Why bother trying to resurrect an old, dying church? I’ve heard that question a lot.
There was a time when it seemed like every pastor I went to bible college with was following church growth principles and starting new churches. In a few years they were buying land to accommodate the growing crowds.
But I was sitting in a pre-existing small church, nurturing it along through the beginning, challenging stages of a turnaround.
It’s a long, hard road from dying, introverted and tired, to healthy, outward-looking and innovative.
Author
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Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.
He's the author of four books on church leadership. His fifth book, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next, releases on April 2, 2024.
He also hosts a bi-weekly podcast,The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry. Episodes feature in-depth interviews about the topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context.
Karl has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience. He and his wife, Shelley have three children and two grandkids.