“We’re a historic church looking for options for a new season.”
Founded with great faith, served by countless faithful members, elders, pastors, sunday school teachers and community servants. More recently, struggling to solve the puzzle of a changing neighborhood and an aging core. Maybe your church board and leadership are asking, "what options do we have for the future?"
MultpliCity believes that the legacy of faith in older congregations can be powerfully honored and given fresh passion and growth through a Restart.
Closing the doors is
not the only option:
When faithful people in historic churches struggle for a long time to get things moving again, it can be demoralizing.
When the denominational support seems to fall short and the cost of maintaining the building and a pastor outstrips congregational giving, it can seem like the only option is to close down the church, sell the property and give the money to a worthy mission project.
The problem with closing your doors? The faithful history of your church is not preserved and celebrated for future generations. An important piece of faith history is hidden away.
A Better Way
But something profound happens when a growing, younger church merges with a historic church--the experience, wisdom and community legacy of one group joins with the passion, people and vision of the other group to form a triple win.
Win #1--older members gain younger people to mentor and encourage.
Win #2--younger congregations with limited resources gain experienced members and valuable dedicated space for loving and serving the community.
Win #3--the community gains a revitalized church that adds value to everyone.
A merge and restart may sound too good to be true. There are a lot of questions to be answered: "what about our name? our missionaries? our buiilding?" These are legitimate questions other congregations have faced as well.
If you are interested learning more about Restart and asking more questions, we'd like to talk with you. Our experienced team can help you look at options and see if a Restart is a possibility for your church.
Feel free to give us a call: (773) 838-9470
or send us an email: kevinb@multiplicitynetwork.org