The Restartbased Church Plant

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The Restart-based Church Plant

• By
• Tom Cheyney

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The Restart-based Church Plant

• The restart-based church plant model is being
  used all across North America. Any group
  planting churches should have a restart church
  planting strategy if it is going to be a wise
  steward. A complete change of leadership and
  direction is a must for this model to be
  successful.

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The Restart-based Church Plant

• A Church in the thriving San Fernando Valley
  of Los Angeles had dwindled to just a handful of
  members. They finally decided to die, deeding
  their property over to the local association and
  relinquishing control. Three years ago, the
  church planting steering called a planter as the
  restart pastor. Since then, the church has grown
  to 70 in attendance on Sunday mornings.

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• When we're talking about a true "restart," I
  am not referring to the typical small, struggling
  church that finds fresh life and growth. Nor am
  I looking at mergers or relocation of existing
  churches. A church that is a candidate for a
  restart-based church plant has already disbanded,
  or is almost ready to do so. The church has
  dwindled down to a handful of survivors who are
  too tired to continue. It is a church that must
  have leadership and resources outside itself. God
  uses the local director of missions or state
  denomination to help bring back to life a
  "restart-based church plant."

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• When a parenting church, or field partner, seeks
  to aid a dying congregation with a solid
  revitalization project, reality must be squarely
  faced. Decisions must be made that are often
  hard for the declining church.

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• It is hard to admit sometimes, but the concept
  of letting the declining or dying church die is
  huge if you are going to restart and make it a
  growing new work. For good healthy change, there
  needs to be a spiritual death for that church.
  There is mixed opinion in the area of whether a
  restart should close up for a time or continue
  on. I believe a case could be made for closing,
  if not for even a short time. Some, to be fair,
  say that a rebirth of vision is all that is
  needed. That may be too optimistic.

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• Just how do you go about restarting a dead
  church? In talking to restart pastors and
  denominational leaders across the country, these
  seven principles come up again and again
• Make sure there is growth potential in the
  facilitys location.

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• Not every church is a good candidate for a
  restart-based church plant. Rural areas that are
  losing population, areas of ethnic change, and
  declining neighborhoods are difficult.
• The area around a restart church needs to have
  a definable target group of sufficient size,
  which may be effectively reached by the type of
  ministry the local association or state
  convention has to offer.

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 2. Celebrate the Existing Church's Past.
• Before the existing church passes away, gather
  to celebrate its victories and glorious past. As
  one church got ready to close, an elderly member
  was asked to prepare a history of the church for
  distribution at the final service. It then
  becomes a time of joyful memories shared. Think
  about asking four or five members to share as
  part of the celebration.

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 2. Celebrate the Existing Church's Past.
• Use those who have been there the longest.
  Consider using some type of candle ceremony. Ask
  the oldest (length of membership) members to
  light a candle, working down to the newest. This
  is a very significant way to symbolize the
  ministry they once had. Conclude the worship
  service with great hymns of faith and the Lords
  Supper. Finally, move into a period of Starting
  Something New, led by the local Association
  Director of Missions or State Executive Minister.
  

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 3. Close the Doors of the Church for a Time.
• Many new restart planters often wonder if closing
  the doors might have helped the restart.
  Comments are usually the same, and surround ideas
  such as "We are not sure we ever died. "The
  old church never closed. Services continued
  under interim leadership. To older members, it
  seems like we went through a sickness and a
  trauma, which we have now come out of. If we had
  closed the church, renamed it and done some
  remodeling, the community would have realized
  what was happening. In the business world we
  would have put out a sign that said 'Under New
  Management.

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 3. Close the Doors of the Church for a Time.
• Here is the point
• You lost an opportunity to say something new to
  the community.
• One restart planter said it this way, "Have we
  really severed ties with the past? If we would
  have shut down, let the building take care of
  itself and kept mortgage payments going, maybe we
  could have crossed these hurdles better."

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 4. Transfer control from local church power
  brokers to a steering committee of mostly
  outsiders
• One of the most common blocks to growth in a
  dying congregation is leadership that is closed
  to faith and vision for the future. Often, these
  entrenched old timers have run off the very
  people who could have provided vital ministry.

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 4. Transfer control from local church power
  brokers to a steering committee of mostly
  outsiders
• The failure to effectively change the
  leadership contributed to the failure of a
  restart of an old urban church in Boston. "The
  nucleus of old timers were still trying to call
  the shots and were not willing to see change,"
  recalls a state denominational member.

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 4. Transfer control from local church power
  brokers to a steering committee of mostly
  outsiders
• "When the few new people showed up, they were
  intimidated by the older core of people. Right
  from the beginning," he counsels, "make sure you
  have the cooperation of the church people
  involved. Here, there was an indication that the
  church people were only half-hearted about
  cooperating."

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 4. Transfer control from local church power
  brokers to a steering committee of mostly
  outsiders
• One restart church in Philadelphia didn't use
  a steering committee. "We did not follow the
  guidelines for a restart, and I think that was a
  tragic mistake. We never closed. Lay leadership
  never changed. This has been one of the greatest
  obstacles to growth."

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 4. Transfer control from local church power
  brokers to a steering committee of mostly
  outsiders
• A steering committee of outsiders dilutes the
  power base that has blocked growth and allows a
  new dream to develop. The meetings should be very
  focused without the same rhetoric, the same
  conflict and the same discussion over the same
  issues. It's more visionary.

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 4. Transfer control from local church power
  brokers to a steering committee of mostly
  outsiders
• Even a steering committee may not break all
  the negative power struggles. One pastor says,
  "The people from the restart church on the
  steering committee are part of the old power
  group." Another comments, "There have been a
  couple of key people who have been very reluctant
  to see anything change, and they exert a powerful
  influence. They're domineering and can throw a
  wet blanket on any new idea. People will
  sometimes outvote them, but you lose the thrust."

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 5. Change the church's name
• One church in New York state decided to change
  their name as they entered the restart process.
  One of the things that was most symbolic for
  this church in giving up their identity was to
  change its name. That way the people in the
  community could see that it was not just the same
  old group limping along, but a new church.

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 5. Change the church's name
• Another important symbol might be transferring
  ownership of the property to the local
  association or state denomination office for a
  time. While this seems drastic, death is drastic.
  It should be done for the right reasons, though.
  The protection the church receives from being
  taken over by outside groups is secondary to its
  symbolic value of death and breaking of power.

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 6. Develop a fresh vision for the community
• Without a mission beyond its own survival, a
  restart church is neither new nor viable. The
  word restart is not fully appropriate. Remember,
  you are not going to restart the old ministry.
  You are there to make a new beginning. You will
  have a new name, a new vision and a new purpose.

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 7. Call a new church pastor with energy and faith
• Restarting a church takes mountains of energy,
  and the faith in God's power necessary to ward
  off discouragement. One of the common ailments in
  a restart situation is the people's tiredness.
  "You fix it for us pastor," they seem to say.
  Trying to do it all will burn out a planter in
  short order.

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 7. Call a new church pastor with energy and faith
• The pastor's energy must be focused on growth.
  "If the church doesn't die," observes one restart
  pastor, "the new life brought in by a new pastor
  is expected to revitalize the old traditions and
  there's not enough energy left to do something
  new." That's the single theme which one hears
  again and again from restart pastors make sure
  the church is really willing to die and help it
  seal this decision with significant symbols
  name, control, property, etc.

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• 7. Call a new church pastor with energy and faith
• A pastor on the East Coast recalls, "When I
  first moved here, I thought the denomination had
  done the right thing by not closing the church. I
  thought I could build on the church's standing in
  the community. But it's like what Jesus said,
  'You can't put new wine in old wine skins.' It's
  taken me a while to see you just should not leave
  everything intact."

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Other Things to Consider in Restart Based Church
Planting

• To use this model, it is critical that a restart
  contract be developed between the old church and
  the new church plant.
• Appoint a transition committee (TC) that is made
  up of those outside the existing church.
• Empower the TC to make all decisions from the
  beginning.
• Research target area for what type of new work
  will have the greatest chance for survival.

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Other Things to Consider in Restart Based Church
Planting

• Begin outreach activities and new church core
  group development.
• Begin seeking God for a church planter for the
  new work.
• Start the countdown to the new church launch and
  grand opening!

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The Restart Based Church Plant

• A Final Restart Observation
• In human life and in church life
• A period of feeble health you can expect from an
  elderly person who recovers from a grave illness.
  Resurrection is only possible from a corpse.