Avoid calling back people who have left the old church—at least at first. Remember, you are starting with a new identity, and those folks, especially, need to buy into it. To ensure that sort of buy in, require membership classes for everyone so the new identity and new DNA is part and parcel of being part of the new church.
Much More
Replanting might be the right option for dying churches, but the key, and maybe the most difficult part in the whole process, is separating the new from the old.
That’s certainly not the only issue. I plan to write more on the other issues, but for now, consider that replanting really means that some churches should die and remain dead—and a new church, not a reboot of the old, should be started in its place.
