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If you are in a small church, under 200, wondering how to turn your church around and how your church can make a difference in your community and beyond, this book is for you. There is often a disconnect in conference settings from the large church teacher and the small church listener. An Uphill Journey recounts the journey of a small church, with a struggling past, that pursued revitalization and ended up greatly shaping their rapidly growing community in the process. Filled with personal stories, practical steps and strategic questions, An Uphill Journey is geared for any pastor or church leader seeking to bring new life to their church.

It is no secret that the local New Testament church today is in a pickle! Memberships are souring and the ability to reclaim former members has become a thing of the past. The hard reality in North America is that most churches and most, if not all, denominations are in a state of decline. The membership within these churches and denominations has plateaued and what used to pass for involvement and activity within churches is deteriorating. While all of this is happening, the rank and file of the church appears powerless to assemble the strength that is needed to get the churches growing again. There are more churches that die annually than are planted. Many more are declining than are growing. A small church can be defined as one in which the number of active adult members and the total annual undesignated budget are inadequate relative to the church's current organizational needs and expenses. It is a church struggling to pay its minister, heat or cool its buildings, and find enough people to assume leadership responsibilities to take the church into the future. In this new work Tom Cheyney and Steve Sells both seasoned Church Revitalization leaders offer help for the church that I in threat of closing its doors. Tom leads The Renovate Group and is best known, besides his books on church revitalization and renewal, as the Founder and Directional Leader of the Renovate National Church Revitalization Conferences all across the nation. Steve is the founder of Operation Transformation that helps revitalize churches in the region around Charlotte.Life After Death: A Strategy to Bring New Life to a Dead Church, is a journey of hope for the local struggling church that is facing hard decisions in light of its future and what it will do to ensure a Gospel lighthouse remains in the community where it was placed for many more years until Jesus comes to take all of us to Glory. Take the journey with those in your area who are working to revitalize churches for the sake of Christ. Become willing to embrace the opportunity for your church to survive rather than close down in failure. Allow the Lord God to bring forth a miracle for your church as He transforms the work of ministry within your midst. As church memberships become entrenched in a senior citizen-based population and few options remain to keep the church going, often they are left with few choices as to what they can do.It is important to realize that if you wait too long to make necessary changes and the membership continues to decline to less than 50 adult active members, which is known as "Critical Mass," then you should allow a revitalization to come along side of the church and utilize the church for future ministries while assuming your bills and upkeep. This allows future restarts to win and keeps a missional presence in the geographical location of the former church. Giving up the facilities to a group that will restart the church honors those who have sacrificed so greatly in the past for the cause of Christ. You can grow the Kingdom of God by your willingness to give up trying to hold on until that last one passes on into eternity. The restart-based church revitalization model is being used all across North America. Any group working in the area of church revitalization should have a restart strategy if it is going to be a wise steward. Dying churches can be restarted when the congregation is willing to take the hard steps and make the necessary commitments. The idea of a church that is dying taking the necessary steps to provide it the best chance for survival is not an easy idea to consider. For those who have been part of the setback, admitting that they have hurt the church is hard indeed. Those who will take over also have a challenge in that it will be under their watch as they seek to change those traits, now embedded within the local church, for the betterment and opportunity to turn around a church that is in rapid decline.

Practical Tools for Reinventing the Dying Church is crammed full of sage advice for reinventing the dying church! Tom Cheyney, Founder & Directional Leader of the Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference and the Executive Editor of the Church Revitalizer magazine has gathered eighteen of the countries most experienced church revitalizers to join him in the assembling of this book. The time for revitalization and renewal is now. Sick and declining churches are all across America and within every denomination. The rank and file of our churches appears powerless to assemble the strength that is needed to get the church growing again. The need for training today's minister with the tools and skill sets necessary to combat this rampant plateau and decline is crucial. It is time for a new challenge toward revitalization and there is a great need of an army of Church Revitalizers to work toward revitalizing our churches in North America. Learn from these practitioner's skill sets and methodologies, which will help you, reinvent your dying church.

The need for Church Revitalization has never been greater in North America. An estimated 340,000 Protestant churches in America have an average weekly attendance of less than one hundred. Research data tells us that in the United States more than 80% of the churches have plateaued or are declining. Each and every week we are currently seeing somewhere between fifty and seventy-five local churches close their doors, not to be opened again. Pastors leading churches today admit that there are daily frustrations that distract them from doing the real work of ministry.

The lasting solutions to rural America's churches challenges will be found in rural America. The rural church in America in the twenty-first century must develop new relationships and new ways of doing things to ensure prosperous and socially healthy future. But we should not delude ourselves into thinking that the rural American church has so many unique issues. In fact, most of the challenges facing the rural American church today are often the same challenges for the declining rural, urban fringe, and extreme urban church seeking renewal and revitalization. Yet, while the challenges are similar, the solutions are more unique. It has been just a little over a year since I completed my study sabbatical focusing on rural church revitalization. Our research revealed three profound types of churches among the rural landscape. The first type were those churches which were benign. These benign churches were 118 (33.71%) out of the 350 rural churches surveyed. Benign churches are the churches which have primarily a maintenance mindset which is displayed by very little effort and very low expectations. The second type we discovered were the bewildered churches in the rural landscape. Bewildered churches are those which are so frustrated that they are all but ready to jump off the proverbial bridge. These churches were 117 (33.43%) out of the 350 churches interviewed and surveyed. They are not only doing nothing they have no desire to seek renewal or life. They are the ones which have the mantra that the last one left alive remember to turn the lights off. The third type of rural church our research and interviews revealed are those who are the bold. These bold churches along the rural landscape have leaders which operate more as a community watcher and chaplain for the entire region not just a few church members. These churches were 115 (32.86%) of the 350 churches surveyed and interviewed. Without a doubt these were the healthiest of all the three types. They had a forward focus and were willing to try almost anything to reach their tiny population for Christ Jesus. Those churches were led by leaders who were strong voices for righteousness in their rural communities. They were not only participants with community leaders but they were partners in projects for the good of the area. These bold churches also stretched the usual outreach area around their church from six miles to thirty miles. The bold churches were most interested in connecting with the community. They sought ways to think outside of the box for the betterment of community not just the church. They emphasized newness over deadness. I am extremely encouraged at what I have seen and the pastors who are giving it their all for the sake of Christ in these rural areas. As a rural church revitalizer, you cannot settle for just doing a little. You must give it your all if you are going to revitalize a rural church. Successful rural revitalizers stay out front and on the edge. Dying rural churches are more focused on relaxing in a recliner. There have been many who I met that could barely make ends meet and yet their daily walk and Christian experienced makes ours pale in compare. There was such joy and intimacy in these congregations. The pace was much slower and so much more relaxed. These rural churches affirmed the membership and accepted everyone. Pastors of these rural churches were known in these small communities. They were making a difference. This will be the most challenging ministry assignment you will ever face! Might I make one more parting observation? While so many in denominational life are focusing on a small number of urban centers for their future hopes, perhaps such short sightedness will be the cause for us to lose the rest of America. What a sad day that will be. Our Lord Jesus loves the little communities just as much as He does the big ones. Hold on and keep on. Hold on Rural Church Revitalizer. Hold on!

While leading both church planting and church revitalization efforts, I found many more helpful resources for church planters than for leaders trying to turn a church around! This is especially true as it relates to messages designed to challenge and inspire churches in need of revitalization. Tom Cheyney and Larry Wynn have drawn from their passion and experience and given the church revitalizer a true gift in the pages of this book!Lee Kricher, Author, For a New Generation: A Practical Guide For Revitalizing Your Church Pastor New Generation ChurchPittsburg, PAThe impressive combination of Tom Cheyney and Larry Wynn have teamed up to address one of the most critical areas of Church Revitalization, that of preaching for revitalization. Both men have been working in the area of church planting and church revitalization for many years and have something very important to say in an area nearly bereft of coverage. If pastors are going to address church revitalization, it should begin with their most effective medium - their public proclamation. Cheyney and Wynn have produced an invaluable resource for revitalization leaders.Terry Rials, Church Revitalization Practioner & Leader of ChurchRevitalizer.comOklahoma City, OKIf I desire to read a "how to" book or a "help me" book, I want it to be written by a practitioner. That is exactly who Larry Wynn and Tom Cheyney are. They are leaders in their fields. Larry pastored one of the leading churches in America and he built it from scratch. Tom has led conferences and counseled many churches how to effectively revitalize a church. This is one book you do not want to tarry reading. Do it NOW!Jim Law, Executive Pastor, First Baptist Church Woodstock Woodstock, Georgia