Our journey alongside our churches begins with the pastor. We want to meet you where you are, hear how God is leading you, and discuss how we can join you in seeking a new day. Our journey of revitalization always includes and supports the pastor. 

This is where the renovation analogy becomes valuable. Before renovating a house, you need to know what is sound, what is damaged, and what needs attention. But you don’t demolish the foundation simply because the paint is peeling.

In our first month of partnering with the local church, we discuss practical strategies.

Practical strategies: Review five years of worship attendance, baptisms, giving, and ministry participation. Walk the property as a first-time guest. Conduct a simple congregational health survey. Listen to longtime members about the church’s history, strengths, disappointments, and hopes.

Ask not only “What is broken?” but also “What has God preserved here that we can build upon?”

In our third month of working together…before discussing programs, budgets, or organizational charts, we want to help the church revisit its biblical purpose. A church can become so consumed with maintaining its activities and property that it gradually loses sight of the people it is called to reach and disciple.

Practical strategies: Lead a congregational listening and vision gathering. Celebrate the church’s history without treating its past as the blueprint for its future. Revisit worship, discipleship, fellowship, evangelism, and missions. Ask members to identify who in their community is currently being overlooked.

In this fourth month of our journey, this is likely one of the fastest and most encouraging months because meaningful improvements can often be made without a major financial investment.

The guiding question: If a family visited our church for the first time this Sunday, would they know where to go, what to do, and whether they were welcome?

Practical strategies: Conduct a guest-experience walkthrough; evaluate entrance, parking, nursery, children’s spaces, restrooms, and sanctuary directions. Identify two or three naturally welcoming people to serve as hosts. Develop a simple guest follow-up process. Remove clutter and outdated announcements.

A church may have loving people, faithful preaching, and meaningful ministries, but the community cannot respond to an invitation it never receives—or cannot find.

Practical strategies: Establish or update the church’s Google Business Profile, Facebook page, and a simple mobile-friendly web presence. Verify that service times, address, phone number, and ministry information are accurate and consistent. Develop a basic weekly announcement schedule. Place current photos of the church building and entrances online.

Recruit one person to own communication and one backup. The goal is not to create more channels than volunteers can maintain.

This month focuses on equipping and enlisting new volunteers and leaders. In struggling churches, leadership that does not rotate or recruit new leadership often is to blame. This is an opportunity for the church to tear down walls of leadership and involvement of new people.  

Practical strategies: Map existing committees and ministry roles. Identify positions without clear responsibilities, succession plans, or rotation. Invite existing leaders to mentor emerging workers. Introduce role descriptions and reasonable terms where appropriate. Examine whether church governance unintentionally discourages participation.

Revitalization cannot stop with improving the church’s internal health. The church must begin looking outward again.

Practical strategies: Walk or drive through the surrounding community. Identify changes in demographics and neighborhood needs. Speak with school leaders, neighbors, and local ministry partners. Encourage members to pray for and build relationships with people outside the congregation.

Choose one sustainable community engagement initiative—not an elaborate event that exhausts everyone and disappears after a weekend.

Month eight is not graduation from revitalization. It is the transition from an initial process to a sustainable pattern of renewal.

Practical strategies: Revisit the original Church Health Snapshot. Celebrate measurable changes and meaningful stories. Identify unfinished work without discouragement. Review the pastor’s health and volunteer workload. Establish a simple 90-day action plan and quarterly association check-ins.

First tangible win: A congregation can identify specific evidence of greater health, clear next steps, and people responsible for carrying those steps forward.