As I’ve begun learning all I can about church revitalization, and as I’ve jumped right into the thick of that challenging work, this formula keeps coming to mind:
PRESERVATION + INNOVATION = REVITALIZATION
New life comes by us courageously engaging with two questions. These can be intimidating. They can be hard for those who have been invested for a long time, but they can also be tough for newer members as well. Yet if we all engage with honesty, vulnerability, and faith, I believe there is hope for the future of our congregation.
Here are the two questions:
What is the best of our church that deserves to be preserved?
There are elements at the core of every church’s DNA, that are clearly designed by God, that are worth holding on to for the sake of mission. I don’t mean “preserved” in a cold, stodgy way. I mean it in a way that truly honors the past, gives it present relevance, and hopefully future impact. Let’s identify the best aspects of our church, those things that have a long legacy of glorifying God and blessing the community. Those things that make us uniquely us. And then, let’s not just grasp on to them with a death grip, but rather elevate them with tender and open hands, helping them to become more Spirit-breathed than ever before.
What’s worth preserving and breathing new life into? If we’re only building a memorial, we may find that we’ve actually constructed a mausoleum.
Where do we need to innovate?
I’m not advocating innovation merely for the sake of novelty, but for the sake of mission. We can’t just burn it all down and start from scratch—that’s completely missing the “re” in “revitalization.” However, the mission of God has always adapted to reach different cultures at different times in history. And Lord knows these are different times we’re living in! As many missiologists have said, the mission never changes but the methods do. Instead of simply shutting down those who insist that “This is the way we’ve always done it,” maybe we can give a “Yes, and” response: “Yes, and, what are some new ways that might be worth trying?”
What are the new frontiers that have yet to be explored for the sake of the mission of God? If we only stick to our well-worn paths, we may find that we’ve actually been walking circles.
PRESERVATION + INNOVATION = REVITALIZATION is cute written as a formula like that, but reality is, of course, much more nuanced. It’s not a math formula that spits out the right answer every time. It’s not a plug-and-play silver bullet that automatically turns a church around. It’s more of a quarry from which to harvest stones as we build, more of a signpost into the future as we adventure together.