Church Revitalization I

Church renewal. It’s a word that’s bandied around quite a bit . . . our Presbytery has engaged an expert in renewal to help walk churches through a certain kind of renewal process, and we have engaged Drs. Beverly and George Thompson to help us through a very different kind of process. But what is this process we call renewal? How does it work? What does it mean? And, most importantly, what does a “renewed” church look like?

The answer to this last question is not set in stone . . . different processes in different churches will have different outcomes, and that is only to be expected. After all, no two churches are exactly alike. But note the “exactly” in that last statement—all churches have some things in common. If that weren’t the case, we’d be in a pickle—we couldn’t generalize at all about them, we couldn’t apply knowledge gained through experience and congregational research to help churches transform themselves. Each congregation would be on their own, each would be trying whatever seems right, in a trial-and-error fashion, spinning their wheels while at the same time reinventing them. That’s why we rely on the expertise of those who have gone before—why our presbytery has engaged outside expertise, and why Covenant has done it as well.

Perhaps 75% of mainline churches are in need of renewal, a fact that explains the tremendous interest in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and denominations like it. But what is renewal? How do we define it, and how do we know when we’ve done it? Well, some see it strictly as a numbers game—a church in need of renewal is declining in membership (as Covenant has been doing for a couple of decades), and renewal is defined as reversing that trend. For others, the question is somewhat more complex: not only must numbers increase, but the increase must be in certain kinds of members, i.e., that Holy Grail of churches everywhere, Young Families With Children. Growth in YFWC is so highly prized in almost every church that I’ve seen elders literally stand out beside the road and tackle mothers with small children as they went by. (Ok, not really, but you get the point.)

But perhaps—just perhaps, mind you—numerical growth is not the only indicator of a healthy church. What’s more, maybe it’s not even the primary indicator, maybe there are others that are more meaningful. Stuff like community outreach or spiritual growth or adult education. Maybe how we respond to change around us is a better indicator of how we’re doing as the body of Christ in this place. In the next week or so we’re explore these things further, and try to shed a more light on our own Covenant Seekers renewal process, how it is coming along, and what we hope to accomplish through our engagement in it.