History to build upon. I love to find those high points in the life of a church—where everyone was excited—and renew the passion behind them. You can’t do this in a church plant. Everything is new. There’s a value in learning and building upon history. Some history will not need to be repeated, but most established churches have periods within their past where the church was vibrant, people were motivated and God was clearly at work among them. If you can renew the excitement, you can build upon these times.
Structure. I must be honest—I’m usually anti-structure. This is one of the attractions of the church plant. But, even then we had times where we knew we needed more structure. When I arrived back in an established church, I quickly learned we knew structure well—perhaps a little too well. But, there are benefits, especially in the early days of revitalization. There were areas of the church I didn’t have to focus on because they were fully functioning without me. They may need improvement—at some point—but for the time they are working. In a church plant it sometimes seemed everything needed my attention as pastor.
Intergenerational. This happens some in a church plant—we had it some—but, it can happen more naturally in an established church. This is one area where the church must be intentional. It won’t simply happen, but we already had lots of seniors when we arrived. Since then we have found younger generations don’t shy away from a church because older generations are there. In fact, they like it. They want programs and ministries geared to their specific needs, but they love the intergenerational church. I tell our seniors—remember, grandparents are cool!
Resources. Whether it’s a building, or budget dollars, or people—established churches usually have more resources available than you will find in most church plants. When I arrived back at an established church, my jaw was left hanging open the first six months just looking at the facilities we had available to us. There were budget concerns to those who had been there, but coming from a growing, budget-stretched church plant, I was so thankful to find the established church has established givers.
Community influence. Granted, the church may not be utilizing their influence to its potential, but if a church has been in the community for an extended period of time there are connections and built-up influence that can be leveraged to help the church grow. It’s been amazing to me the credibility with community leaders I found as a pastor of an established church, simply because our church has been here 100-plus years.
Restoration joy. There is something special about seeing new life in an older church. I’ve had the experience of seeing new growth in a church plant—twice. It’s awesome. But, seeing the established church thrive again—regaining momentum, restoring hope and potential to a church—there’s no way to describe the joy of knowing God allowed you a unique privilege of being a part of something special.
Thanks, Tom, for the challenge. Whether it’s church planting or encouraging church revitalization and growth of an existing church—if God calls you to it, and you are faithful to the call—you’ll feel His pleasure upon your obedience and service.
