For some odd reason, the pastor was convinced they would listen to me and get serious about doing whatever it takes to survive. As a favor to a local pastor, I met with the few remaining members of his church. We know beyond a shadow of doubt that the need is great. We began offering The Hope Initiative to help churches jumpstart prayer and evangelism. And the five per 100 number is just to stay even. Thus, if your church averages 100 in attendance, you need to see God reach five non-Christians every year who will become followers of Christ and a part of your church. According to our consultation work in the post-COVID world, your church should be reaching one person (usually measured by baptisms, conversions, or professions of faith) for every twenty in average worship attendance. You are no longer in a Christian-friendly culture where non-Christians desire to be identified with a local congregation. Your church will not have sustained growth without evangelism.

Dying churches have abandoned evangelism.

I hope these five observations can help you and your church move toward thriving instead of dying. We see a very clear pattern in place with dying churches. It has always been my prayer that I can learn from the deceased churches to help living churches thrive. I really don’t think I have an obsession with dying churches. There have also been dramatic culture shifts to a less favorable, even antagonistic, posture toward churches. The pandemic accelerated and exacerbated the gradual declines of churches where they became obvious paths toward death. We pray each time that our intervention is not too late. They know their churches must change or die. For the first time, the leaders of these churches, pastors and laity alike, are no longer in denial.

About half of the requests are from churches that will likely die within five years. Consequently, we are doing more on-site and virtual consultations than ever.īut here is the difference. We are receiving more consultation requests at Church Answers than at any point in our organization’s history.

We still have it, and it is forwarded to. One of our team members at Church Answers got the domain,, as a joke a few years ago. My fascination turned into somewhat of an obsession that I wrote a bestselling book on the topic, Autopsy of a Deceased Church, several years ago. I became fascinated with dead and dying churches about thirty years ago.

Greatness: beyond a shadow of a doubt