#129. Stop Trying to Revitalize Your Church-- Do This Instead

Josh has recently authored Remissioning Church, A Field Guide to Bringing a Congregation Back to Life, where he talks about transforming a church from the inside out to bring a new missional presence that brings life and flourishing to the neighborhood.Book: Remissioning ChurchWHAT YOU'LL LEARN:How and why congregations might be dyingRemissioning vs RevitalizingInside-out transformationABOUT THE GUEST: Josh Hayden is the co-founder and co-president of `Iwa Collaborative, which helps leaders fly high and live low as they lead through change processes in their community. He runs remissioning trainings through `Iwa Collaborative across various denominational, non-denominational, and global networks.Josh Hayden is the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Ashland, Virginia. For over 20 years he has worked and led in nonprofit organizations, church plants, and established churches. He has a doctorate in leadership and organizational change from Duke Divinity School and is the author of Remissioning Church and Sacred Hope. He serves on the boards of numerous nonprofits. He and his family live near Richmond, Virginia.RELATED LINKS:Iwa CollaborativeFirst Baptist Ashland VATIMESTAMPED SHOWNOTES:00:39 - Introducing Pastor Josh Hayden04:49 - How and why congregations might be dying05:21 - ...churches in survival mode05:38 - ...counting, not reflecting Jesus05:59 - ...want people to lead, but rarely invite or train up leaders06:33 - ...afraid of conflict, stuck in tradition07:02 - How Josh's journey influenced the writing of the book08:39 - Established Church vs Church Plant10:10 - Exploring the book title: Remissioning Church10:59 - ...Remissioning vs Revitalizing14:01 - ...Remissioning was not a word that people were using regularly15:44 - ...Is it RE-missioning or re-MISSION-ing?18:29 - How does church leadership assess if the church should be remissioned?18:45 - ...awareness of where the church is in the life cycle19:02 - ...spiritual health of the church19:10 - ...counting vs measuring19:19 - ...honest evaluation21:12 - How does the church leadership manage feelings in assessing a church?23:40 - ...helping people navigate loss and change24:52 - ...embrace conflict26:02 - What does a healthy church look like?26:04 - ...clear sense of how to make disciples who are good for the community26:47 - ...common life with the community26:53 - ...see change as God inviting us into a life-death-resurrection journey27:20 - ...disciple people inside the church so not to export the mission of God to others29:51 - What is the goal of remissioning a church?32:08 - What needs to happen for inside-out tranforamtion to take place?32:36 - ...people disclipling someone33:35 - ...learn to live on mission with God34:07 - ...live with more purpose and intention34:42 - How and why is discipleship the mission of the chuch?35:14 - ...a lot of pastors haven't been discipled35:42 - ...not clear on what a mature disciple looks like36:51 - ...church-hopping is the result of not having a clear discipleship process40:02 - If your church disappeared, would the community notice?DID YOU APPRECIATE THIS PODCAST? Checkout previous episodes, leave a review, drop us a note or support the mission here: oururbanvoices.com