Bart's Blog

  Is your church is inward-focused, squabbling over petty things, straining at doctrinal gnats, and otherwise just generally ineffective in reaching your community with the Gospel?   There’s at least one person happy about that. Who? The Devil. Yes, you heard me right. I do believe in Satan’s active influence in this world—and without apology. The Bible clearly tells us demonic forces are engaged in the world. As the Apostle Paul writes, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12, ESV). Now, I don’t blame the Devil’s direct control for every single bad thing that happens. Instead, I think he’s generally happy to let people be people. People just being themselves will do the work of the Devil for him. If your church is declining or near death, take a look around. Are you preference-dr...

I spend a great deal of time studying church replanting, and, for me, it’s more than academic interest. No, I haven’t replanted multiple churches (just one), but I am hooked. It’s exciting to see God bring renewal and growth, opening a new chapter in the life of a local church that may have feared there was no hope for its future. One aspect of church replanting that particularly interests me is the characteristics that make a successful replanting pastor. One trait that comes up over and over again is patience— tactical patience. If delayed gratification is not your thing, being a church replanting pastor is probably not for you. As Bob Bickford and Mark Hallock write, “progress and pace are unique are unique in church replanting. Some things can be addressed immediately; others have to wait—either for the congregation to be ready to move or for the resources to be present.” [1] Tactical patience requires knowing when to change something and when not to change it. Tactical patience ...

Church revitalization and replanting—the effort to bring struggling or even dying churches to new health and vitality—positively excites me.  Why? Because church revitalization and replanting showcase the miraculous work of a God who turns crucifixions into resurrections. When you look at a struggling church, you may see a church stuck in the past, a church whose facilities have become unappealing, or a church whose members have long ago ceased to be outwardly focused. Many times they have little hope and have resigned themselves to the idea that they are a few years of funerals away from closing. Perhaps some remember the glory days. They recall a time when teens and children were a presence in the church. But that was a long time ago. Surely, those days can never come back. What is Church Replanting? So, you’ve seen me use the terms “revitalization” and “replanting.” What’s the distinction? Basically, the difference is in how much runway you have to get back off the ground. How...

  Churches in America are dying at an alarming rate. That’s the stark reality, and Christ-follower, you need to do something about it. Yes, I’m talking to you! Christians in America should be sitting up, taking notice, and urgently acting to stem the tide of dying churches. Estimates of how bad the problem really is are varied. Pre-pandemic, most experts said that between 65 and 90 percent of all Protestant churches in America were plateaued or declining. [1] Many of the same experts said that around ten percent of churches were in imminent danger of death. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, reported that about 900 churches affiliated with the denomination would close every year. Extrapolated across Protestant denominations, that could mean that upwards of 4,000 churches in America were closing their doors every year.   That was before COVID-19 hit, and no one really has a handle on just how desp...