Is your Congregation Spiritually and Emotionally Strong?
Depending on the church’s other strengths (in People, Finance, and Building), options may include revitalizing, relocating, redeveloping property, merging, yoking, or faithfully completing. These paths all require robust spirituality and the ability to address conflict, change, and uncertainty. Discerning the future is easier when a faith community has a joyful sense of God at work, healthy approaches to conflict resolution, and a willingness to adapt and experiment.
Backside of the Life Cycle Curve
Churches on the backside of the curve experience numerical decline and a reduction of leaders, loss of vision, a narrowed focus, such as keeping a prized program afloat, and deep worry about long-term survival. A congregation that finds itself on this part of the life cycle curve can still revitalize itself by refocusing its efforts on developing or realigning with a vision, rebuilding relationships within and outside the congregation, and creating new or revitalizing existing programs.
Resurrection Hope: Church Closure and a Faithful Future
Pastor Lorrin Radzik preaches resurrection — even after closing two churches. For courageous leaders, death is not the end of our story.
Struggling Churches
It’s tricky to talk about struggling churches. We need to both name reality and reflect God’s continued presence. These faith communities are doing their best to follow God into an uncertain future.
We are searching for terms that are both accurate and neutral. So what should we say?
Dying Churches
Is it possible to say “Dying Church” and “Congregational Hospice” without stigma? Unfortunately, those phrases are rarely used that way. Fear transforms “dying” and “hospice” from neutral descriptors to stigmatized terms.
So You Think Your Church Might Close?
Good Friday Collaborative’s Diane Kenaston offers 10 practical actions any leader can take if you think your church might close.
Church Closure in Five Stages
As we at Good Friday Collaborative resource clergy and churches who are concluding ministry, we have noticed five distinct Stages of ministry endings that most communities move through. While every church has their own unique story and process of ending, these general Stages can help make sense of the natural work of endings.