While it is true that many churches are finding new life through replanting and revitalizing, there are countless others who continue to struggle. These struggling churches can be found in any context: rural, town, suburban and urban. Churches like this \u2014\u00a0with a faithful remnant of 20 or so people who were the founders, givers, and faithful servants of years past \u2014\u00a0gather weekly but, honestly, are not sure how much longer they can keep this up.<\/p>\n
Often churches like these hold fast to a survival mentality that begins to shape the way they view their community, other churches, and even the denominational partners who wish to help them.<\/p>\n
1. The surrounding community is categorized.<\/strong><\/p>\n The residents who live nearby but do not attend the church are sometimes viewed, at worst, as adversaries, rather than people who God loves and for whom Christ died and, at best, as apathetic to spiritual things like church programs and ministries. This view is never challenged because the members no longer live in or interact with their community.<\/p>\n 2. Other churches are criticized.<\/strong><\/p>\n Unfortunately, healthy, growing churches whose locations are near declining and dying churches are, at times, disparaged for their effectiveness in reaching people with the gospel. Some members, leaders, and attenders of dying churches spiritualize their decline, attributing it to \u201cfaithfulness\u201d while bolstering their position by unfairly assuming that a sister church\u2019s growth is due to some sort of compromise.<\/p>\n 3. Denominational partners are cut off.<\/strong><\/p>\n A declining and dying church can be a fearful place. Decades of loss can create a culture of tight control with the primary goal being survival. This attitude might create a climate of distrust toward those who truly wish to help. \u201cThey just want our building\u201d is a common refrain lobbed at denominational entities who are there to help. What\u2019s true is that the partners long for a healthy vibrant church in that facility.<\/p>\n How do you lead a church like this toward a better future?<\/p>\n Pray and repent:<\/strong>\u00a0If solving church decline was a resource, strategy, or programming problem, we would have had solved that years ago. We have an abundance of each of those things. Church decline and death is always a spiritual problem. It is only when the leaders and members of a church pray for God\u2019s way and repent of their pride, doubt, fear, and sin that the church can move forward.<\/p>\n