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by Reba Collins and William Cowles
Like many of you, our personal ministry was born out of seeing a need that wasn’t being met – a need to help people who were leaving one church for whatever reason, and looking for another. We saw churches attempt to close their back doors or to open their front doors more widely. We rarely saw churches, however, with the vision or desire to offer support and guidance to those who were in-between.
So we started The Church Guide and developed a Website full of resources, tools, and advice on church search strategies for people looking for a faith community that fit their needs, styles, and interests.
Over the past five years, we’ve each had the opportunity to test and tweak our tips, tools, and strategies through our own personal church searches. We’ve also helped our own families and a number of our friends find new church homes. Finding a new church is NOT an easy journey, and we are blessed to have helped make it easier for so many. We hope you will join our effort in helping church searchers you know by referring them to The Church Guide’s Website, too.
In developing The Church Guide’s content, we visited over 125 different churches; talked at length with numerous church leaders; attended church leadership conferences; read and researched best practices for church leadership and ministry; and began to realize how difficult it really is to find places where spiritual growth flourishes within a vibrant faith community.
We began to see the greater need – more healthy, vibrant church choices for church searchers.
Over the past five years, it has become clear to us that many churches are not viable options for people who want to be a part of God’s family and to do Kingdom work. In our experiences with church searchers and with churches, we found measurable, observable – and fixable – patterns of deterioration in too many churches.
Regardless of their age or location, these declining churches started because they had both vision and a missional focus to reach people who needed a relationship with a church community. Over the years, new people came and became the church, and the church slowly turned its focus inward to serve the people of the church. In the process of doing more and more to meet the needs and interests of those inside, they forgot about those on the outside who still needed a church.
In essence, we’ve discovered that when a vision for new people gets lost, misplaced, or dies, the church begins to lose its purpose.
We believe the solution to the problem of declining and dying churches in America boils down to one word – VISION. It has been abundantly clear to us that drifting, declining, or dying churches need to Re+Vision.
Three years ago, we tested our hypothesis by applying the experiences, knowledge, gifts, and skills God gave each of us toward helping a single church regain its vitality and become a better church choice in its community. We began with a pastor friend whose church was adrift and declining. In many ways, this church was in crisis. As we worked with their pastor, staff, and lay leaders, we discovered that a refocused, restored, recommitted vision isn’t the end – it’s just the beginning of the journey. The church has to align its ministries with its vision, and to advance its purpose to the people God has called them to love and serve.
Our research and experience tell us that when church leaders “get it” – when they truly know what vision God has called them to fulfill within their communities – the entire congregation will understand why the church needs to do things differently to reach, engage, and serve more new people. That’s why we’ve created ACTIONPoint as an entity through which we can work directly with church leaders as coaches, consultants, problem-solvers, supporters, and outside un-anxious presences.
Since that first test case, we’ve worked with several churches, pastors, and leadership groups in various ways to help them as they do the hard work of Re+Visioning. On our Website, we talk directly to church pastors and leaders about Re+Visioning and best practices for leadership, church culture, communication, hospitality, and volunteerism.
ACTIONPoint focuses on growing God’s kingdom by increasing the number of churches that want to reach and involve new people in their vision, mission, and purpose. We offer the church leadership experience, the outsider/visitor perspective, and access to the best resources available to help churches start moving forward to a better future.
We encourage you and other church leaders to check out our Website. No cost or obligation – just some great inspiration, information, and an opportunity to open a conversation with some folks who love your church. And by all means join the conversation with us on Facebook.
We believe the solution to the problem of declining and dying churches in America boils down to one word – VISION. It has been abundantly clear to us that drifting, declining, or dying churches need to Re+Vision.
Three years ago, we tested our hypothesis by applying the experiences, knowledge, gifts, and skills God gave each of us toward helping a single church regain its vitality and become a better church choice in its community. We began with a pastor friend whose church was adrift and declining. In many ways, this church was in crisis. As we worked with their pastor, staff, and lay leaders, we discovered that a refocused, restored, recommitted vision isn’t the end – it’s just the beginning of the journey. The church has to align its ministries with its vision, and to advance its purpose to the people God has called them to love and serve.
Our research and experience tell us that when church leaders “get it” – when they truly know what vision God has called them to fulfill within their communities – the entire congregation will understand why the church needs to do things differently to reach, engage, and serve more new people. That’s why we’ve created ACTIONPoint as an entity through which we can work directly with church leaders as coaches, consultants, problem-solvers, supporters, and outside un-anxious presences.
Since that first test case, we’ve worked with several churches, pastors, and leadership groups in various ways to help them as they do the hard work of Re+Visioning. On our Website, we talk directly to church pastors and leaders about Re+Visioning and best practices for leadership, church culture, communication, hospitality, and volunteerism.
ACTIONPoint focuses on growing God’s kingdom by increasing the number of churches that want to reach and involve new people in their vision, mission, and purpose. We offer the church leadership experience, the outsider/visitor perspective, and access to the best resources available to help churches start moving forward to a better future.
We encourage you and other church leaders to check out our Website. No cost or obligation – just some great inspiration, information, and an opportunity to open a conversation with some folks who love your church. And by all means join the conversation with us on Facebook.
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