Video Transcript: Beware!

Hello, John Kenny here. And we are on our third lecture in this session. And  we're right in the middle of kind of this transition from the first 15 lectures where  we're kind of getting an idea about kind of the theory and some background  work that you have to do on revitalization. And now we're, we're kind of  transitioning into the, the getting started, and everything after this is going to be  much more focused on kind of more pragmatic kinds of things, but kind of what  do you thinks you need to be looking for. And so we're kind of in this bridge, in  the last couple of lectures, we've talked about just the priority of the gospel, and  how that needs to be at the center. If you're gonna start, you got to start there.  And then also, we talked about just last time about just the necessity of the  Word and the Spirit being the fuel of revitalization. And so before we launch into  our next session, with some lectures on some other things you need, as you're  getting started, we're going to just kind of hit the pause button. I want to give you some things like to be to be aware of kind of so this lecture, as you can see,  says beware. And so we want to make sure that we get off on the right foot. And  there's some things that just from my own experience, and experience of others, that we just want to kind of keep our eyes open to. So that we get off to the very  best start, we can. So that's what we're gonna be talking about today. It's just  three points, this is going to be a shorter lecture, in some of us even a little bit of review. So this should be a fairly easy one. But don't mistake that for being less  important. These are really, really important things that have sidetracked many,  many, many well-intentioned revitalization efforts. And so we don't want to end  up in the ditch doing this. So let's, as we always do, let's turn to the Lord and  ask for his wisdom. Lord Jesus, we give you thanks and praise for all that you  are and all that you do. We thank you for the great love that you have for your  bride. And you called us into ministry. So Lord, as we consider this lecture today, Lord, keep our eyes and our ears and our hearts open to the truth that you have  in store for us. And Lord, help us be very wise and discerning about how to do  this great call of revitalization. Lord, we thank you for your faithfulness to us in  all things. Amen. Okay, so the first thing we're going to want to make sure we  have kind of a sense about us, or is, is the motive. Why are we trying to do  church revitalization? And why are the people in our ministries or our churches?  Why are they interested in doing revitalization? Because the revitalization? First  and foremost, is a matter of the heart. We've talked about this a little bit in the  past. Okay. So again, some of this, we're recovering, but when when we when  we're reviewing some content. One is to demonstrate this importance and that it  plays in various levels of revitalization. But also, I think, what we think  revitalization is, in what we need to do, I think we've kind of been brainwashed in our world about what it is. And so I'm trying to by by revisiting a few things, is to  just kind of hammer home. Some I think are really, really important, that can be  often taken for granted. So we're going, talking about the motivation, of  revitalization. It has to be a passionate love for God. That's a passionate love for

God. The first and greatest commandment, Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength. So loving God is the great purpose of every human life. Now, how much more must this motivate the church that  has been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ? All right. So everything we do is got to be out of a love for God. Right. If you recall when we were doing some  studying in Revelation in the letters, the thing that Jesus condemned the church  for was that they had lost their love for him and without a love for Christ.  Everything is inconsequential, right? It's great form, but there's no substance  behind it, you know, I could do all these wonderful tests for my wife. But if I do it  with a ungenerous spirit, if I'm not doing it out of love, is that the same thing?  No, no, it's, it's totally not right. Versus when I do something out of the, out of my love for her. So it's the same thing with church, you know, we can do all the right things. But if there isn't a love for it, well, it's just not the same, and it's totally  different. So a love for the Lord. It's not just initial motivation we have for  revitalization to get us going. It's also the end goal as well, right? That at the end of the day, the end of the month, the end of the year, whatever it is that our  people will love the Lord more than they do right now. I mean, that's, that's really the end goal. So the purpose of revitalization, let's be very careful. It's not to  have a better organization, or to have really good small groups, or increased  missions or more people showing up to worship or new outreach program. If the  love of Jesus Christ is the first of all things, then all those other things which are  good, which are fine, which are things we want to see happen. But those are  just secondary, okay? They only flourish they only grow, they only matter they  only have significance. If there is a desire to love and serve Jesus Christ, first  and foremost. And I would say that unless what you do, is driven by a love of  Christ, regardless of what you do, it cannot really properly be called church  revitalization. Apart from love, love for Christ revitalization amounts to little more  than just one more program that will bear little impact on the vitality of the  church. So the motive is, is is love. It's the love of the Lord. So true revitalization. Now, why do I say this? Because churches need to be really, really careful that  institutional survival does not become the motive behind revitalization. It is not  uncommon that congregations will seek revitalization out of fear that decline will  continue and that one day, we might need to close now, certainly, that can  motivate them and get their attention. And certainly the desire to see the church  or whatever ministry you're at, around for future generations, that seems like a  really noble and good cause for getting into revitalization. But if we're not  careful, it can become a very self serving center. When I first got to my church, I  recall that and I've shared the church was kind of a shell of its former self, it was  a really large church and then had gone down, it was used to kind of be a  standing room only. And now you can, you know, drive a tractor trailer through  sanctuary on Sunday morning at times. And people would look at sections and  they would see the empty pews. And they would say, we need to fill these pews 

up again. And when I first heard that I was really encouraged because I was like, yeah, like, we want to just see this church grow. We want to see this church do  good things for God. But the more I heard them talk about it, the more I realized, they just wanted people to come to fill the pews, so that they could help pay the  bills, because we needed more volunteers to do ministries, that the church  sounded louder on Sunday morning, when there were more people to sing. And  the people in my church who said we need to have more people come and fill  these pews. We need to get them to come in, which sounds like revitalization on the surface. But it wasn't at all. They were they cared more about the institution  of the church, rather than the people who were lost and we're living without  Christ. And I realized that the reason why I wanted to see people come and fill  the pews and why some of the reasons other people wanted to come and have  the pews filled were very different, right? Church members can often become  very tied to a congregations history, to the building or to a style of Worship, or it's a particular program that they've been involved in for a long time. And so they  feel threatened if the church is in decline, they feel a sense of personal loss and  and so they want to stop that. But the reason is, because underlying all that is  this sense that the Church exists to bring them enjoyment, and satisfaction, and  they don't want to experience that loss, versus they don't want God to  experience some kind of a loss. And obviously, this happens a lot when  churches tried to perpetuate the past. And we've talked about this to  traditionalism. So when you're hanging on to something in the past, you're you  know, you're you're really about the institutional survival, and not about  engaging the work of the Kingdom of God. So what happens is, when when  we're trying to preserve the institution, the church building, or the church with the name on this corner in this town, it really becomes that that institution becomes  an idol, it becomes more important to us than the work of the Kingdom of God.  That's really a recipe for failure. We're more interested in the organization or the  building, like I said, than the actual ministry that God calls us to do. And I bring  that up, because I think that's a really, really common one. When people like,  Yeah, let's let's fill up this place, let's do the good things we used to do in the  past. I'm just challenging you to like to find out what that really means for them.  Because you may be in very different places about revitalization. Because as  soon as you now start talking about things like repentance, and word, and spirit  and all that, and all the other things we can talk about, they might be like, no, no, no, no, no, we want, we just need more people to come and help run the  nursery in the children's ministry, because I'm tired of doing it. Boy, you know,  you're you're really coming at it from very, very different places. So always make sure you haven't finger kind of on the pulse of those who want to see renewal,  why it is they want that. And it's always the love of God. Second, we've talked  about this again, and I want to pound it, pound it, pound it into your head, that  there are no quick and easy solutions, there is no silver bullet, there is no 

magical formula that you can do. That's going to bring about revitalization. And  as soon as you hear somebody say, if we would just in and fill in the blank, that  is a red flashing light should be going off in your brain that somebody thinks that  revitalization is a quick and easy solution. And the problem is, it's not. So they're going to do that just whatever thing. And they're going to be incredibly  disappointed by it. because that in itself isn't going to bring about revitalization.  And these are they're going to get frustrated, they're going to get disappointed,  they're going to want to quit, they're going to assign blame, whatever it is. So no  quick and easy solutions. Strengthening of a congregation cannot be  accomplished by any one single change. A church is a complex system of  people that shaped by history, context, pastoral leadership, organizational  structure, just to name a few things. So there is no one thing that's going to  adequately address all of these various aspects of church at once. And so  somebody might say, if we just changed our worship style, okay, well, maybe  you do, maybe your church feels like it's like from the 1700s. And it just, it does  not speak, the gospel is not really being spoken or communicated in a certain  way. Or, you know, maybe the sanctuary is, you know, in really rough shape, or I don't know, there's a hole in the roof, and you need to fix that. I mean, there's  things you can do, and it may be very well merited that you need to do those  kinds of things. But, but just doing that isn't going to, again, bring revitalization  think of all the things that can contribute to a church in decline, a lack of love for  the Lord, a lack of gospel preaching, a lack of personal spiritual discipline, a lack of healthy relationships, a lack of evangelism. All right. So if you want to do  revitalization, you're going to need to try to address the totality of all the existing  problems. And there are many, many things that are going to need to happen  along the way. All right. So it isn't just like one quick and easy thing. So on a  related note, and you'll probably hear this too, as you get into revitalization.  Beware of copying a church, a church, across town or down the street from you.  And be leery of copying a mega church on the other side of the country or in  another country, right. Each church is unique in its people, its giftedness, in its  calling within the community that it is in. Every church is also unique in its  problems, and the dynamics that plague it. Let's turn back again to revelation in  the letters to the seven churches. Now. There is some overlap in those seven  letters. Of course there is yet each church was given specific words of  instruction, encouragement, and, you know, correction, and warning that was  very specific to its context. In its present challenges, the letters were not the  same, nor were they interchangeable, we can't take the letter from Sardis and  give it to Laodicea, we can't take the church in Ephesus, and give it to the one in Philadelphia, okay, it didn't work that way, every church had a specific thing that  they needed to work on, and address. Now the same holds true for our churches today. Now, of course, we can gain great insight from other churches. Hopefully,  as you're going through this whole class, you're gaining something from me, and

my experience and what you know what I've learned. So, of course, there's a  place to learn from other people, right. But what really matters more than that, is that you are self aware, as an individual and as a ministry, and you are willing to  follow Christ direction for you, in your generation. And in your location, that's  very, very, very important. Okay. And that's gonna take time to figure out what it  is, and how to go about it. And that's why I had you spend so much time early on thinking about assessments and church history and causes of decline and all  those sorts of things, which really helped move you to a place where you would  see and those on your leadership team, that this isn't quick, this isn't easy. This  is complex, it's going to take time, and there's not one thing that's going to fix it  all. It's going to take a lot of things, some minor, some bigger, in and through the work of this spirit as the spirit moves at its own pace. Okay, so speaking of it's  going to take time, I want to just warn you or give you a heads up, I should say  about balancing patience and urgency, because both of these things which  seem to rely on opposing sides are both very, very important. Revitalization isn't  an event. It is a process, Susan said we're going to have a big concert in our  parking lot. And that's going to be our revitalization. Well, that's an event. I  mean, we're talking about a process, you're not going to get there overnight.  Just like if you're trying to strengthen your body. So you want to start exercising  and get stronger and you're starting off and you're not in very good shape.  You've got terrible cardio and your your muscles are like kind of flabby and  untoned and undefined. And you want to get strong, you want to get healthy, you want to get fit. Okay? That's a wonderful thing. So if you go to the gym and you  work out or you go out for a run, your first run, are you going to come back and  be ready to run a marathon? No, you're you're that much healthier. But if you  keep doing it for a while, he'll become this much healthier. And if you do it for a  year, you're gonna be this much healthier, and you're going to get where you  want to go. So you have to be patient with it, you know, or if somebody wants to  lose 100 pounds, and they eat a salad for lunch, and then they step on the scale and they see they haven't lost anything and they get disappointed by it. What did you think? I mean, you're gonna have to really change a lot more than just  eating one salad once for lunch. All right. So this is this idea of patience is  particularly true in congregations with a long history, and a deeply ingrained  culture that has displayed unhealthy characteristics. Right, and research and  experience indicate their transformation of organizational culture. How your  church functions how it sees itself what it feels like. It takes a long time to  change that. So one of the preeminent Church Health revitalization, folks out  there church leadership guides, his name is Aubrey Malphurs. M-A-L-P-H-U-R-S Aubrey Malphurs. In one of his books, he wrote this on revitalization. It took time for the church to get where it is. And it will take some time to get it where God  wants it to be. I describe it as a gradual process that takes place over time.  Consequently, the range of time for what I would refer to as a significant change 

to take place is from 3-10 years. Okay, so Aubrey, here are, you know, Mr.  Expert, Aubrey Malphurs, says, 3-10 years to begin to see and begin to observe  cultural change to start to see this shift, where it actually becomes embraced  and part of daily life, right. So that might be really discouraging to you, 3-10  years. Well, what if the church has been in a bad place for 40? 3-10 years  doesn't sound so bad, right? It is, though helpful for us? To turn back to  Scripture to say, what does it look like for somebody to do this in the Bible? Well, let's think about Moses, when Moses was sent from God, to go back to Egypt to  relief to lead the slaves, out of bondage and into freedom. You know, they had  been living as slaves for 400 plus years. That was their mentality. They only  knew slavery, they only knew really the Egyptian gods. And so Moses, he takes  them out. And it takes decades and decades and decades, for them to get out of this mindset of slavery and idolatry, to being the freed people of God who are  ready to inherit the promised land and be a light to all nations, right? I mean,  they're going through the desert, or what do they say? We need to go back to  Egypt. Like, how ridiculous because that's all they knew. That's what they were  comfortable with. And so your people at different times, they're gonna say, let's  go back to Egypt, let's, and it takes time, it takes time. So you need to be patient with yourself. You know, don't expect too much as a leader and be patient with  your people, it's going to take some time, there's going to be a lot of  misunderstanding, a lot of confusion, a lots of time for transformation. And just to just to embrace that and be okay with that, okay, if God is willing to be patient,  then you can be to, you know, Jesus didn't come into our world, the moment  after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, right? I mean, it was a really,  really 1000s of years. I mean, who knows how long 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of years before Jesus appears, right? God is very patient in moving right. So we  can be, we can adopt that kind of posture as well. Okay. And then, with that, we  want to talk a little bit about urgency. Because urgency is an important, it's a  critical part of revitalization. Think about somebody who goes to an emergency  room, they get wheeled in on an ambulance, and they may have, you know,  bleeding and maybe they're not breathing that well and broken bones and all  this. The doctor doesn't, you know, think about this for months and years, what  he might do to help this patient. I mean, he jumps in he, he responds urgently  like right away. And churches that are dying, require no less of an urgent  response. This is evident in Jesus's letters to the church in Revelation. Jesus  demanded that the churches repent, even as the letters were being read, that  was attentive. The repentance was like, even though you hear that word repent,  you begin repenting, that incident in that moment, and they were also  challenged by his threat of his immediate return and pending judgment. So they  had to make changes and they had to make it now. Now, we have the unlimited  power of the Word and the Spirit to bring about renewal but the one thing that is  that is limited is time. So we have to walk in this tension between being patient 

to see things come but urgency, not just like, Well, whenever we get to it, we get to it. So for me, maybe kind of in closing here, a helpful illustration might be like  a rubber band, where if a rubber band is just sitting on the table, it has no force  

on like, it's not going to change. So I can pull it and I can start changing its  shape. As I apply some pressure to it. Now, of course, I can pull it hard enough,  where it's snapped, and it breaks. And I don't want to do that. But I also don't  want to leave it limping, you know, loose and formless on the table. So one of  your tasks as a leader, what are the challenges you're going to have is holding  this tension between patience and urgency. If you're too slow, you're gonna run  out of time. But if you try to do too much too fast, and push your people, like,  you know, driving him with a whip, you know, you're going to snap it. And so,  anyway, let me pray for you. As you get started with revitalization, checking  motive, making sure there's no quick and easy solutions being thrown out there.  And then this balance between patience and urgency. And I think if you can  avoid these three things, you know, making errors in any of these areas, you're  gonna save yourself a lot of headache, and you're gonna see things happen  quickly or quicker than you might otherwise. So let's pray. Father, thanks so  much again, for my dear friends who are working Lord for your glory and your  honor, I pray that You would bless them. Lord, give them tremendous amounts  of wisdom that wisdom of Solomon says they're dealing word with difficult  ministry situations and what it means to be a leader in your church and for their  ministry. Lord, bless them, give them everything that they need, and we are  confident, Lord, that you have more than we need. You are more than sufficient.  Your abundance overflows into our lives and we give you thanks and praise for  that. So Lord, help us to be diligent and to never tire of doing good we pray this  in Your name. Amen.