How To Turn Around A Dying Church

[@marylamb6063]

I spent seven years in the Girl Scouts and got more out of it than I did with any church. I loved the cameraderie, the contribution to community, the setting of personal goals and the accomplishment of those goals. As a scout we weren't "told what to do." Hierarchy gets in the way of personal development and social bonding. As a kid I needed guides, but as I got older the need for guides diminished. What I remember was the time we all sat in circles and shared our lives and goals with one another. We laughed together, and cried together. We shared our lives. In churches I sense no connection, no sharing of lives. The pastor is the only one who talks and teaches. No one else is allowed to contribute. Social bonding is impossible.

[@jessesmith5630]

I am a deacon at 31 years of age. Kick starting ministries and fertilizing the spiritual growth of the congregation is an uphill battle with leadership that insists on being comfortable and safe. The famous line; "We've always done it this way!" is the mountain we have to climb over in order for the church to grow. God bless and thanks for your work and videos

[@prochurchtools]

Thanks for watching Jesse! We definitely understand the struggle! Change is always an uncomfortable progress, so don't be afraid to take it slow. 😊

[@christophercunningham5434]

The churches that are filled with goats and/or the disobedient Christians, will be the churches that die off, and thankfully so. Be faithful to the Word, the Great Commission, and love one another with selfless love, God will give the increase.

[@ericthehalfmexican9187]

3:30 young people “We value living the life Christ calls us to”, old people “we value the social club we call church”. This sounds just too familiar.

"Everything rises and falls on leadership." Lee Roberson "Feed your people a good meal and they will develops an appetite for it." Steve Chappell My thought, rather than put on a show, get out into the neighborhoods and talk to people one on one and try to lead them to the LORD. This IS Bible...two by two. This IS Gods way and He WILL bless it.

[@JimmyWylie]

The problem is that the "church"has become an idol that has taken the place of a vibrant relationship with its supposed object, Jesus. We market it, we entertain it with praise bands,we go all in on the latest technology and yet we do very little towards bringing people closer to God. We play dress up church and try to make it as enticing as possible instead of being the church that Jesus loves. The church is a beautiful bride without having to use makeup and provocative dress.

[@MichaelJohnson-vi6eh]

I am in a newly created marketing/data management group in a church and I am SO scared of hiring someone to be our link to social media when we spend $2000 a month just to keep the air conditioning going. None of us really know anything about social media (the powerful parts of it) - At least for the past few years, almost all of our new members have been under 35. After some interesting meetings this past 2 months I found out that for years we just havent been managing data and having external focused marketing campaigns. Thanks for the info about direct mail - I was so close last year to spending a lot of money on direct mail.

[@dibackdraft]

That is 100% me! That is and was my story. Now I am launching a church right now with 80% millinials on my launch team. We still rallying support and preparing for launch day. 3:10 topic 100% felt it.

[@prochurchtools]

Congrats, Dan!

[@YT4Me57]

Nice. But be aware that Millennials will be the Baby Boomers of their age within the next 20 or so years, because that's the way of the world. Look to the future and don't forget to find out what's waiting in the wings.

[@voltrondefenderoftheuniver6222]

Assemblies of God has a program called Acts 2 Journey that's helping declining/stagnating churches that uses church health as the goal instead of numerical growth. I believe it's open to any denomination.

[@prochurchtools]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.

[@teviswest]

Yes. Acts 2 Journey is an excellent program and has helped many churches. "A Spirit-Empowered Church" is an amazing book that goes along with Acts 2 Journey.

[@shawnthras]

You all are very thoughtful regarding the treatment of varying subjects on this channel. I also like the excellence in the quality of the video and sound. Excellent way to represent Christ. God bless!!

[@prochurchtools]

Thank you so much, Shawn!

[@alloraaa9115]

I would love to hear more on this topic - currently very relevant for me!

[@rescuecommunity2346]

Thank you for all this great content! Our church has partnered with another church to experience a turn around and it does seem to start going in the right direction.

[@prochurchtools]

That's awesome to hear.

[@rongrimes9102]

The book: Autopsy of a Dead Church ,is a real eye opener and should be mandatory reading of every pastor and the leadership of their church

[@lorrainefoster1320]

My church is reading that now.

[@mofekeng]

Oh boy, my gast is well and truly flabbered! And I'm a boomer. Our leaders have in principle adopted the metrics that you shared with us.. Why in principle? Because it takes time, but thanks to your input we are on that road. Thanks

[@cjpreach]

Leonard Ravenhill believed the single most important "number" in the church is "How many people participate in the Prayer Meetings?"

[@davewiebe2582]

The problem is that 90 % of "Churches" are being run as an organization/business, perhaps ignorantly or perhaps willingly. I believe there are true believers in these places but they have never been taught the biblical way they are supposed to gather. The gathering in most places is entirely contrary to scripture. When it comes to gathering together believers should use the only metric that matters to God which is obedience to His word as found written in the Bible. In Acts chapter 2:42 it says "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." The verse tells us they continued in 4 things. 1) In the apostles doctrine - They obeyed the word of God as revealed through the apostles by Christ Jesus i.e headship, order, etc. 2) In fellowship - they spent time together. 3) In the breaking of bread - On the first day of every week they partook of the bread and wine to remember the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for sins. 4) In prayers - They came together to pray for things they had need of and give thanks to God. This is the blueprint or model for a gathering of believers (church). So we must ask ourselves, is our gathering obeying these things? or do we do 100 other things that God hasn't asked us to do? God never gave us permission to deviate, modify, alter His instructions. Some would say "but that was 2000 years ago the world has changed." I would say to you, "Does God's truth expire?" Do we decide when God's truth is no longer applicable? Once an assembly decides to justify deviating from His word for the sake of attracting people, young or old, beware. The numbers may come and things might appear to be alive and growing but not in accordance with God's word. We can see this so clearly in the letters to the seven churches, Sardis in particular "thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead"

[@nickhill8612]

I can understand that but at the same time I'm thinking the church is a business/ company because it's God's company and when things aren't done according to the employees manual the Bible it has negative impacts on the church. Our pastor is very secret about how much money the church has and things disappear like air conditioners and weed eaters just to name a few things. Whenever someone asked about these things the pastor will try to change the subject or act clueless and has no idea what's going on. Then the pastor will scratch his head and wonder why people have stopped attending or going to other churches. Maybe it's just my thinking and my background in business.

[@davewiebe2582]

That's one of the problems with the pastor-of-church model because its not biblical. It causes lots of problems. The bible teaches the priesthood of all believers. According to 1st corinthians each brother in the gathering has the opportunity to give a word from the bible or give out a hymn, or share something they've learned during the week. As for the pastor-of-church model, the bible teaches a plurality of elders in a church for accountability sake. No believer is to be elevated in that way. Try finding the pastor-of-church model in the NT you wont find it.

[@danburch9989]

Our situation is somewhat unique. Twenty years ago, we had 200-250 attendees. Now we are fortunate to have 30 people at Sunday service. We had a men's group, women's group, Logos, youth group, sidewalk sunday school, midweek bible study, scouting, etc. But over the years, the demographics of the neighborhood changed. Where at the time the neighborhood was 30% Hispanic/ 70% White, it has now shifted over the years where Hispanics make up 70% of the population. They have been traditiionally Catholic. The recession and housing bust caused many to lose their jobs and homes and moved out of the neighborhood. The housing vacancy rate is 14%. Crime is 30% higher than average. There are other issues facing our neighborhood. Parents have drifted away from churches and their children follow. Although I agree that overvaluing church attendance is not good, the change in attendance is a metric that predicts the future of the local church. With 54.9% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 94.7% of U.S. neighborhoods. Unless we come up with something that is more powerful to draw people to the church, no church can survive. Can't make people come to church; they have to want to come to the church.

[@prochurchtools]

Completely agree Dan - it's important to look at the demographics and issues that affect your area specifically and to find ways to demonstrate the goodness of the gospel exactly where you/they are. 😊

[@zoe1972]

From a spiritual point of view...PRAY for the answers, for growth, for the survival of your church. I'm an old fogey that's comfortable in my church, and it does seem to be comfortable little social Club. That's not what Jesus intended the church to be. b Our church is dying and I recognize that changes need to be made or it will cease to exist. I'm trying to be open-minded, but in a good way. By that I mean not welcoming teachings and practices that are unbiblical and not in line with Jesus. But being careful to do what Jesus would have us do in order to grow our church. I'm praying for our church. Would you pray for our church too? There are mainly seniors in our church and they will need a lot of convincing as to how we need to change.

[@JurgenWayne]

Thank you for everything you do brady and team! just recently made my YT account and some videos on it, you guys are big part of my small start, love you fam!

[@prochurchtools]

Love you too!

[@scostie]

Who’s “that guy” who goes around consulting with churches to help them turn around. We could use some help.

[@Foxygrandpa2131]

Love your videos! Could you guys do an episode on mapping customer journeys?

[@waynewrz]

Man, as a youth pastor, I love Dominoes!

[@pride1970]

It is my opinion that the only way to change a church is to change its leader or senior pastor Churches die for many reasons usually a slow death Changing your marketing can be like rearranging the chairs on the titanic It all starts with the heart of the leader When the leader changes everything changes

[@prochurchtools]

Pride D I’d be hesitant putting that much emphasis on one man or woman.

[@pride1970]

Pro Church Tools with Brady Shearer Well it all depends on your church gov Some churches are run start to finish by the Pastor

[@purpleviolet72]

@@pride1970 Sometimes a complete overhaul of the church board is also needed. I have seen church boards completely break good pastors by being unsupportive. Weed out the "pillars" who are only supporting stagnation. There are some churches who will have select terms and have mandated breaks between times of service in particular areas of service within the church so that people don't get stagnated within the church.

[@pride1970]

Catherine Stauffert I think you need to find the root cause of the decline - leader with no vision or a board with no passion - or good old sin Leading a church is not for the faint of heart Resurrecting a church is even harder

[@kaitlyndouglas2581]

Growing up a pastor’s child, people have put an unhealthy amount of pressure on pastors. I get it, that comes with the territory unfortunately, but the pastors cannot change and improve upon everything alone. Sometimes the pastor wants to move, but no one else wants to budge. Some places I have seen the members are content with the conditions, and they are oblivious to the fact that their church is dying. They intend to remain stagnant. I do admit sometimes pastors may not initiate the change, because they are afraid of the potential outrage of the people. Some members can be extremely hateful, and in some occasions vengeful! He may be looking out for his family, too. And in some denominations, like the one I’m in, it is not guaranteed that he stays there a certain number of years, so one wrong move, and he’s out of there-losing his job and his parsonage, looking for a new church to pastor and a new place to settle. I know sometimes some pastors can be a pain, but some members can, too. I hope this response didn’t come off as harsh. This one just hits home for me. I just wanted you to know both sides of the situation, and how it may affect other people involved.

[@kikaghobrial1929]

Yo Brady! I love what you’re doing man, can you give some tips to people launching a church on how to best utilize the Internet/social media etc?! Thanks!

[@prochurchtools]

Thanks for watching Kika! You might find our church plant content helpful: prochurchtools.com/free-tools/?tab=latest-resources&search=church+plant#search :)

[@annamosquera556]

thank you for all the tips and advice! theres a bunch of teenagers in my church but everyone is shy and no one likes to talk anyone, what should i do to help break the ice?

[@jamesjones536]

So treating the church like a business works?

[@officeadministrator7607]

Love that bomber jacket! Where'd you get it, Brady?

[@prochurchtools]

Winford Morrisey H&M!

[@oscarbanks4]

I clicked on the checklist tool link to this video but it doesnt have the metric attached. Please advise! The wisdom you all share is gold.

[@prochurchtools]

Find the church growth/health calculator here: blog.nucleus.church/church-growth/

[@danloani]

Dominos may have "re-branded" itself and had a huge boost in sales, but their pizza is still garbage. Do you understand the comparison?

[@trevoratchley]

danjm Actually they completely re-did the pizza too... it used to suck but now it’s great IMO...

[@lloydtucker5647]

@ danjm - That is an excellent analogy!! 🤣😆😁

[@ohifonlyx33]

@@trevoratchley The one thing a church absolutely can NOT change is the Gospel Pizza they are metaphorically selling... You can re-brand all you like, but if you're selling the wrong gospel, you're not helping anyone.

[@rosspeterson2658]

Love the video! Thank you so much for this! I have a question though. I'm trying to help out my grand parent's church and they're a church of people that are ages 50+. They are at the point where they're realizing they need change. However, it's taken 4-5 years for them to admit this. They're 15 year old church though that split off from another church because they didn't like the direction it was going in. If it takes us another 5 years to introduce step 2 and another 5 years for step 3, I'm worried times will change and they'll still be behind. Any suggestions? (sorry for the long message)

[@prochurchtools]

The world will continue to change and shift - that's a constant. And change doesn't happen overnight - that's also a given. Can't really change either of those things, so don't let it be an excuse! Focus on what you *can* change; not on what you *cannot* change.

[@gordontubbs]

I wonder at what point emerging leaders should just walk away from a stubborn local church so they can plant a new one.

[@megangray7769]

I often wonder the same thing. I'm currently at a standstill about what to do with my own church..

[@adamwalker2377]

And do what differently?

[@jon7523]

I get your point about church attendance & next steps but it should be a "both/and", not an "either/or" paradigm. BC as a planter I can tell you, Sundays are so vital for various reasons to fellowship.

[@prochurchtools]

Agreed! Church attendance is one of the next steps included in the calculator! Attendance should definitely be part of what is tracked - but it needs to be weighed proportionately and not overvalued.

[@jeffstormer2547]

While the guys may not have made it clear in this specific video, per se, they really are advocating a both/and perspective. If I understand what they've been sharing over time, most congregations ONLY focus on the Sunday service and by default/practice have set up the either/or dichotomy. Brady & crew have many resources about how to maximize the potential for welcoming visitors at a Sunday service as well as making the whole experience more...efficient? Effective? for the members/long term attendees as well. They also point out that the culture (from which our visitors come) is consumeristic. "What's in it for me?" What does the Sunday service *really* give them that they can't get somewhere else, via podcasts (for messages & teaching), Spotify etc for songs... many will even do small groups throughout the week for community. But not in a "church." What is there on Sundays is corporate worship & fellowship--which we as believers understand to be so much more integral to the Christian life and experience, but the American culture is marinated in independence. It takes "the other 167" to essentially market to them the value of the Sunday service. I apologize if you already know this about ProChurch. They have been an enormous blessing to me and the congregations I work with (being one of the averaged aged old farts of which they speak...uh, middle aged pastors is what I meant! ;-)

[@edwardrobinson2692]

Is that 17 point checklist a free resource?

[@thebrotherhoodisdumb]

I second this question

[@alexandermills2230]

Here you go! - blog.nucleus.church/church-growth/

[@edwardrobinson2692]

Alexander Mills wow! Thank you sir! God bless.

[@cjpreach]

"Direct Mail" is only one of many stupid "Church Growth" methods we use to waste our time. As I learn of Revivals throughout history, I see ZERO "Church Growth Principles." I see faithful, prayerful, Bible-centered believers repenting and the Holy Spirit does "the Unexpected" on our behalf.

[@leoinsf]

Middle Ages churches (circa 1500) due to a lack of education focused on sin and the avoidance of sin. Was this ever the focus of Jesus who allowed Himself to be crucified? I would say no!!! God is our father and He could never send His children to Hell! We also don't earn that love, we automatically get it because we are His children! Churches are dying because fear is no longer driving people into a pew! Jesus was all about charity, love, and acceptance. Churches are the very Pharisees that Jesus hated because of their emphasis on ceremony (and scriptures)!

[@cycling_with_kenz]

you guys aren't animals... using coasters... nice

[@prochurchtools]

We like to keep it classy.

[@adamwalker2377]

Start prioritizing men, and it'll turn around. Tailoring the environment to the feminine imperative isn't working. Do something else. You'll have women angry with you, but do you want to solve the problem or not?

[@vgrof2315]

How silly.