Breathing New Life into Dying Churches

Pastor David Stertzbach has given some very helpful information on helping to bring health back to a church that has suffered trauma. He uses the analogy of an accident victim who has suffered trauma, and compares that to the church. He recommends 1. Assessing the Trauma, 2. Addressing the Trauma, 3. Attending to the Trauma, 4. Achieving the Healing. His seminar is entitled: "Breathing New Life into Dying Congregations: Changes that Enable a Local Church to Become Vital & Relevant Again." (click here and go to Wednesday, Feb 22 2006 - GA2 / audio can be ordered from the site)

Dale has been involved in ministry for 34 years and has been called of God to focus on churches that have experienced trauma.

One of the side notes which he mentioned was that sometimes the trauma is beyond abilities of a pastor to be able to address. This is similar for those involved in emergency services - and EMT as compared to an Emergency Room Doctor. Seems to me that too often there are young pastors who are pretty fresh out of seminary with little pastoral experience that are called upon to try and address some severe traumas in churches. Often the perception is that this is where you start off -- maybe it is the only perceived opportunity available. Sometimes God does call the young, inexperienced pastor into such situations to give them an accelerated educational course. But it is absolutely critical that there are seasoned pastors who make themselves available to mentor these young men, and these young men need to be teachable and willing to accept advice rather than thinking they have it all figured out because they have the diploma hanging on the wall.

Note: I don't write this because I feel that I am currently in a dying church. My goal is to continue to learn how to keep the church body healthy. I have served in a church that was gasping for life. There is information contained in this seminar that is helpful for a pastor of a healthy church, as well as for those changing churches, and of course, those in churches that have experienced a trauma.