A congregation’s ministry, attendance and financial resources have been on the decline for years, while members’ ages are in their senior years. Much of the building sits unused on Sunday mornings and throughout the week. Members worry about how to pay for continuing repairs and maintenance and compensate a full-time pastor and secretary. Physical energy levels for new ministry initiatives, much less ones the church has historically championed, have long since disappeared.
This church, however, with great courage and trust, explores various options for the future – close and re-emerge with a new congregational identity and focus, downsize to a smaller location, merge with another congregation, rent the building or share the space without charge with other community ministries, or dissolve the church and sell the property, giving the proceeds to causes the church has supported or creating an endowment for future ministries.
I recently journeyed with this church for 15 months – initially as a congregational coach and for the final seven months as their interim pastor – that explored all these options and eventually made the difficult decision to sell the property and close its doors. If your congregation needs to move through a similar process of considering your future options, here are some considerations as you move through this evaluative process.
Bring in a coach or consultant to guide the process
It’s only natural and normal that church members want to “fix a problem” immediately. Yet, they often feel paralyzed and overwhelmed with how to move forward. Often unaware of available options, congregations benefit from using a thought partner who can help them visualize future possibilities and facilitate small and large group conversations around those options. Like an impending death, anxiety and grief permeates the church system in these situations. Having a coach or consultant who offers a non-anxious leadership presence can calm fears and enable positive conversations surrounding future pathways. A coach or consultant who listens to and listens for what is said or unsaid deepens congregational self-awareness of the current reality and enables a church to move forward with specific decisions about its future.
Design a proposed game plan and invite congregational buy-in
It is often helpful to have a written schedule of proposed congregational conversations with specific content for each conversation. As a solo interim pastor without any other ministerial staff, I met weekly for months with two key church leaders to create a weekly agenda for our congregational conversations. The congregation knew of these leaders’ support of the agenda and invited congregational input as well. We publicized our conversation agendas in worship, through the church newsletter and other social media, and in one-on-one interactions. It is never a mistake to over-communicate in written and verbal form whenever a significant change is imminent. We summarized congregational weekly learnings and discoveries in regular communication channels to remind people of information shared and decisions made. And we emphasized that any congregational decision would begin and end with the voice of the people. A well-publicized weekly plan minimized anxiety and empowered the congregation with a sense of control with God guiding the process.
Frame decisions with biblical and faith language
Many people are raised on the parliamentary procedure, all in favor say aye, methodology. But this occasion is one where we must tap our faith resources, draw on biblical stories that bring insight into our decision-making, and frame options using spiritual insights and discernment. As the adage goes, tell the truth and trust the people to live into a faith-filled life. Before this congregation made key decisions, we invited them individually and collectively to pray and seek God’s will. We designed an “opinion poll” before key votes were taken to get a reading of the temperature in the room in advance of any official church action to determine if any resistance needed to be addressed. If a congregation will buy into a spirit of “holy indifference,” seeking God’s will – nothing more, nothing less, nothing else – it is amazing how God’s Spirit can move a congregation toward a future it never envisioned for itself.
Create special teams to implement congregational decisions
We created several teams that allowed this congregation to bring closure to her 109 year ministry: a prayer team that invited the church to pray daily for each other and an evening prayer walk throughout the building that celebrated past events and ministries; a team recommending financial gifts to ministries and suggested endowments from the sale of the property approved by the church; a celebration Sunday team that planned a morning worship, luncheon, and afternoon “Remembering our Heritage” service; a team that gave attention to the future needs of a long-standing ethnic congregation sponsored by the church; and a team that visited homebound members to explain decisions made and help them connect with a new church home. Participating on these special teams enabled the congregation to own and implement decisions they had made regarding their future.
Expect the unexpected
No one expected the pastor to resign during this 15-month season of congregational conversations to go to another church as pastor, leading to my becoming their interim pastor. Yet, it became an inflection point for the church to address even more urgently its long-term future. When another church made an offer to purchase the property as a second campus – a story that bears the mark of God’s Spirit at work behind the scenes in ways we did not understand fully in the moment – neither the buyer nor seller knew of the state Attorney General requirement that any sale of a non-profit in that state should be reported to that office 30 days before the closing of the property. No major change process occurs without a hitch. Don’t let the unexpected surprises throw you off your game.
From Decline to Vitality
Not every congregation experiencing a measure of financial, numerical, vitality, or ministry decline will decide to dissolve and/or sell its property. If, however, a congregation makes that difficult decision to close its doors and sell its property, there is still opportunity to experience spiritual growth and vitality. As this church journeyed through 15 months of conversations, members wrestled with challenging future options measured against biblical narratives and personal stories of trust in God’s past and present faithfulness that led to deepened spiritual growth. A spirit of unity led to decisions made in almost unanimous fashion. Virtually all church members reported the great individual and collective joy they experienced in donating $1.5 million from the sale of their property to 70 local and/or historic denominational causes they had long supported through direct gifts or the establishment of endowments. Ultimately, those church members connected with new congregations in our city that breathed new life into their worship, spiritual growth and service, as well as new life into those congregations blessed by their participation.
Church legacies and vitality are on the line today. There is a God-inspired future awaiting churches that are open to imagining intentionally their next steps with courage and trust. If your church is experiencing a vitality, financial, ministry, or attendance decline, don’t walk this journey alone. The Center for Healthy Churches has a team of coaches and consultants ready to partner with you in discerning God’s dream for your congregation’s legacy.
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