headed in the right direction. A church experiencing prolonged seasons of decline is often suffering from locked institutional memory. One symptom of this condition is the strong conviction that a return to core programs and historic strategies will be enough to bring about revitalization and renewal.Often a church needing to be revitalized believes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>To reach the community<\/strong>\u2014get as many people to come to Church as possible.<\/li>\n<li><strong>To make more disciples<\/strong>\u2014increase attendance in Sunday School.<\/li>\n<li><strong>To create great fellowship in the body<\/strong>\u2014re-launch once successful programs, schedule fellowships, get the people together and relationships will simply form.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For a church, institutional memory functions like a well worn path, familiar, comfortable, safe, sure. But, it does not create conditions suited for cultivating new growth.<\/p>\n<p>In order for new Gospel seeds to take root\u2014the hard ground must be plowed, broken up and turned over. Plowing is long, hard, dirty and unpopular work. No one gets excited about plowing\u2014but without it, there will be no possibility of new growth.What does the work of \u201cplowing\u201d look like in a Church RePlant ?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Cessation of the \u201cWell Worn\u201d:<\/strong> whether it\u2019s a program, a service time, a favorite fellowship, the style of music or what is communicated in the bulletin\u2014plowing breaks up what was in order to do what\u2019s next. In seeking to find what\u2019s next\u2014the congregation, Pastor and leaders must pray and plan together, relying on God to lead the way.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The introduction of a disruptive force: <\/strong>as a plow breaks into the ground it cuts, separates, lifts and turns over. Hard ground is transformed more and more into soft earth as the steel edge of the plow repetitively breaks into the ground. God\u2019s word regularly and rightly proclaimed while empowered by the Holy Spirit, is the disruptive force that breaks into the hearts of people. Alone you cannot work to soften hard ground and hard hearts. The Word of God proclaimed in the power of the Spirit will serve to disrupt and dislodge the hard ground covering fertile soil.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Persistent Plodding: <\/strong>The hard places won\u2019t be softened with one message, one prayer, or one strategic action list. Plowing is backbreaking row by row on repeat.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A Christ Centered Commitment: <\/strong>Jesus<a title=\"\" href=\"\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/quicksearch\/?quicksearch=hand+to+the+plow&amp;qs_version=ESV\"> admonished<\/a> his followers by saying that anyone who put their hand to the plow and then quit\u2014is not worthy of his kingdom. Revitalization and Replanting Pastors know that turnarounds are never short\u2014many experts believe it takes between 5-7 years for a once in decline or nearly dead church to come back to life. Stay in the work Pastor\u2014the breakthrough is on the way!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Plowing isn\u2019t popular, it won\u2019t make you famous, or win you approval and applause. But plowing is absolutely necessary if there is to ever be a harvest.<\/p>\n<p><em>What are the stages in Replanting a Church? Go <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/replant-blog\/stages-in-replanting-a-church\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a> for an overview.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The church I now pastor was founded in 1958, and peaked in attendance in 1967. Six &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/stages-in-replanting-a-church-plowing\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Stages in Replanting a Church: Plowing<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":405,"template":"","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"channels":[],"topics":[53,58],"languages":[],"class_list":["post-404","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource_type-article","topics-replanting","topics-revitalization"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.0 (Yoast SEO v24.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Stages in Replanting a Church: Plowing - Church Replanting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/stages-in-replanting-a-church-plowing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stages in Replanting a Church: Plowing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The church I now pastor was founded in 1958, and peaked in attendance in 1967. 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