God can raise up church leaders with a vision to lead and restore stagnant, sick, and dying churches. Most churches have a faithful core of people, a solid body of believers, a building, and perhaps other physical resources (land, parking, etc.). However, often there are dire financial challenges and relational challenges—power struggles, etc.—and closure is either imminent or months away unless addressed.
My research and personal experience has shown not only can God heal the sick and raise one from the dead, He can also heal a sick church and restore it to health, He can also raise a church from death to life (give life to dry bones)!
My life experiences, plus my research, prayer,and meditation has revealed that there are a number of variables (issues) that the local church must address as they yield to the Holy Spirit. Below are four basic ones.
1. Must be convicted of Need (know they are sick/dying).
2. Cry out to God for help!
3. Willing to Change (dies to self).
4. Must Focus on Outreach (love and evangelize the local community)
The four items above are the heart of revival for a person or church.
If God has shown you that your church is unhealthy, you might consider doing a deeper evaluation using our more extensive tests: Church Health Tests
On this website not only will you find tools, resources, and information on how to evaluate the condition of your church, but also tools, resources and information on how to bring your church back to a healthy state.
Under “Resources” in the menu above are links/information on a number of good resources. A number of experts advise churches to use an outside adviser/coach to serve as their accountability partner, monitoring, encouraging and giving feedback to them through out the process. Churches, leaders, and members are all creatures of habit and in our sinfulness and stuckness we tend to avoid the tough stuff. Someone to support you as an adviser or Coach is an indispensable part of the hard task of revitalization.
Click on: Online Coaching