Saving a Sinking Ship
Bob Moeller
When I pay respect to the successes of the past, I gain goodwill and trust.
—Bob Moeller
Iremember when we had to set up seats in all the side rooms on Sunday mornings," the old man said. "We sometimes took two, even three offerings for missions in the morning service. Ah, those were the days."
We looked around at the sanctuary, now only a third full. The side rooms were cordoned off by cracking vinyl dividers. The room had the smell of emptiness.
So much had changed. In the last forty years, the city's social and economic composition had shifted. The young fathers and mothers of the glory years were now older and tired. Their grown children had moved to the suburbs.
"Jim, this church can have a significant ministry again," I said. "But we're going to have to adapt to the neighborhood we now live in."
His eyes revealed fear. Would "adapting" mean getting rid of everything familiar and precious to him? Would there still be a place for him and his wife and the pioneers who had founded the church?
Though my current church is healthy, over the years I've learned to identify the different groups left in a declining congregation. Each group has its own character, cause, and reasons for staying with a ship that is taking on water. To stop the decline, a pastor must have a working knowledge of each group and a strategy to motivate each one.
Pioneers
Unless a church is more than ninety years old, there are usually individuals who remember when the church began.
"Yes sirree, Pastor," said Stuart, a man in his late seventies. "I remember back in the '50s, coming here after work and digging out this basement by hand. It took all summer, but the pastor and several of us did it all ourselves."
As I looked at the large building, now located in a ...
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