RIVERSIDE, CALIF. — Individuals reside and die.
So do congregations.
Heritage21 works to normalize conversations about church life cycles.
Associated: Holy creativeness: Church buildings search to reverse decline
“We need to encourage and in addition problem on the similar time,” mentioned Doug Peters, a longtime preacher who serves because the nationwide ministry’s govt director. “It’s a balancing act as a result of for those who have a look at sure numbers, it may possibly actually sound bleak. However there are alternatives for renewal.
“We’d like a holy creativeness, a artistic creativeness, to see what may be … to assist stoke religion in folks’s lives,” he added. “If we’re going to make a distinction sooner or later, we should get artistic.”
Jonathan Williams, left, pulpit minister for the North Oaks Church of Christ in Santa Clarita, Calif., visits with Doug Peters, govt director of Heritage21. The 2 talked at a seminar on “The Problem of the Empty Church” in Mission Viejo, Calif. Williams is a Heritage21 ambassador.
The Church of Christ Basis — a California nonprofit — helps numerous ministries and gives scholarships for college kids to pursue Christian training. The inspiration joined with Heritage21 to co-sponsor two current seminars on “The Problem of the Empty Church.”
Two Southern California congregations — the Mission Viejo Church of Christ and the Magnolia Middle Church of Christ in Riverside — hosted the back-to-back regional occasions.
Jesse Trice, a basis board member, emphasised to attendees that “church buildings attain their life cycle … and go into their lifeless cycle.”
He paused for only a second.
“Don’t have a look at me such as you don’t know what I imply,” mentioned Trice, who has served as an elder of a Spanish-speaking Church of Christ in Whittier, a group in Los Angeles County.
“There’s no church in Sardis,” he added, referring to a congregation talked about within the E book of Revelation. “The church at Laodicea doesn’t exist anymore. Each church has a life cycle.”
“There’s no church in Sardis. The church at Laodicea doesn’t exist anymore. Each church has a life cycle.”
A renewal ministry
Heritage21 started with a bunch of 5 Christians asking, “What does God need us to do? And what can we do to contribute to the way forward for Church buildings of Christ?” mentioned Stan Granberg, creator of the 2022 e book “Empty Church: Why Individuals Don’t Come and What To Do About It.”
The renewal ministry cites three main targets:
• “Help and advise congregations combating survival to make sound, wholesome selections about their future.”
• “Help them as wanted in defending their faithfully accrued sources.”
• “Present monetary assist to and encourage a brand new era of U.S. church buildings and different kingdom increasing efforts.”
Granberg, a former missionary to Kenya, based the U.S.-based Kairos Church Planting in 2005. Kairos’ govt director, Bruce Bates, is a Heritage21 companion and flew to California from Rhode Island for the seminars.
In addition to Granberg, the preliminary group included:
• Scott Lambert, a longtime California minister and Pepperdine College chaplain who labored with Kairos earlier than shifting to Texas, the place he led the Let’s Begin Speaking ministry earlier than beginning a faith-based nonprofit known as The Dialog Group);
• Mike O’Neal, an lawyer, accountant and president emeritus of Oklahoma Christian College;
• Blair Bryan, a fourth-generation Church of Christ member from North Carolina with an extended tenure in business actual property;
• And W. Mark Wallis, a Colorado Christian with a background in actual property funding.
The founders deliberately selected the title Heritage21 out of affection for the heritage of Church buildings of Christ — “the values that we’ve got,” mentioned O’Neal, who additionally serves as The Christian Chronicle’s board chairman — and a need to see the fellowship thrive within the twenty first century.
Blair Bryan, chairman of Heritage21, leads a prayer at a seminar on “The Problem of the Empty Church” hosted by the Magnolia Middle Church of Christ.
All the unique group besides Wallis nonetheless serve on Heritage21’s board, chaired by Bryan, a member of the Windfall Street Church of Christ in Charlotte.
A handful of extra trustees have joined, together with Robin Maynard, an lawyer energetic for many years on the Woodbury Church of Christ in Minnesota earlier than taking a brand new job final 12 months as chief authorized and compliance officer at her alma mater, Harding College in Searcy, Ark.
A false impression exists that church buildings go to Heritage21 to obtain hospice care, Maynard mentioned.
“It’s extra correct,” O’Neal mentioned, “to say that Heritage21 comes alongside church buildings to assist them assess the fact of their state of affairs and search to be good stewards with the folks and sources God has entrusted to them at this stage of congregational life.”
Associated: Mourning a tiny church’s closing
It’s true that Heritage21 has labored with congregations in Arizona, Arkansas, California, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas to promote previous buildings and reallocate funds to new church crops and different fellowship ministries.
However such examples don’t replicate the ministry’s full scope, Maynard famous, pointing to “a lot good work carried out on equipping church buildings when it comes to revival and renewal.”
As Maynard sees it, the empty church seminars plant seeds and encourage leaders to ask necessary questions, comparable to, “Are we the very best stewards of all of the sources within the Kingdom? How can we most successfully attain and disciple believers?”
Attendees hearken to speaker Stan Granberg throughout a seminar on “The Problem of the Empty Church” hosted by the Mission Viejo Church of Christ.
‘This can be a service’
Since beginning in 2016, Heritage21 has engaged with 124 church buildings and helped reinvest $4 million in church property into kingdom work, leaders mentioned.
Additionally within the Golden State, Heritage21 is a key companion in Widespread Name San Diego — a multimillion-dollar collaboration to revive Christ’s physique in that Southern California metropolis.
Heritage21 gives its providers free of charge, even when some church leaders discover that tough to imagine.
Attendees stroll to their automobiles after the seminar hosted by the Magnolia Middle Church of Christ in Riverside, Calif.
The ministry has helped dozens of church buildings safe their company authorized standing to guard members from private legal responsibility and shield property from misuse or takeover by individuals who don’t share their Restoration theology.
“I did some bylaws and articles of incorporation for a tiny church in Nebraska, and I feel they’re nonetheless stunned they didn’t must pay something,” Maynard mentioned. Leaders suppose “there’s received to be a catch. However no, there’s no catch. This can be a ministry. This can be a service. That is what we need to do to assist in the dominion.”
Heritage21 founding board member Scott Lambert speaks at a seminar on “The Problem of the Empty Church” hosted by the Magnolia Middle Church of Christ in Riverside, Calif.
Minister Lonnie Fritz and his spouse, Cindy, work with the Central Church of Christ, a 60-member congregation within the San Jacinto Valley metropolis of Hemet.
The couple left the Riverside seminar feeling upbeat.
“I’m hoping that we are able to contact Heritage21,” Lonnie Fritz mentioned, “and possibly companion with them and form of repurpose and renew.”
BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. He traveled to Southern California to report this story. Attain him at [email protected].
