The king of numbered lists, Thom Rainer produces six distinctives of churches that experience resuscitation.
I like them because these are distinctives that any healthy church must have, and if any church neglects or forsakes them they would run into decline.
Rainer writes:
Is church resuscitation common? No.
Is church resuscitation possible? Yes.
In God’s power, yes.
And these are the ways God usually does so.
- A prolonged period of prayer.
- A covenant to forsake self.
- A willingness to kill sacred cows.
- A commitment to see through the eyes of the outsider
- An agreement to connect and invite.
- A decision to move beyond the negative naysayers.
Read more commentary on these points here.
Number 4, A commitment to see through the eyes of the outsider. is large in our minds at MGPC presently.
Raiiner comments: “As the members continue to forsake self, they begin to ask how the church is viewed from the perspective of the outsider. They may actually engage a person to visit their church and share their experience. It is amazing to see how this process transforms facilities, worship, greeters’ ministry, and children’s ministries, to name a few.”
mgpcpastor's blog 