In this episode of the Revitalize My Church podcast, hosts Bart Blair and Nathan Bryant discuss the fifth "big rock" of church revitalization - launching the new vision and plan. They explain that while "launch" can refer to a specific kickoff Sunday service, it's really a season of putting all the pieces of the plan in place and beginning to implement them.
Just as the Israelites built the tabernacle in stages and conquered the Promised Land in phases, and NASA conducts extensive preparations before a space launch, a church must do a lot of groundwork before the public "launch" of their revitalized ministry. This includes getting ministry teams and leaders in place, promoting the church in the community, setting up the children's ministry, preparing the worship service and sermons, developing an integration pathway for new people, and more.
The hosts emphasize that the vision team who developed the plan are not necessarily the ones who will lead the implementation. The plan must first be approved by the elders and rolled out to the whole church to get their buy-in. Then the critical first step is identifying and empowering the right leaders and teams to execute the various components of the plan.
Outreach is a top priority to begin engaging the community. However, equally important is having an integration pathway ready to welcome and follow up with new people. The initial components of the discipleship pathway, especially a clear plan for evangelism and a new believers class, must also be in place.
While a specific launch Sunday gives everyone a goal to work towards, the "launch" is really a 90-day season of building momentum. An initial kickoff Sunday should be followed by several weeks of outreach-focused services and events to keep engaging newcomers, followed by "in-reach" focused services to help retain them. Then another outreach focused series and finally leveraging the Christmas season to connect with even more people.
As the analogy of a space launch illustrates, different "thrusters" are needed for different phases. The initial booster rockets get the rocket launched, then separate as another set of engines propels it forward. In the same way, a church may leverage certain outreach events or sermon series in the initial launch phase, then shift to an integration focus to propel the church forward in the next phase.
The goal is not just to have a single exciting "launch Sunday" but to be fully prepared to love, welcome and guide the new people God will send. As the Lord stirs people's hearts to visit the church, it is a sacred stewardship to be ready to provide them an excellent experience and purposefully move them towards a relationship with Jesus.
Getting ready for a "launch" is like preparing to host a big party at your house. You need to clean the house, set the table, bake the cake and have everything in order before you open the door and invite guests in. In the same way, before promoting itself to the community, a church needs to "clean house" by making any needed cosmetic improvements to its facility, "set the table" by developing a warm and welcoming culture, and "bake the cake" by putting the discipleship pathway and ministry systems in place to help new people grow in Christ. Then it can confidently open the doors and invite the community in.
The hosts conclude by reiterating that launching a revitalized ministry is not about perfection but readiness in the key areas. It's not just cosmetic changes but a heart change - aligning the church culturally and practically to reach the people Jesus died for. That's the ultimate goal of church revitalization.
Bible passages cited:
- Israelites building the tabernacle (Exodus 35-40)
- Israelites conquering the Promised Land (Book of Joshua)
- Story of Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 28:10-22)...
