ReClaimed Church

How Churches Grow, Decline, and Experience Revitalization

Bill Henard

• Publisher: B&H Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781462790715
• eBook ISBN: 9781462790722
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

It's no secret: churches are dying. Tragically, thousands of churches in the United States are shrinking, some closing their doors forever. The key to reversing these trends, argues Bill Henard, is for a local church to recognize where it is in the church life cycle. Unless churches intentionally do something about it, many of them will follow the same pattern: from birth, to plateau, and eventually, to death. But if a church learns to identify its place within the life cycle and embraces the necessary processes, it can return to growth. In a day when church membership has decreased, evangelistic zeal has cooled, and budgets are disappearing, ReClaimed Church is the tool that struggling churches need. Having previously written and taught seminary courses on church revitalization, Bill Henard uses his expertise to provide all the practical insights and instructions needed to reclaim your church.

Table of contents

• Foreword
• Introduction
• Section 1: The Life Stages of the Church
• Section 2: The Stages of Decline
• Section 3: Determining Factors for Growth or Decline
• Section 4: Steps toward Revitalization
• Conclusion
• Appendix A: Church and Community Assessment
• Appendix B: Church Revitalization Plan
• Appendix C: Revitalization Steps
• Appendix D: Stages of Life
• Appendix E: Stages of Death
• Appendix F: Life Stage Chart
• Appendix G: Strengthening and Sending Church Replanters/Revitalizers through the Development of 12 Core Competencies
• Appendix H: Church Restart Covenant Agreement
• Notes