In North America, this is a condition
t h a t ’s b e c o m i n g m o re c o m m o n .
Some 80 percent of churches are
categorized as plateaued or declining
- no longer keeping pace with the
growth or demographic changes in
their surrounding community.
A telltale sign you may be ready for a
rebirth is if you discover:
#3) Maintenance is Outpacing Ministry
This is often the tripwire that sends
churches seeking help - when the cost
of maintenance (building maintenance
and monthly bills) is outpacing the
impact of ministry. It’s hard to deny
there’s an issue when you can’t pay
the bills and you need to shut down
ministries and reduce staff as a result.
preserve tradition. In the normal life
cycle of a church - growth, plateau,
decline, and death - the end is inevitable
without intentional evangelism.
All Candidates for Rebirth
The good news is we serve a God of
resurrection power! These telltale
signs may be the Holy Spirit’s signal
that your church is a candidate for
a rebirth. It’s entirely possible for
churches to begin a new life cycle at
any age or stage.
If a leader is willing to sacrifice what’s
familiar to reach a new generation, God
can jump-start a new season of Spirit-
empowered ministry. Pastors who
served as caretakers and undertakers
become risk takers when they pursue a
rebirth. In fact, more than one in three
new campuses in multisite churches
across North America are birthed
through a merger.
The Miracle at Mountainside
A rebirth isn’t about erasing the
identity or the heritage of a church. It’s
actually resurrecting the dream of the
founders to inject the community with
fresh hope and vision for the future.
Many churches have an “edifice
complex” - an unhealthy fixation on
preserving the physical building and
protecting the church’s glory days.
These churches may end up selling off
assets to stay alive, but their mission
has been replaced with a fervor to
20 • Solutions
I can speak about this from experience.
Our fourth campus at Liquid Church
was a rebirth. We were approached by
the leaders of a historic, 191-year-old
church that was considering closing
its doors. The congregation of a few
dozen was no longer viable as a self-
sustaining church. It took humility and
honesty for the church to recognize
that change was needed and to turn
their church and assets over to a new