Vitalizing For Fruitfulness: Stories From The Frontlines

The experience of vitalization in local churches is unique to each church, but the outcomes add fruitfulness to faithfulness in all; two congregations located on two sides of the country, two vitalization experiences, and two similar outcomes after following very different pathways. The pastors share their journeys leading established, traditional congregations into the outbound mission.

Bert Faulkner is the Lead Pastor of Westside Community Church in Lethbridge, Alberta. Zachary Sloboda is the Lead Pastor of Cornerstone Assembly, Truro, Nova Scotia.

Westside Community Church, Lethbridge, Alberta

The leadership at Westside always felt that we were on the cusp of something more. So, we surveyed our local community multiple times to assess needs and then offered groups or events to try to meet those needs. We saw good attendance at these events, but very few connections were made to the church. And it seemed that for every new person that was added to our congregation – another person left the church for one reason or another. So, we knew that we needed help to see healthy growth.

Books and seminars all seemed to only address what churches needed to do but failed to offer any constructive tools for assessing and implementing any necessary changes.

Then one day, I had a coffee with a fellow Lethbridge pastor named John Albiston. As we talked, he mentioned a few things that were working at his church. They seemed like common sense ideas that I wasn't doing. So, I thought I'd try them.

A Starting Point

To my surprise, I saw people getting excited about the little but positive changes that were starting to take place in the church. It wasn't long before John and I met again. I told him how I started implementing his suggestions, and he said he'd just accepted a position on our ABNWT District leadership team.

I was both happy and sad – happy he was joining our team but disappointed that our coffee times would end. So, we made plans to connect at a pastor's gathering in Banff the following February. That year Paul Borden was the keynote speaker. Following that gathering, I was informed that Westside had been selected as one of the first five churches to go through Paul Borden's church consultation – now called a "Discovery Weekend."

In April 2018, Paul, John, and Jeremiah Raible came to Lethbridge. After conducting dozens of interviews, they presented us with a list of strengths, concerns, and prescriptions for moving ahead. Paul then provided our leadership with a workshop on understanding church health and practical training for achieving and maintaining a healthy church.

Intentional Change

Some of the immediate changes we made were:

• to change the mission and vision statements of the church,

• make the 'lost' the focus of Sunday morning services,

• hire a children's ministries director/pastor,

• provide regular evangelism and leadership training,

• plan a series of events to bridge the community to the church.

Additional actions that came out of making Sundays more focused on the unchurched were to modernize the facility by renovating the foyer and replacing the pews with chairs.

Immediate Results

The results of making these changes were remarkably encouraging. In the first year, we saw a 75% increase in our average weekly attendance. And in the second year another 75% increase. We baptized more people in one year than in the previous five years combined.

Our excitement was high, and the church's momentum was growing as we planned and prepared for the following year. And as 2020 started, it looked like even greater things was in store. Then in March, when COVID-19 erupted, we ran into a brick wall.

We continued reaching out during COVID through the Alpha Course, which had been instrumental in many of our new people coming to faith in Jesus. We followed AHS guidelines, provided catered meals, and physically distanced seating, and saw people learn about Jesus in a pandemic. Even though our attendance had dropped drastically due to fear and government restrictions, we continued to see new people get saved.

Pressing On

We are very happy to see more and more people come back as the restrictions continue to be lifted, but we are just as focused on regaining the momentum that had been lost. So, this Fall, we are planning some bridge events to connect to the community and connect them with Jesus.

We will kick off September with a Back2School service and BBQ for College and University students and link them up with our Young Adults group. We will once again host a Trunk-or-Treat event as a safe and accessible alternative to going door-to-door on Halloween. And for the first time, with the rising cost of living that people are dealing with, we will be providing a fun and interactive Christmas dinner at the church for low-income families in our neighbourhood. At each event, we will be promoting the Alpha Courses that will be offered in both the Fall and New Year.

Connect with Pastor Bert at bert@mywestside.ca.

Cornerstone Assembly, Truro, Nova Scotia

There's a rose bush on the street outside my house that nobody cares for. It's been there for as long as I've lived here, and it's quite an impressive plant. It's over 6 feet tall, 5 feet wide, and very deeply rooted along the gravel road.

But for a rose bush of this size, it's not very good at producing roses. In fact, it rarely produces roses because nobody prunes the bush. And every year without the bush being pruned, it becomes more overgrown and unfruitful.

Similarly, Cornerstone was overgrown, unfruitful, and ineffective at making disciples.

By all outward appearances, the church looked healthy. Giving was consistent, attendance was solid, and there was even talk of hiring additional staff. Potlucks, VBS's, hymn-sings, and prayer meetings filled the calendar.

But while a small number of people were joining the church each year, very few people were being baptized, and the congregation was not growing.

The church had no clear mission or vision to direct how and why the ministries functioned. We had little to no presence in the community. And there was no plan for reaching, connecting, and discipling people.

Pruning to Produce

Not unlike the rose bush in front of my house, the church had become overgrown. It was full to the brim with programs, events, services, and meetings - all while forgetting why they existed in the first place. They forgot that they existed to produce fruit.

But it wasn't the church's fault any more than it was the rose bush's fault. Just as the rose bush needs help to be fruitful, so does the church. We needed help. Our leadership recognized this. So, they reached out to our ABNWT District and invited them to help us be fruitful again.

Through a series of Discovery Weekends, it became clear that several changes needed to be made if we were going to be an effective disciple-making church. Some of the initial changes were very exciting and welcomed.

The church fundraised and renovated our kid's ministry space to create a safe and welcoming environment for new families. They began planning and executing outreach events regularly to reach people outside of the church. They held prayer services to confess and repent for neglecting the Great Commission.

These events involved many church members and helped create momentum as new families started attending consistently.

Leading Through Change

But some other changes were more difficult for people to embrace. Instead of prioritizing potlucks, we prioritized outreach. Instead of planning Bible studies, we planned newcomers' groups. Instead of preaching to the saved, we started preaching to the lost.

It was a season of pruning and reshaping the church's ministry to help us be fruitful again.

And because of that, people left. And that was very difficult for me.

I often hear people talk about the need for pruning, but I don't hear them talk about the people who were pruned – because it's not just a person in a pew but someone I've come to love. I know their name, I know their story, I know their kids. And it's hard to see them leave, especially when you feel you're doing the right things by trying to reach people for Jesus.

But what I've learned through the process of pruning is this: Just because they've been pruned from my church doesn't mean they've been pruned from the Kingdom. And because we're no longer overgrown, now there's space to produce fruit.

Fruitfulness

I came to Cornerstone in July 2017, part way through this change process, and because of those changes, we began to see fruit.

Several people gave their lives to Christ in that first year, and 12 people were baptized.

In the following few years, we saw over 30 people join our church with their spouses and kids.

We've seen church attenders who had been disengaged for years take radical steps forward in their discipleship to Jesus to become actively engaged in the mission of the church.

Through the pandemic, we had our fair share of disappointments too. Several church people disengaged, affecting attendance, giving, serving, and more. But despite the losses, we've remained on the mission, and in the last few months, we've also had some incredible wins.

We recently participated in an interdenominational community outreach with four other churches. We saw two people recommit their lives to Christ, and they've been bringing their kids, unchurched family, and friends consistently. And we're seeing unchurched people attending consistently now for the first time.

Today, we are producing fruit by reaching people for Jesus that we would have never reached before. But more importantly, we're seeing hunger and desire in the church members to see people come to know and grow in Jesus.

There's still more work to do, but that's why we're here: to glorify God in Truro by reaching people and making disciples of Jesus Christ.

As for the rose bush, I finally pruned it, and it's already growing new flowers, more than ever before.

Connect with Pastor Zach at zach@trurochurch.ca.

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