In my last post, I wrote about some efforts the small traditional church can employ to keep their doors open. I provided a starting point (Acts 2:42-47) where struggling churches can begin. Next generation ministry (NGM) can certainly revitalize a church, but implementing the NGM model is not a foolproof guarantee for success. The reason: A church is so much bigger than NGM. All generations gather together to worship the Lord in a church. So what else does The Bible teach can be done to promote spiritual awakening, renewal, revival, and revitalization in a church?
Let’s begin again with prayer (you can never pray enough) by observing 2 Corinthians 4:4: “4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” We must pray for all generations to see the light. Christmas and Easter seasons provide great opportunities for people to see the light! And keep praying (Luke 18:1-8).
Next, the entire church body must be at work. Dedicated staff working alone will never get all of God’s work done in a church. At the same time, neither will dedicated members who have lazy staff. Oftentimes, it just comes down to ministry leaders releasing power so that their members’ full potential can be achieved. I Corinthians 12:12: “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.” And we all must be led by the Spirit.
Speaking of the Spirit, 2 Corinthians 3:17 states “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Perhaps God doesn’t want his church to meet every Sunday, sing three songs, listen to a three-point sermon, and go home. Churches and members alike are known for getting in a rut. We must learn again to be led of the Spirit and to break the routine. Where Jesus is, there is life, not boredom.
I did not plan to give you a bunch of verses from Corinthians. It just worked out that was the way the Spirit led me. But if you think about it, the church of Corinth was a struggling church. The Corinthians lived in a pagan world and needed to know how they could once again be spiritual winners. So that I break the monotony (see the third point above), I will give you a verse from Romans: “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us (8:37).”
Finally, the church must balance its in-reach/outreach component. Yes, the world needs to be won to Christ, but not to the neglect of the sheep already in the fold. But if the church only ministers to its own, what good does it serve the world (it would be better off dead).
Like Jesus, I love life too! I don’t want to see any church die. Just today, I watched a baby (during the service, mind you) make his way to the front of the church (his parents were watching). Talk about life…this little one just wanted to climb the step of the church podium. Taking baby steps is exactly what dead churches need to do to incorporate life into its worship. Like a baby climbing a step, the church will need to believe it can climb out of its depths of despair. All it takes is faith. For a baby, faith in its hand and leg muscles; for a church, faith in the Word of God!