Organizations Offer Struggling Churches Resources to Plan Their Future

Cheryl Mann Bacon, a correspondent for The Christian Chronicle, reported from La Mesa, Calif., on organizations that offer resources to congregations facing decline. She said she wanted her series, which examines churches that have struggled, to also visit places where renewal is taking place. Her report on the La Mesa Church of Christ in the San Diego area, and on the ambitions it shares with several “helping organizations,” was one such story. The church’s plan to plant or rejuvenate 10 churches in 10 years in the San Diego area, she wrote, depends on God’s blessing and on the collaboration of several of these organizations. She noted that collaboration is often rare in a fellowship that prizes its autonomy, as the Churches of Christ do.

Bacon described the organizations she had encountered as differing in age, reach and strategy. Some are well established, others are new, some work nationally, and one focuses on Colorado. She said the list was not exhaustive and that several of the groups work with one another while others operate independently. According to Bacon, some groups work mainly with more conservative congregations, while others decline to use labels such as conservative, liberal, progressive or mainline.

In her conversations with leaders of these organizations, Bacon said, a common view emerged: churches focused inwardly will not overcome the typical 60-year life cycle of a congregation, and to survive they must look outward, reaching people beyond the walls of their largely empty buildings (Matthew 25:35).

Be1Make1 works primarily with churches in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia and is expanding nationally, with 15 full- or part-time staff. Its leader said the group provides strategic planning for individuals and churches “to live a life on mission.” He said the team walks alongside a church’s leadership and, within 90 days, can help move a church from its current position to a plan it can implement.

Heritage 21 Foundation works nationally, with an emphasis on the western United States and California. Bacon reported that it is currently working with about 40 congregations at various levels, using two part-time staff members and additional volunteers. Its representative said the group helps churches assess whether they have a future. If a church is ready to transition, the group begins legal and real estate work and then helps the congregation close well, including deciding how its remaining money might be spent. The source also identifies John Orr as a director working under the oversight of West Freeway Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas.

HomeMission serves mainly churches in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and the Ohio Valley, and averages about one request per week from congregations, about 30 percent of which are at the point of closing. Its workshops, led by HomeMission evangelists over five years, cover goal setting, visitation, circles of influence, giving, singing, evangelism and Bible study. A spokesperson said the organization’s work is oriented toward evangelism and that its goal is for 30 percent of the churches it works with to be leading Bible studies within five years. The organization has worked with 300 churches in five years across 18 states.

Hope Network describes itself as a team of church leaders working for the Churches of Christ to help them stay on mission. Its work includes mentoring, interim ministry and church revitalization. A representative said the group prefers to walk alongside a leadership team for a season, because change takes time. In interim ministry, the group aims to provide a consistent pulpit presence and to coach a search team. For planning or conflict management, it typically arranges three to five face-to-face engagements with homework in between.

Source: Read the original report