Revitalize Your Church: A Biblical Blueprint for Church Turnaround

By Dan Eymann

Is church revitalization and turnaround biblical? Or, is it merely a secular concept? In Revitalize Your Church, you will discover that the Bible has much to say about revitalization.

Combining biblical scholarship, first-hand research, and personal experience, Pastor Dan Eymann develops a biblical blueprint for revitalization. Utilizing the seven churches of Revelation, Pastor Dan identifies seven crucial biblical building blocks for church revitalization. He also builds a model for turnaround leadership from the example of Nehemiah, one of the greatest turnaround leaders in biblical history.

Revitalize Your Church will give you hope and biblical insights on turning around a plateaued church. Your church can experience revitalization and renewal.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973647799

Dan Eymann

Dan Eymann has been serving in full-time Pastoral Ministry since 1982. He has pastored three turnaround churches in Gallup, New Mexico; Kent, Washington; and Phoenix, Arizona. He is currently serving at North Mountain Church in Phoenix. Dan is a graduate of Western Seminary (M.Div.) and Phoenix Seminary (D.Min.) Dan has been married to Barbara, his lifetime partner in ministry, for more than 40 years. They have three married children and seven grandchildren.

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Copyright © 2019 Dan Eymann.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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ISBN: 978-1-9736-4778-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-4777-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-4779-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018914413

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/21/2019

Contents

Section 1: The Foundation for Turnaround

Chapter 1 What Is a Turnaround?

Chapter 2 The State of the Church

Chapter 3 Causes of Decline

Chapter 4 Biblical Foundations for Turnaround

Section 2: The Building Blocks for Turnaround

Chapter 5 A Renewed Vision (Ephesus)

Chapter 6 Courageous Leadership (Smyrna)

Chapter 7 Spiritual Growth (Pergamum)

Chapter 8 Truth and Grace (Thyatira)

Chapter 9 A Climate for Growth (Sardis)

Chapter 10 Perseverance (Philadelphia)

Chapter 11 Outward Focus (Laodicea)

Section 3: A Biblical Model for Church Turnaround

Chapter 12 Catching the Vision

Chapter 13 Launching the Strategy

Chapter 14 Implementing the Turnaround

Chapter 15 Mission Accomplished

List of Figures

Figure 1. Decline in weekend church attendance⁴

Figure 2. The typical life cycle of a church

Figure 3. Cycles of rebellion in the book of Judges

Figure 4. Profile of a mature disciple

Acknowledgments

God uses many people and experiences to support and encourage us in our ministry endeavors.

First and foremost, I am deeply thankful for my family. My wonderful wife, Barbara, has been my partner for over forty years. She has been by my side through all the ups and downs of life and ministry. I am grateful for her love and support. God also blessed us with three wonderful children—Joanna, Joelle, and Joshua. They have been through many ministry experiences with us and have endured being the subject of many sermon illustrations. But they have been a tremendous blessing in our lives.

Second, I am thankful for my parents, Eugene and Laura Eymann, who are both at home with the Lord now. They were a constant source of prayer and encouragement.

Third, I am thankful to Dr. Gary MacIntosh for his supervision of my doctoral project on Turnaround Ministry. His guidance was invaluable.

And finally, I am indebted to three church families. Gallup Baptist Church in Gallup, New Mexico, was the first to call me as senior pastor. They were very gracious as we grew together in ministry. Eastridge Baptist Church in Kent, Washington (near Seattle), was our church family for fifteen years. We wrestled through many turnaround issues together, and God blessed us over the years. North Mountain Church in Phoenix, Arizona, has been our home since 2005. While each church is different; they have all played significant roles in our lives. May God continue to bless each church family in the years ahead.

* * *

Unless otherwise indicated, scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Preface

What would make a person want to become a turnaround pastor? It’s hard work. It’s stressful. It usually involves conflict and confrontation. It demands long hours. It requires sacrifice of time and finances. And it’s often a thankless job. Why would anyone desire to sign up for a turnaround church ministry?

The seeds for church revitalization were planted in my heart very early. I grew up in a small, traditional Baptist church. Even though the church was small, our pastor was instrumental in encouraging many young men to go into ministry. He affectionately referred to these young men as his preacher boys. Several grew up in our church. Others were brought to our church as youth pastors or Christian education directors from the local Bible college, where our pastor also taught. I was one of the preacher boys who grew up in the church. And I am sincerely grateful for our pastor’s encouragement as my wife and I grew and began our ministry. Right after we were married, we moved into a small cottage on the church property. I served as youth pastor, worship leader, and church custodian, and my wife served as church secretary.

But our church was still a traditional Baptist church. You could set your watch on Sunday mornings by what happened in the worship service—the doxology, opening prayer, hymn, announcements, hymn, responsive reading, pastoral prayer, offering, special music, sermon, and invitation hymn. The only things that changed were the hymn numbers and the individuals providing special music. Other than that, every week was identical.

I remember as a teenager sitting in church and wondering why our church never grew. I would often imagine if we could change this or that, add something here or there, or mix up the order of service, perhaps it might spark some renewed interest. People might invite their friends, and the church would start growing again.

Consequently, the seeds for church revitalization were planted as a teenager. God placed in my heart a burning desire to bring renewal to older traditional churches, to see them become healthy, thriving, growing churches again. Those early seeds took root and grew during my days in Bible college and seminary. Since then, I have served in four churches: the first as an associate pastor, and the last three as senior pastor. God has blessed each ministry with a measure of turnaround and revitalization.

Much has been written today about church growth and turnaround ministry. Unfortunately, some pastors still view church growth and turnaround literature as too secular. So in Revitalize Your Church, we will examine scripture. Is turnaround biblical? What does the Bible say about church revitalization and turnaround? What is God’s blueprint for renewal? In addition to biblical research, Revitalize Your Church combines research drawn from surveys and interviews with other turnaround pastors and lessons learned from many firsthand experiences in my own turnaround ministries.

In the first section, we will lay both a sociological and a biblical foundation for church turnaround. In section II, we examine the seven turnaround churches of Revelation 2–3. From these seven churches, we will discuss seven biblical building blocks for effective turnaround. And in the concluding section, we lay out a biblical model for an effective turnaround leader from the example of Nehemiah. We will consider eight steps in a church revitalization process.

If you are involved in a turnaround church or revitalization ministry of any kind, my prayer is that you will be both challenged and encouraged as you read. May God bless you and your ministry!

Section I

The Foundation for Turnaround

The first step in any building project, whether a home, a commercial building, or a skyscraper, is laying a solid foundation. Every builder understands the importance of the foundation.

In this first section, we will examine both the sociological and biblical foundations for church turnaround.

1

What Is a Turnaround?

On June 1, 2009, Fritz Henderson, CEO of General Motors Company, stood before a roomful of reporters and the American people via television and announced that one of the United States’ largest corporations was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In his statement, he said the following:

Our agreement with the U.S. Treasury and the governments of Canada and Ontario will create a leaner, quicker, more customer and completely product-focused company, one that’s more cost competitive and has a competitive balance sheet. This new GM will be built from the strongest parts of our business, including our best brands and products.¹

In order to accomplish this corporate turnaround, General Motors’ new business plan presented to the bankruptcy judge involved closing or selling four lines of automobiles (Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, and Saab), closing at least nine manufacturing plants, and cutting forty thousand hourly and twenty-three thousand salaried employees.

These drastic measures were necessary for the financial survival of GM because the North American economy was in the throes of a major recession. In fact, many companies at the time—both large and small—were being forced to close, sell, or restructure in order to survive. Most companies that survived went through some form of turnaround.

Corporate Turnaround

In the corporate world, turnaround is needed when a company experiences serious decline in profit or market share. Many factors may play into the decline. Lower sales, rising cost of goods and services, and higher labor and management costs all result in lower profit margins. Sometimes companies can get stuck in a traditional mode of management, production, or marketing and resist doing anything different as technology and management practices change around them. Inevitably, productivity and sales begin to decline. Turnaround is needed.

At the heart of turnaround is change. New management, restructuring, downsizing, and layoffs are common. Newer approaches employ the concepts of decentralization or empowerment. Rather than a top-down management style, some turnaround managers utilize lower-level managers and people within the organization to spark change and turnaround.

Perhaps the best-known turnaround story in modern history is that of the Chrysler Corporation in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Chrysler’s turnaround was led by Lee Iacocca, whose name is almost synonymous with corporate turnaround. Steve Miller, who was an integral part of Iacocca’s turnaround team at Chrysler, wrote of his former boss, At the moment he took control of Chrysler, Lee Iacocca was the most visible automotive executive in America. … In my humble, midlevel executive’s opinion, Iacocca was a superstar, one of the few people who understood every element of the industry.²

Many changes factored into the Chrysler turnaround. In 1979, Iacocca went before the United States Congress to ask for a loan guarantee. Upon receiving the guarantee, Steve Miller went to work negotiating government-backed bridge loans with four hundred different banks to finance Chrysler through the crisis. At the same time, Iacocca began rebuilding the company from the ground up. He trimmed Chrysler’s workforce, hired several associates from his former company (Ford), and sold off unprofitable divisions of the Chrysler Corporation.

Iacocca also introduced several new and popular lines of automobiles. In 1981 Chrysler introduced the K-cars—Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries. They were innovative (front-wheel drive), small, efficient, and inexpensive. They sold rapidly. Two years later Iacocca introduced the minivan—Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan—which was an idea rejected by Ford while he was there. The minivan became the best-selling automobile in the United States for many years. And in 1987, Chrysler purchased the American Motors Corporation (AMC), largely because of Iacocca’s interest in the Jeep, which became the forerunner to the popular sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in the United States.

Iacocca was also a master of public relations. During the 1980s he appeared in several television commercials advertising Chrysler cars using his trademark slogan: If you can find a better car, buy it.

Because of the changes implemented at Chrysler and the introduction of new and popular automobile lines, along with Iacocca’s successful public relations campaign, Chrysler was able to repay all the government-backed loans in 1983; seven years earlier than expected. The Chrysler Corporation went from bankruptcy to profitability in just four years—a true turnaround success story.

Church Turnaround

As we begin to consider church turnarounds, I want to emphasize that there is a vast difference between the corporate world and the church. The church is not a business; it is the body of Christ. The church is not an organization; it is a living organism. The church is not about sales and market share; it is all about people and relationships. And the church does not exist to make a profit; it exists to make disciples.

However, when it comes to turnarounds, what is true in the corporate world is often mirrored in the church. Even as many corporations need a turnaround over time, likewise many churches need revitalization.

Since the church is an organism, growth should be expected. Living organisms naturally grow. So, when a church experiences plateau or decline, this trend often points to an unhealthy organism in need of revitalization or turnaround. When a church is no longer making new disciples, that too is indicative of poor health and the need for revitalization or turnaround.

Lake Youngs Church was always a relatively small church. It was started by an individual as a Bible study, but eventually the Bible study grew into a church. Land was purchased, and a small facility was built. At its peak in the 1970s, attendance at Lake Youngs averaged about sixty-five people. But with inadequate facilities and without a vision for outreach, the church began a slow but steady decline. It dwindled back down to a small Bible study with only eight people attending regularly. The members of Lake Youngs Church were faced with a decision: they could either close the church’s doors or embark on a turnaround ministry. They chose the turnaround option. They invited their denomination to assume responsibility for the church and turned over all their assets to the larger denominational body. Under the denomination’s supervision, a new pastor was sent to replant a church in Lake Youngs’ facilities. They closed the church for a period of time while they remodeled the facilities and assembled a turnaround team. The church reopened some months later with a different name – Turning Point – and a new vision for ministry. It was not long until the new church outgrew its facilities and moved to the local high school for Sunday worship services. Eventually, the church rented its original building to another start-up church while Turning Point itself leased space in a strip mall and continued to grow. By 2003, ten years later, Turning Point had grown from eight to over four hundred in weekly attendance.

First Baptist Church was a church with a fifty-year history. They had several good pastors with reasonably long tenures in the church. The church grew to over seven hundred in attendance. But near the end of their beloved pastor’s tenure of fifteen years, the church began to decrease in size as discontent grew. Following the pastor’s resignation to become a missionary, the church continued to decline during a three-year interim period without a pastor. Discontent turned to divisiveness as a large contingency of members began lobbying for one of the favored associate pastors to be called as the new senior pastor, but the leadership of the church disagreed. Finally, a new pastor was called. But he wasn’t able to pull the church together, so the leadership of the church asked him to resign after only two years. The church had declined to fewer than two hundred in attendance. Finances were tight, and staff salaries were cut. First Baptist Church was desperately in need of a turnaround.

When I accepted a call to North Mountain Church, it was about sixty years old with a few more than sixty people in attendance, the majority of whom were over the age of sixty. During the church’s heyday in the 1960s, the attendance had peaked at an average of four hundred. Their beloved pastor during that time had served for twenty years. But after his departure, the church had a series of eight pastors who served between three to five years each, with one- to two-year transition periods between each pastor. Needless to say, the church had lacked consistent vision and direction for thirty years. The church experienced a roller-coaster ride of growth and decline with each pastor, but the overall trend was downward. Eventually a church split in 2003 ended when the senior pastor and the entire board of elders resigned and left the church. For thirty-five years the church experienced a slow but steady decline, going from four hundred to just sixty in attendance. North Mountain Church was desperately in need of a turnaround when I was called as their new pastor.

Turnaround churches come in all sizes, shapes, and flavors. Many mainline denominational churches are in need of turnaround, as are independent churches. Many liturgical churches, evangelical churches, and charismatic churches are in need of a turnaround. Turnarounds are needed in small churches, large churches, and megachurches. If a church has experienced a season of plateau or decline, it may be a prime candidate for a turnaround. No church is immune to the need for revitalization.

Definition of Turnaround

What is a turnaround church? George Barna defines turnaround churches as churches that at one time had been thriving congregations, then experienced a steep decline, but ultimately pulled out of the dive and became revitalized.³ My own definition of a turnaround church is similar: a church that was once healthy and growing that has experienced a season of plateau or decline, but has turned the corner and is experiencing renewed growth and spiritual vibrancy once again. Whether we use Barna’s definition or mine, the turnaround story can be broken down into three phases: (1) previous growth, (2) plateau and decline, and (3) turnaround.

Previous Growth

This simply suggests that a turnaround church was larger at its previous peak than at its most recent low point in attendance. Most new churches experience a season of growth in their early years. The congregation is young, the vision is fresh, and the atmosphere is exciting. Everything is clicking as the new church experiences God’s blessing and growth. This is a very exciting stage in the church’s life.

Plateau and Decline

As time rolls on, the church grows older, the vision dims, the congregation settles into a familiar routine, and the excitement and vibrancy fades. When this occurs, attendance begins to plateau and then eventually declines. Ed Stetzer suggests that less than 10 percent growth in a five-year span is considered a plateau.⁴ At this point something needs to be done to stop the decline and spark new growth.

Turnaround

As just mentioned, when a church experiences plateau or decline, something must be done to turn it around; to stop the decline and spark renewed growth. Once again, Ed Stetzer suggests that at least 10 percent growth per year over a two- to five-year span following the period of plateau is considered a successful turnaround.⁵ I am not as insistent on a sustained growth rate of 10 percent, as many churches begin the turnaround gradually, experiencing slower but steady growth. In fact, slow and steady growth may be healthier than rapid growth in some churches. Additionally, church growth often comes in waves, alternating between seasons of growth and seasons of stabilization.

Determining the Need

How do we know if a church needs revitalization? Corporations and churches both tend to check their health by analyzing certain numbers. Corporations look at financial numbers like sales, costs of goods and services, market share, and profit margin. On the other hand, churches analyze numbers in terms of people—membership, attendance, conversions, and baptisms.

But should churches get caught up in the numbers game? Isn’t that what the corporate world does, make the numbers game a secular exercise? Does a church have any business looking at numbers? Doesn’t God care about quality over quantity?

I would like to offer a twofold response to these questions. First, I will offer a brief defense of counting and analyzing church numbers. Second, we will look beyond the numbers and consider additional aspects of church health and growth.

Growth by the Numbers

From the beginning of the church growth movement to the present day, every church growth analyst, consultant, and author has evaluated numbers. This is true on a broad scale as researchers analyze the health