Just about every approach that can be imagined has been tried to revive the country in general and the church in particular in America…with very little to show for it. Most church growth gurus will tell you that the vast majority of churches experiencing growth are simply getting their members from other churches. There is a lot of shuffling going on but not a lot of brand new born-again believers. Consequently, there was the brilliant idea that church growth would explode if we’d “build it and they will come.” So church revitalization has given way to church planting. It sounds good, promising, and exciting until you find out that once again when the truth is finally revealed, all you’ve done is relocated members from one location to another. To the unchurched, I’m sure all they can see are church building programs engaged for the purpose of making those who already attend church more comfortable.
