DEVELOPING AN INTENTIONAL CHURCH
REVITALIZATION PARADIGM FOR
THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY!
By Dr. Tom Cheyney, EDOM GOBA
Founder & Directional Leader
RENOVATE National Church Revitalization Conference
Tom@RenovateConference.org
tcheyney@goba.org
2 Timothy 1:7
“For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of
power, love, and sound judgment.”
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DEVELOPING AN INTENTIONAL CHURCH
REVITALIZATION PARADIGM
To get the app, you can go to the Google Play Store or the Apple Apps Store and search for
Renovate Conference. You can download a copy of this presentation or subscribe to the
Church Revitalizer Weekly Blog from Tom Cheyney.
DEVELOPING AN INTENTIONAL CHURCH
REVITALIZATION PARADIGM
• The word paradigm comes from the Greek word
paradigma, which means a framework of thought or
a pattern. With that in mind I would like for us to
consider a church revitalization paradigm as a
system or structure for understanding and
explaining various phases, parts and pieces of a
realistic paradigm which walks pass the bigger is
better church growth paradigm of the 1980’s.
DEVELOPING AN INTENTIONAL CHURCH
REVITALIZATION PARADIGM
• So would you consider with me today an entirely
new church revitalization system or structure for
understanding and explaining various phases,
parts and pieces of a Church Revitalization and
Renewal Model?
DEVELOPING AN INTENTIONAL CHURCH
REVITALIZATION PARADIGM
Churches rarely renew or revitalize themselves in
significant ways unless they come to a point in time
where the pain of supporting the status quo is greater
than the pain of making changes and then they almost
never voluntarily shift to an entirely new pattern for
the present culture in which they are ministering!
DEVELOPING AN INTENTIONAL CHURCH
REVITALIZATION PARADIGM
What Does Church Revitalization
Mean?
STATISTICAL REALITIES CONCERNING CHURCH
REVITALIZATION
Did you know that:
•There are 344,000 protestant evangelical
churches from the eight mainline denominations in
the western hemisphere, which are in plateau and
decline.
•95% of all churches in North America average 100
or less.
STATISTICAL REALITIES CONCERNING CHURCH
REVITALIZATION
Did you know that:
•Over 82% of American Churches are in decline or
on a plateau.
•Each year 3,500 to 4,000 churches die in North
America (900 last year within our Denomination
alone).
STATISTICAL REALITIES CONCERNING CHURCH
REVITALIZATION
Did you know that:
•Studies have shown that churches typically
plateau in attendance by their fifteenth year, and
by year 35 they begin having trouble replacing the
members they lose.
•They have the inability to regain the critical mass
necessary to regrow the church utilizing the tools
and techniques they are presently employing.
STATISTICAL REALITIES CONCERNING CHURCH
REVITALIZATION
Did you know that:
•50 – 60 churches in North America close their
door every week.
Only 7.3% of small churches are growing.
Of churches fifty years old and older only 9.2% are
growing.
STATISTICAL REALITIES CONCERNING CHURCH
REVITALIZATION
Did you know that:
•A more recent series of studies (The State of the Church) was
conducted by Bill Day; Associate Director of the Leavell Center
for Evangelism and Church Health, who serves the New
Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary as the Gurney Professor
of Evangelism and Church Health in his sequential studies on
church health and growth of 2003, 2007, and 2010 where he
reports that currently there are less than seven percent (6.8) of
our SBC churches which are healthy growing churches. That
means 3,087 of our 45,727 SBC churches are healthy.
DEVELOPING AN INTENTIONAL CHURCH
REVITALIZATION PARADIGM
The hard reality is this:
Church Revitalization is important because so many
churches are dying and or are all but dead. It is also
important because even today’s healthy churches run
the risk of developing the same illness that other
churches are experiencing. God’s people desperately
need a biblical foundation for church revitalization!
Many Christians today actually attend a local church,
which needs to consider learning and practicing the
various principles for Revitalizing Churches.
Seven Pillars of Church Revitalization
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Tom Cheyney ©1997
DEVELOPING AN INTENTIONAL CHURCH
REVITALIZATION PARADIGM
Lyle Schaller reminds us that 85,000 evangelical churches
are running fewer than 50 on Sunday.
• Being aware of their “critical” condition, however, is not
enough.
• They have got to become convinced they need “major”
surgical treatment.
DEVELOPING AN INTENTIONAL CHURCH
REVITALIZATION PARADIGM
We must recreate the mindset of the
remaining member in the renewing
church.
DEVELOPING AN INTENTIONAL CHURCH
REVITALIZATION PARADIGM
As more and more Godly men are going into
church planting we have a crisis of pastors and
ministry leaders seeking to lead the declining
church out of its challenges and obstacles.
DEVELOPING AN INTENTIONAL CHURCH
REVITALIZATION PARADIGM
If it were just about making a better leader we
have so many Christian leadership groups training
and individuals going to weekly or monthly
meetings and yet the pace of decline has not been
slowed by building a better ministry leader to serve
as pastor and shepherd.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
There are Seven Paradigm or Model Shifts for Church
Revitalization that addresses the current crises of leader
quantity and quality:
1. A new goal of sustainable critical mass.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
In the next 15 years there will be a growing
shortage of pastors willing to fill our churches,
which have low renewal potential.
In our denomination we have 6,000 Southern
Baptist Pastors who leave their ministries each
year. More than 200 pastors are fired each
month. In one recent article from LifeWay there
are 70,000 vacant pulpits in America.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
There are Seven Paradigm or Model Shifts for Church
Revitalization that addresses the current crises of leader
quantity and quality:
1. A new goal of sustainable critical mass.
2. A new methodology for rebirthing
something new from the decline.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
In this new paradigm, we must implement a holistic
process that gives strong and integrated attention to four
dynamics for church renewal:
•Spiritual Transformation. Experiential union with Christ
is the center of a truly transformational revitalization
paradigm. We must move our developing church
revitalizers from the sanctuary sitting in our worship
centers and exchange their posture to walking our streets
sharing Christ!
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
In this new paradigm, we must implement a holistic
process that gives strong and integrated attention to four
dynamics for church renewal:
•Relational Transformation. Developing church
revitalizers need journey! They need daily relationships
with mature fellow revitalizers, role models, and
examples. They need spiritual Paul’s – in the context of
normal daily life and ministry. In the encouragement,
support, challenge, teaching, discipline and accountability
of these relationships, the shepherd’s character is built,
marriages are strengthened and spiritual life is nurtured.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
In this new paradigm, we must implement a holistic process that
gives strong and integrated attention to four dynamics for
church renewal:
•Experiential Transformation. Developing church revitalizers
learn by doing and not only by listening. Activity is the new
norm not audience participation. They are transformed through
the fires of trail and pressure. The church revitalizer is stretched
by challenging tasks that focus on church revitalization and
renewal.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
In this new paradigm, we must implement a holistic
process that gives strong and integrated attention to four
dynamics for church renewal:
•Proclamational Transformation. Developing church
revitalizers must work on new ways in teaching of the
Word of God – in an engaging way, and woven into the
ongoing daily realities of life, family and ministry.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
There are Seven Paradigm or Model Shifts for Church
Revitalization that addresses the current crises of leader
quantity and quality:
1. A new goal of sustainable critical mass.
2. A new methodology for rebirthing
something new from the decline.
3. A new ministry design developed from
church assessment and leader assessment.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
Churches in decline and pastors of declining
churches both need an assessment.
Shepherds need to know what the strengths and
obstacles of the church may be and the church
needs to know if the skill sets necessary for a
turnaround are within the leaders ability to learn or
possess already.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
There are Seven Paradigm or Model Shifts for Church
Revitalization that addresses the current crises of leader
quantity and quality:
1. A new goal of sustainable critical mass.
2. A new methodology for rebirthing something
new from the decline.
3. A new ministry design developed from church
assessment and leader assessment.
4. Church Revitalizers embracing and building
new Revitalizers.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
Within this new paradigm, Church Revitalizers
face the personal responsibility for embracing
and building new Revitalizers as a core part of
what it means to be a leader. This shift alone has
the potential to raise up a new army of missional
pastors equipped for the task of revitalization and
renewal.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
There are Seven Paradigm or Model Shifts for Church
Revitalization that addresses the current crises of leader
quantity and quality:
5. Churches building new revitalizers.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
Biblically, the primary place for the
development of new church revitalizers is the
local church or a cluster of churches.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
Some of the benefits of churches building revitalizers
are:
Multiplication. The church-based revitalization
approach provides a paradigm or model that can be
multiplied virtually endlessly with every local church or
cluster of churches providing a church revitalizationlearning environment for their new leaders. If every
local church would build only one or two new leaders
for church renewal, the quantity crisis would be over!
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
Some of the benefits are:
Holistic development. The church renewal
learning process becomes considerably more
effective since the local church provides the
spiritual, relational and practical context for the
development of the church revitalizer.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
Some of the benefits are:
• The right people receive training. The
emerging revitalizer and existing church pastor
who need training the most are those who are
already engaged in renewal ministry. Whit the
training focused in the church we move from
training the wrong individuals to training and
equipping the right people.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
Some of the benefits are:
Flexibility. When it comes to church revitalizer
development, “one size” does not fit all. Around the
world, Church Revitalizers from a vast variety of
cultures, backgrounds, experiences, education levels,
need to be fostered. Our renewal approaches must be
flexible and customizable. In addition, the environment
is rapidly changing around the church today so
flexibility in our approaches to renewal is required.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
Some of the benefits are:
Self-supporting, self sustaining and self
propagating. The local church provides the financial
support for the learning process, thus maintaining both
responsibility for and control of the development of its
own emerging church revitalizers. The church must also
become self-sustaining so equipping future revitalizers
for the work of the ministry is essential. Then the local
church must become self-propagating in its effort to
regrow the work of the Lord in their setting.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
Some of the benefits are:
Ongoing skill sets and life long revitalizer
development. The equipping and training is not
limited to a certain period of time, but continues
throughout the church revitalizers lives. Leaders
are built over lifetimes!
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
Some of the benefits are:
Effective evaluation. Members of the local
community who know the emerging church
revitalizer and who work with him on a regular
basis are the best ones to help him both establish
clear goals for his development and evaluate his
growth toward those goals.
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
There are Seven Paradigm or Model Shifts for Church
Revitalization that addresses the current crises of leader
quantity and quality:
5. Churches building new revitalizers.
6. A Move from a Church Growth Paradigm to
a Restored Emphases on a Biblical
Paradigm
SEVEN PARADIGM OR MODEL SHIFTS FOR
CHURCH REVITALIZATION
Revitalization: "Remember therefore from
where you have fallen, and repent and do the
deeds you did at first..." (Rev. 2:5).
That is the three-fold emphasis of the
paradigm: Remember...Repent... Recapture the
first things.
DEVELOPING AN INTENTIONAL CHURCH
REVITALIZATION PARADIGM
A PARADIGM is a way of thinking. When our lives
come into alignment with Romans 12:2, our way of
thinking gets re-aligned with God’s thoughts and ideals.
“Do not be conformed to this age, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that
you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and
perfect will of God.”
DEVELOPING AN INTENTIONAL CHURCH
REVITALIZATION PARADIGM
To get the app, you can go to the Google Play Store or the Apple Apps Store and search for
Renovate Conference. You can download a copy of this presentation or subscribe to the
Church Revitalizer Weekly Blog from Tom Cheyney.
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