The Christ-Defined Roadmap to Church Revitalization

The last post was an attempt to document three Biblical axioms concerning the ministry of church revitalization. Briefly let's review them:

1. Church revitalization was an Apostolic ministry strategy initiated by the Apostle Paul on his second missionary journey (Acts 15:36-16:35). Then it was not only affirmed but also defined by the Ascended Christ as He addressed the Seven Churches in Revelation chapter two.
2. The objective in church planting and church revitalization is not church growth, which inevitably leads to mission and message drift, but church health and vitality.
3. Every local church, presbytery, and denomination ought to implement the Apostolic strategy which "turned the world upside down" as they sought to fulfill the Great Commission. This strategy was repeated in city after city as they extended the Kingdom of Christ through four Gospel ministry initiatives...

#1. Evangelism and Discipleship

#2. Church Planting and Church Revitalization

#3. Deeds of love and mercy.

#4. Leadership multiplication and mobilization.

Since church revitalization and church planting are Apostolic strategies designed to fulfill the Great Commission after the Ascension of Christ and the blessing of Pentecost are revealed in God's Word, the information as to how they are to be implemented will be found in the same place. Not only is a Gospel-driven, Spirit-empowered and Christ-exalting ministry of church revitalization found in the Word of God, even more impressive if possible, is the fact that Christ Himself reveals the three step church revitalization roadmap. Where? Revelation 2:1-7.

Remember, Repent, Recover

The book of Revelation is addressed in the immediate to seven churches. The first church mentioned is the Church of Ephesus that was likely the mother church of the other six, all of which would be located on a major trade route into Asia Minor. Unsurprisingly the same heart of the Great Shepherd who would leave the 99 to pursue one sheep who wandered from the flock is displayed as he pursues four wandering flocks of the seven churches who were in need of revitalization. He does not "write them off", nor ignore them, nor does He simply focus on planting another church. What He does do is call them back to Gospel health and vitality and even identifies what the leadership of the church must do to implement a ministry of revitalization. He begins with the church at Ephesus. It is there that He reveals a three-step roadmap to implement the ministry of Gospel revitalization. So where does He reveal it?

After identifying the commendable traits still resident in the life and ministry of the Church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-3, Christ incisively addresses the reason of their spiritual impotence in verse 4 - "you have left your first love." After His diagnosis in verses 5-7, He gives the solution and then the stark prognosis if the solution is neglected - "I will come and remove the lampstand from you." So what is the solution for the revitalization of the church at Ephesus so that they are once again a "first love" church? Christ's answer is - "Remember, Repent and Recover the deeds you did at first." Simply but profoundly the Savior "who purchased the church with His own blood" outlines the road map to spiritual health and Gospel vitality to produce a church that once again would be able to say "the love of Christ compels us." So just how do you implement the revitalization roadmap "Remember, Repent and Recover"? The implementation answer is found not in Revelation 2 but in the Epistles of Paul in general and I Timothy and Titus in particular.

The fact is this was not the first time that the church at Ephesus was in need of a ministry of revitalization. At the conclusion of Paul's 3 year ministry he warned the elders of Ephesus in his farewell sermon (Acts 20) that Satan would attack the church by infiltrating the leadership with false leaders and false teachers. The leadership did not heed the warnings of Paul. The result was that when Paul who had spent years incarcerated first in Jerusalem, then Caeserea Maritima and ultimately in Rome, was released, he was informed of their decline. Paul like Christ does not "write them off", nor does he simply ignore their plight and plant another church. What he does do is send them his best disciple - Timothy - with a handbook on Church revitalization - I Timothy. By the way he also gives another handbook on revitalization to Titus - note the overlap of content within I Timothy and Titus - who was also sent on a mission of church revitalization to Crete with instructions "to set in order what remains."

Obviously the Lord blessed Timothy's ministry since the church was still viable five decades later as they receive another epistle - Revelation. But now they are in need of another ministry of revitalization - this time under the leadership of the Apostle John. So how does a church follow the three-step roadmap of "Remember, Repent and Recover the first things"? The answer is found in the Epistles of Paul, who had revitalized churches and who mentored both revitalization pastors Timothy and Titus. It is there that the ten strategies to implement the three-step roadmap of Remember, Repent and Recover are found. Dr. Harry L. Reeder, III is the Senior Pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, AL. Harry completed his doctoral dissertation on "The Biblical Paradigm of Church Revitalization" and received a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina (where he serves as adjunct faculty member). He is the author of From Embers to a Flame: How God Can Revitalize Your Church, as well as a number of other published works.