Revitalization checklist

The first foundation needs to be making sure you demonstrate the marks of the church. If you believe you have these in place, you can attempt a revitalization effort. Be aware that if you are an independent church, you are always just one bad decision maker away from being a distressed church. If you do not have the Marks of the Church sorted out, you should consider a shutdown and replant/restart strategy of some type.

This list is a quick checklist for what’s needed to get started. If these are missing, it’s going to require a lot more effort. That’s not bad, but every church revitalization project is a lot of effort. Just be ready to do the hard work!  Interestingly, none of these necessarily require significant economic resources – but they do require people sacrificing to get the work done.  

1. Prayer
2. Preaching/Worship
3. People – willing to work, listen, learn and love each other.  
4. A standard theology with frameworks/standards that are agreed on – The Westminster Standards and/or 3 Forms of Unity
5. Denominational support (e.g. session/presbytery).
6. Hospitality
7. Somewhere to meet – certainly the early church used houses a lot!