  For the past several years, Southern Baptists have engaged in significant conversations surrounding women in ministry, pastoral titles, church leadership, cooperation, and biblical interpretation. Much of the discussion has been passionate. But often, conversations have been driven more by factions, inflammatory language, emotions, assumptions, isolated experiences, and online reactions than broad-based data from across the life of the SBC itself.
Collecting data on this and any other issue is time consuming, difficult and expensive. I get that. Reactions to a recent survey by conducted by Sam Rainer were wide and varied. Some of the releases and commentary pointed to a wider acceptance of Women Pastors preaching among SBC identified respondents. Part of Rainer's text: Let’s do another graph today: Among Southern Baptists, 81% agree that a woman should be allowed to preach to the entire congregation. This level of support for women preaching (81%) is higher than the SBC’s support for women pastors (29%). I work with churches, a local network here in Nashville. I also worked with hundreds, perhaps thousands of churches across North America for at least 8 years as part of a denominational entity. That statement seems, from my experience, incredibly high and difficult to believe. I acknowledge, I might be wrong, but it seems high. I asked Sam if the report could be made available for review. (Sam's response is above) Unfortunately the report and subsequent data, metrics and respondent categories are not made publicly available for critical examination. I'd have to pay 10 bucks to view them. They are behind a paywall as Church Answers and Rainer are a for profit business. I gathered that from the social media comments and back and forth, the total survey group was about 1700 give or take, if so, it met a fairly accurate representation of the larger SBC population and has a confidence rate of 95% +/- I did some analysis here. Only a percentage of that 1700 were Baptists. We don't know how many were women or men, their ages, geographic distributions, or theological backgrounds. We don't know if they are Pastors or Lay Person's, conservative or not. We don't know where the survey pool came from. I get it...yes 10 bucks might answer some of these questions but I still wouldn't have access to all the data, the raw data, at least not likely. So.... I think we need another survey, at least a grass roots one. So, I took a stab at it and I built it, for free, with a couple of hours of time and personal investment and google forms. (Women in Ministry SBC Survey) Why Another Survey? To attempt to gain a better understand where Southern Baptists actually stand on these issues. I am launching a public survey designed to gather responses from pastors, staff members, church leaders, and laypeople from every region of the country. The goal is not to inflame the conversation, but to better inform it. Transparency matters in a discussion like this. For that reason, every survey question is publicly visible before participation so respondents can clearly see what is being asked before they consider taking the survey. The survey is intentionally not hidden behind a paywall or restricted platform because these conversations affect the broader Baptist family and should remain accessible to the churches and people involved in them. The findings, summaries, charts, and analysis will be made publicly available on this site for anyone interested in understanding the current landscape of opinion and practice within the SBC and beyond. Equally important is broad participation. I hope to hear from Southern Baptists and evangelicals from every region of the country, every church size, multiple theological perspectives, and a wide variety of ministry roles. Responses from Baptists from every region of the country and background are important in helping provide a broad and fair picture of current perspectives. Sample Size Goals
The initial goal for this survey is 2,000 completed responses by Tuesday June 2, 2026. The survey will remain open until Wednesday June 3, 2026 Please consider sharing this survey with your Baptist friends, within your ministry networks, and on your social media platforms. Whether you are a pastor, staff member, seminary student, deacon, volunteer leader, or church member, your perspective matters. My hope is that this survey can contribute something often missing in difficult denominational conversations: clarity, honesty, transparency, and a better understanding of where people truly stand and how might respond. And in all, may God's Kingdom Advance for His Glory and our good.
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 A weekly roundup of revitalization, replanting, and church renewal insights and news.
This Week's Big Signal The clearest signal this week is that the renewal challenge is shifting from simple attendance concern to integration capacity. Hartford's new national congregational report says median in-person worship attendance rose to 70 in 2025, the first positive gain in 25 years of tracking, while also warning that the rebound is uneven, smaller congregations are still struggling, and much of the growth reflects reshuffling rather than broad religious expansion. That matters because the headline is encouraging, but it does not mean churches are automatically becoming healthier. The more revealing companion signal is what happens after people show up. The Unstuck Church Report says group participation rose from 43% to 51% of attendance year over year, volunteer engagement rose from 35% to 41%, and first-time contacts were up 12%, with sub-500 churches slightly outpacing larger churches in contact growth. Colin Pugh's renewal markers and Ed Stetzer's recent work on the 200 barrier point in the same direction: durable renewal now depends less on attracting attention and more on moving people into discipleship, serving, leadership, and community trust. One qualifier matters. The most optimistic interpretation floating around this month is that rising attendance proves broad revival. Hartford's own framing is more careful. This looks more like recalibration than full-scale renewal, which means leaders should respond with gratitude and discipline rather than triumphalism. Trends for Leaders to Notice 1. Attendance is rebounding, but not evenly. Hartford reports the first attendance gain in 25 years, yet it also says small congregations remain under pressure and growth is often coming from people moving between churches. Leaders should notice that the environment is more open than it was a few years ago, but the competitive and structural pressure on fragile churches has not disappeared. 2. The real bottleneck is assimilation into community and service. Unstuck's Q1 2026 benchmarks show stronger group participation, volunteer recovery, and more first-time contacts. That suggests more people are willing to engage. The practical question for leaders is whether their church has a clear path from visit to relationship, from relationship to formation, and from formation to service. 3. Leadership multiplication is becoming the hidden growth issue. Stetzer argues that churches trying to move from roughly 125 to 200 people need a far deeper leadership bench, not just a busier calendar. Colin Pugh makes the same point from a renewal angle by naming reduced dependence on one or two people as a marker that renewal is actually working. Leaders should notice that growth often exposes thin structure before it produces lasting fruit. 4. Small churches need right-sized health, not borrowed big-church assumptions. Karl Vaters argues that the first step toward a healthy small church is to stop assuming smallness itself is the problem. That is especially relevant right now because many of the churches most in need of renewal will never become large, but they can become honest, healthy, and locally fruitful. What's Overhyped The most overhyped narrative this week is the rush to label every encouraging attendance headline as revival. The live conversation sparked by Hartford's report is understandable, but Hartford itself says the story is uneven and shaped partly by post-pandemic reshuffling. Churches should treat this moment as an opening for faithful next steps, not as proof that their deeper renewal work is finished. Where the Greatest Opportunity Exists The greatest opportunity right now is building a visible discipleship and leadership spine sturdy enough to hold new openness. Many churches have become better at attracting a visit than at absorbing a person. The churches most likely to benefit from this season will be the ones that make the next step obvious: a relationship, a group, a serving team, a mentoring path, a leadership lane, or a partnership that strengthens weak places. For Southern Baptist and non-denominational leaders, that means working at two levels at once. Inside the church, clarify the path from attendance to belonging and from belonging to contribution. Beyond the church, strengthen outside supports such as associational partnerships, renewal cohorts, seasoned mentors, and trusted replant or revitalization guides. Practical Shepherding's 2026 cohort and NAMB's spring Replant Bootcamp both reflect the same instinct: churches in renewal need more leaders who can share the load, not just more ideas. The work of renewal is rarely dramatic in the moment. It is usually slow, honest, prayerful, and patient. But week by week, the churches that face reality, stay on mission, and take faithful next steps are the ones most likely to see lasting fruit. Sources Hartford / FACT Report Signs of Rebound Amid Uneven Recovery: The Changing Congregational Landscape https://www.covidreligionresearch.org/research/national-survey-research/signs-of-rebound-amid-uneven-recovery-the-changing-congregational-landscape/ Hartford Press Release HIRR Report Shows First Rise in U.S. Congregation Attendance in 25 Years Amid Uneven Recovery https://www.hartfordinternational.edu/news-events/news/hirr-report-shows-first-rise-us-congregation-attendance-25-years-uneven-recovery The Unstuck Church Report Q1 2026 The Unstuck Church Report – Q1 2026 https://2343950.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/2343950/Unstuck%20Church%20Report/The%20Unstuck%20Church%20Report_Q1%202026.pdf Baptist Press: 10 Markers 10 Markers That Church Renewal Is Working https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/bptoolbox/10-markers-that-church-renewal-is-working/ Ed Stetzer: Breaking 200 The Leadership Question: Breaking 200 https://churchleaders.com/voices/2215674-the-leadership-question-breaking-200.html Karl Vaters: Healthy Small Church First Steps Toward a Healthy Small Church https://karlvaters.com/first-steps-healthy/ Practical Shepherding Cohort Practical Shepherding Cohort Registration https://practicalshepherding.com/cohort/register NAMB Replant Bootcamp NOBTS Replant Bootcamp https://www.namb.net/church-replanting/events/nobts-replant-bootcamp/  Several times a year some prominent leaders in our convention sound alarms about imminent existential dangers facing our Convention of Churches. I believe they mean well, but their warnings often miss the mark.
Why? Because their interaction with a range of churches is limited. They largely associate with healthy mid-sized to larger churches of their particular tribe within our larger convention. While I’m not completely certain, I don’t hear of many or any of the national leaders who are pushing the alarm buttons walking into the doors of churches running under 100. The ones that have been in decline for 60+ years. The churches dealing with deferred maintenance, controllers or gatekeepers who refuse to let go of tradition, who stifle efforts to move the church forward because it will lessen their power and change their Sunday morning experience. I've not heard if they have sat around tables, in dark damp and dank fellowship halls, talking to Pastors, Committee heads who just want to keep the church going but not really advance the Gospel. The National Leaders sounding the alarms are somewhat insulated and I think I can say with fairness a bit isolated. I'm around those tables, answering calls and questions, intervening to assist a church in crisis, be it the Pastor or the Committee Leaders, Deacons, a Student Pastor or a concerned Congregant. They are not mentioning concerns that the prominent national leaders are, not even close. When most people think about the challenges facing churches today, they usually point outward.
Those realities matter. But I am increasingly convinced that the greatest threats facing many churches in our convention are not primarily external. They are internal. They are spiritual. And unless we diagnose them honestly, we will chase false alarms, we’ll think the problems are in places they’re really not. Declining attendance, membership losses, budget pressure, conflict, pastoral turnover, and ministry fatigue rarely emerge out of nowhere. They are usually downstream from deeper spiritual and cultural realities inside the church itself. I believe several interconnected issues are undermining the health and future of many churches in our convention. I see them in the churches I described above with all too common frequency. These are the issues over which we should be sounding the alarms. Deficient Discipleship This is where the breakdown begins. We have generation upon generation of church members and attenders whose level of biblical education far exceeds their level of faithful obedience. In short, they know more about God’s Word than they live out.. That is not merely an information problem. It is a formation problem. Barna research has repeatedly shown a widening gap between Christian identification and actual spiritual practice. While many Americans still identify as Christians, far fewer demonstrate lives shaped by biblical conviction and active faith practice. Barna describes this as a shrinking influence of faith in everyday life. Lifeway Research has likewise noted that many churchgoers possess biblical familiarity while struggling to integrate their faith into everyday living and witness. That reality should deeply concern us. What are we actually doing then? Holding services, hearing a message and then going home? We are not forming sold out disciples en masse. A church can have Bible studies, conferences, podcasts, sermon series, and classes and still fail to make disciples if people are not increasingly obeying Jesus, demonstrating transformed character and evidencing the Fruit of the Spirit. Biblical literacy without surrender produces spiritually immature believers who know the language of faith but resist the demands of faithfulness. The Elevation of Personal Preference Over the Will of God When discipleship weakens, preference rises. The church begins to function from the authority of personal perspective rather than surrendered obedience. “I think…”“I believe…”“I want…”“In my opinion…” Those statements are not automatically sinful. But they become dangerous when they outrank more important questions:
Christianity Today recently described modern evangelicalism as experiencing a “loosening” of shared authority structures, doctrinal confidence, and institutional trust. The article specifically noted that phrases like “Pastor John knows best” or “the elders say so” no longer carry meaningful authority for many believers. That reflects something much deeper than generational preference. It reflects the rise of theological individualism. When personal preference becomes the functional authority of the church, mission suffers because sacrifice suffers. Churches become increasingly governed by comfort, nostalgia, fear, and control rather than surrender to Christ. Eventually the church stops asking:
Diminished Evangelistic Passion Once preference overtakes surrender, evangelistic passion almost always declines. Why?
Church, it is plain and simple: many of our churches have lost their passion for seeing people far from Jesus come to faith in Him. We have increasingly outsourced gospel witness to:
Meanwhile, many believers no longer personally share their testimony or actively engage people far from God. Research examining church growth patterns consistently shows that churches with declining evangelistic engagement also experience declining vitality, aging congregations, and weakening community connection. Historically, evangelistically vibrant churches tend to demonstrate:
Churches that lose evangelistic urgency eventually become preservation-oriented institutions rather than mission-oriented movements. The Loss of Restorative Correction (Church Discipline) Deficient discipleship and diminished mission eventually produce another serious problem: Many churches no longer know how to confront sin, division, gossip, rebellion, or unhealthy behavior biblically and lovingly.
Everyone sees it, thinks it's not right but isn’t sure what to do. So instead, they avoid correction altogether. But avoiding correction is not compassion. It is neglect. Church consulting and church health research consistently identify unresolved conflict, accountability avoidance, and informal power structures as major contributors to congregational decline. When churches refuse to address dysfunction:
A church that cannot correct cannot remain healthy for long. Restorative correction is not about domination. It is about discipleship. It is about loving one another enough to call each other back to faithfulness before damage deepens. The Rejection of Pastoral Authority This is often where the progression culminates. When discipleship is weak, preference is elevated, evangelistic passion declines, and correction disappears, pastoral authority becomes the next casualty. Pastors are welcomed as:
Research increasingly points to declining trust in institutions and spiritual authority structures across American Christianity. But this issue must be framed carefully. This is not an argument for authoritarianism. Biblical pastoral authority is not domination, ego, or control. It is shepherding under the authority of Christ and His Word. Yet many churches today do not want shepherds. They want pulpiters to tickle their ears and chaplains for their preferences. And when a church becomes governed by preference rather than surrender, faithful pastoral leadership will eventually feel threatening. The Progression Should Cause Alarm The progression is not random. It follows a deeply coherent spiritual and organizational pattern.
That progression is coherent spiritually, organizationally, and sociologically. And frankly, this explains the real and present danger facing the stability of our Convention of Churches, we should be sounding the alarm bells over these things. Final Word The greatest threats facing many churches in our convention are not primarily cultural, political, or demographic. The greatest threats to the Churches in our Convention are not what the prominent leaders are putting forth. Unless we diagnose our threats honestly and accurately, we will continue treating symptoms or chasing the enemy du jour while the deeper disease spreads. What do we need? How can it be remedied? Faithful local shepherds, informed prominent leaders, real strategies (both spiritual and strategic) praying and leading together in unity addressing the real threats. Pastos Shepherding well, developing Disciples who will inhabit and lead Churches willing to ask:
When a Convention of Churches humbles themselves before the Lord, acknowledges the truth about their true condition, renews its commitment to mission, and submits itself again to Christ and His Word, an enduring vital and vibrant church will emerge. The Big Shift This Week
This week’s emerging trend is not about church growth. It is about community credibility. Across multiple revitalization conversations, outreach reports, and leadership discussions, churches are rediscovering that the communities around them are not asking first whether a church is impressive. They are asking whether a church is present, useful, trustworthy, and engaged. That distinction matters. For years, many struggling churches focused internally on survival metrics:
But some of the healthiest revitalization stories surfacing right now are coming from churches that turned outward before they became strong again internally. That is counterintuitive. In many cases, outward engagement actually became the catalyst for internal renewal. Karl Vaters recently highlighted how smaller churches often underestimate the value they already bring to their communities because they compare themselves to larger ministry models. Meanwhile, outreach leaders around the country are reporting that local service, neighborhood presence, and relational ministry continue to outperform attractional programming in communities increasingly skeptical of institutions. The lesson is becoming difficult to ignore:
Trends Leaders Should Watch 1. Hyperlocal ministry is outperforming generic programming Many churches are discovering that broad, polished ministry offerings are less effective than focused local engagement. Examples include:
These ministries are not glamorous. But they build trust. Outreach leaders continue emphasizing that post-pandemic ministry effectiveness is increasingly relational and geographically rooted. Churches trying to “market” their way back to health are often frustrated. Churches becoming deeply useful to their communities are seeing slower but more durable momentum. Revitalization leaders should pay attention to whether a church is known in its ZIP code for service or simply known by its own members. 2. Smaller churches are rejecting “big church shame” Karl Vaters continues addressing one of the most damaging assumptions in modern church culture: the idea that smaller churches are failed larger churches. That mindset has quietly exhausted thousands of pastors. Many leaders are beginning to recover healthier definitions of faithfulness, sustainability, and impact. Instead of obsessing over scale, smaller churches are focusing on:
Ironically, those priorities often create healthier churches long term than growth-chasing strategies that overwhelm leadership systems. The healthiest small churches right now are not apologizing for being small. They are maximizing being local. 3. Outreach and discipleship are reconnecting One unhealthy ministry split of the last decade was treating outreach and discipleship as separate categories. That divide is beginning to collapse. Churches seeing meaningful renewal are increasingly integrating:
In other words, outreach is no longer merely a church growth strategy. It is becoming a discipleship pathway. Serving together is forming people spiritually. This is especially important for declining churches where members may have spent years consuming ministry rather than participating in mission. Shared outward focus often changes congregational culture faster than internal teaching alone. 4. Revitalization leaders are talking more about emotional health Another emerging theme this week is leadership sustainability. Pastors and revitalization leaders are increasingly acknowledging:
For years, turnaround culture often rewarded over-functioning leaders who carried entire congregations on their backs. That model is cracking. Healthy revitalization conversations are now emphasizing:
The shift matters because burned-out pastors rarely lead healthy long-term renewal. What’s Overhyped The most overhyped strategy right now is the belief that rebranding alone creates revitalization. New logos, modern websites, stage renovations, and social media upgrades may help perception temporarily, but cosmetic change without cultural change rarely lasts. Communities eventually figure out whether a church has truly changed or simply refreshed its appearance. Real revitalization usually looks less dramatic than social media makes it appear:
That work is slower. But it is far more durable. Where the Greatest Opportunity Exists The greatest opportunity for churches right now is rebuilding relational capital inside and outside the congregation. Churches that thrive over the next decade will likely be churches where:
In many communities, churches still possess enormous goodwill potential. But that trust must be stewarded carefully and relationally. This creates a major opportunity for associations, networks, and revitalization leaders. Churches often do not need someone to impress them. They need someone to guide them patiently through reality. That means:
Renewal may look less like a dramatic comeback and more like churches quietly becoming healthy again. And honestly, that may be exactly what this moment requires. Sources
 Partnerships between healthy churches and struggling churches may become one of the most important kingdom strategies of the next generation.
But not every struggling church is ready for partnership. And healthy churches must learn the difference between a church that wants relief and a church that is actually ready for renewal. Those are not the same thing. From the front lines of church revitalization and replanting, I can tell you plainly:
I described these churches in a previous post But others have reached a different place. They have stopped blaming demographics, culture, younger generations, or the neighborhood. They are beginning to face reality honestly. They are acknowledging mission drift, leadership failures, unhealthy systems, fear-based decision making, inward focus, and years of decline. Those churches are different. Those churches may be ready for partnership. The question healthy churches must ask is not simply: “Can we help?” The better question is: “Are they truly ready?” Because partnership without readiness usually creates frustration, conflict, and disappointment for everyone involved. So how can a healthy church discern whether another church is truly ready for renewal partnership? 1. They Have Moved From Excuses to Ownership A church ready for renewal stops explaining away decline and starts owning responsibility. That does not mean every problem was self-inflicted. Communities change. Neighborhoods shift. Economic realities matter. But renewal begins when churches stop acting like victims and begin asking: “What must we repent of?” Churches unwilling to confront reality are usually not ready for meaningful partnership. 2. They Are Open to New Leadership One of the clearest indicators of readiness is humility. A church pursuing renewal no longer insists on absolute control while asking others to supply resources. Instead, they become willing to:
Healthy churches should look for evidence that the congregation is genuinely willing to listen, adapt, and change. Not perfectly. But honestly. 3. They Care More About Mission Than Preservation A church ready for partnership begins shifting from institutional preservation toward kingdom mission. That is a major turning point. The conversation changes from: “How do we save our church?” to: “How do we best steward this church for the Kingdom?” That may involve revitalization. It may involve replanting. It may involve merger, fostering, or adoption. Churches prepared for renewal begin prioritizing mission over nostalgia. 4. They Understand Renewal Will Be Painful Churches ready for partnership stop looking for quick fixes. They understand renewal is slow, relational, and often painful. There will be setbacks. There will be difficult conversations. There will be tension between legacy and future vision. There will be moments when progress feels painfully slow. Healthy churches should ask:
Renewal is not clean, quick, or linear. It is often one step forward and two hard conversations later. 5. They Are Ready for the Right Kind of Pastor One of the clearest signs a church is ready for renewal is that they are willing to embrace the right kind of shepherd for the season ahead. Renewal pastors are different. A declining church does not simply need a preacher, caretaker, or program manager. It needs a visionary shepherd. A renewal pastor must possess:
Most importantly, the right pastor is committed to press, lead, and patiently shepherd a congregation toward health without giving in or giving up. That kind of leadership matters because renewal takes longer than most churches expect. Some churches sabotage renewal because they hire pastors hoping for comfort instead of leadership. Others cycle through pastors because they expect instant results. Healthy partner churches should ask:
A church unwilling to follow healthy leadership is usually not ready for renewal. 6. They Value People More Than Property A church ready for partnership values people above buildings, history, and institutional identity. Likewise, healthy partner churches must not approach struggling churches merely as opportunities to acquire facilities or expand influence. A church is more than property. It is a congregation of people with stories, sacrifices, wounds, and history. Healthy partnerships honor legacy members while still embracing necessary change. 7. They Embrace a Biblical Definition of Success Churches ready for renewal stop evaluating success merely through attendance numbers and budgets. Those things matter. But healthy churches begin caring more deeply about:
A church growing spiritually will eventually produce visible fruit. But real renewal starts deeper than numbers. Five Practical Ways Healthy Churches Can Partner With Renewing Churches Once a church demonstrates genuine readiness for renewal, healthy churches should move beyond encouragement alone and provide meaningful partnership support. Here are five practical ways that can make an enormous difference. 1. Provide Partial Salary Support: One of the heaviest burdens on a renewing church is pastoral sustainability. Ministry costs, insurance, housing, and family expenses create enormous pressure on renewal pastors, especially in churches already struggling financially. Healthy churches can provide partial salary support for two to three years with clear accountability, milestones, and regular evaluation. This gives a renewal pastor margin to lead patiently instead of constantly surviving financially. If healthy churches truly want renewal to happen, they must help create sustainable conditions for leadership to remain long enough to work. 2. Help With Facility Upgrades: Declining churches often carry years of deferred maintenance, outdated spaces, poor signage, worn interiors, and neglected first impressions. Many renewal-ready churches simply cannot afford necessary improvements. Healthy churches can help by:
Facility improvements alone do not create renewal. But neglected environments often communicate decline before a word is ever spoken. 3. Support Missional Outreach Efforts: Renewing churches must reconnect with their communities. Healthy churches can help them move outward again through practical outreach support. That may include:
Many declining churches lost momentum because they slowly turned inward. Partnerships can help them rediscover external mission. 4. Provide Coaching for Ministry Leaders: Many struggling churches lack healthy leadership pipelines. Healthy churches can provide coaching, encouragement, and practical development for:
Sometimes what a renewing church needs most is not another program but someone willing to walk alongside leaders consistently. Coaching creates confidence, clarity, and sustainability. 5. Strengthen Administrative and Operational Systems: Many declining churches are overwhelmed administratively. Office systems, finances, communication, bookkeeping, websites, databases, and digital presence are often weak, outdated, or nonexistent. Healthy churches can provide:
Strong operational systems free leaders to focus on shepherding, discipleship, and mission instead of constant organizational chaos. What Healthy Churches Must Understand: Partnership is not rescue work. It is kingdom stewardship. Healthy churches are not called to act as saviors. They are called to serve. And not every church will be ready. Some remain defensive. Some remain deeply divided. Some are still unwilling to confront reality. Some are simply out of time. But others are finally prepared to repent, listen, change, and rebuild. Those churches should not be left alone on an island. They need courageous partners willing to enter the mess with humility, patience, truthfulness, generosity, and hope. Because the future of church renewal will not be built primarily through isolated churches struggling independently. It will be built through kingdom partnerships grounded in honesty, repentance, courageous leadership, and shared mission. Week of May 13, 2026
This Week’s Big Signal The clearest signal this week is that the renewal conversation is getting more concrete. Instead of talking about revitalization mainly as inspiration, more leaders are treating it as a set of structural choices: remain a healthy small church, merge, replant, adopt, or hand off a legacy to a congregation better fitted for the community now. In Utah, a three-year-old church plant gained a building and new momentum through a merger with another church, and NAMB’s 2026 AMS Replant Lab gathered more than 250 leaders around practical, process-driven renewal work rather than platform-driven optimism. (baptistpress.com) That matters because it suggests the field is maturing. The strongest renewal ecosystems are not assuming every struggling church needs the same comeback story. They are building repeatable ways to diagnose reality, choose a lane, and preserve gospel presence in a community even when the original form of the church cannot continue unchanged. Karl Vaters’ recent argument lands in the same place: the first mistake is assuming smallness itself is the problem, when the real issue is whether a church is healthy, honest, and missionally aligned. (namb.net) One important qualifier: this should not be romanticized into a broad recovery narrative. Lifeway still estimates 4,000 Protestant churches closed in 2024 while 3,800 opened, and Hartford’s latest national study says the post-pandemic rebound is real but uneven, with small congregations still under pressure. This is better read as smarter adaptation than as sweeping turnaround. (baptistpress.com) Trends for Leaders to Notice Renewal is becoming more portfolio-based. NAMB’s current replant work emphasizes assessments, team training, renewal partnerships, and associational leadership, not just finding one courageous pastor to rescue one congregation. That points to a more durable model for Southern Baptist renewal teams and local networks. (namb.net) Community fit is becoming a more decisive issue than institutional continuity. One story highlighted at the AMS Replant Lab involved an aging Anglo church handing off its legacy to a new African American congregation better matched to the neighborhood. My inference is that more churches will need to ask not only, “Can we survive?” but also, “Are we still the right vessel for this place?” (namb.net) Non-denominational churches still hold a demographic advantage that renewal leaders should take seriously. Ryan Burge’s latest analysis argues non-denominational Protestants are younger on average than many major Protestant bodies, more racially diverse among young adults, and roughly on par with Baptists in weekly attendance. For SBC and non-denominational leaders alike, that means renewal strategy increasingly has to account for demographic composition, not just theology and programming. (graphsaboutreligion.com) Small-church strategy is becoming a more important category than small-church apology. Vaters argues leaders should stop assuming size is a defect and instead ask whether God may be using smallness strategically. That is a helpful corrective in a season when many churches do not need a larger platform as much as they need a clearer mission, healthier leadership, and a form that fits their actual calling. (karlvaters.com) What’s Overhyped The most overhyped idea this week is that every struggling church needs a comeback plan built around energy, branding, and attendance lift. That story still has emotional pull, but the stronger public signals point elsewhere. In many cases, the wiser move is earlier assessment, a merger or adoption conversation, or embracing healthy small-church ministry without shame. Leaders lose time when they confuse preserving a familiar form with preserving a faithful witness. (baptistpress.com) Where the Greatest Opportunity Exists The greatest opportunity right now is helping churches make earlier, clearer decisions before exhaustion drains the people, money, and trust needed for renewal. Associational leaders, denominational partners, and renewal teams can add enormous value here by offering assessment frameworks, outside perspective, and credible next-step options. The churches most likely to help their communities over the next few years may not be the ones with the strongest stage presence, but the ones willing to face reality while there is still enough strength left to act. (namb.net) For pastors, the practical question is straightforward: are we trying to get bigger, or are we trying to become healthier and more useful for this neighborhood? For Southern Baptist and non-denominational leaders especially, this may be the moment to audit community fit, leadership depth, facility stewardship, and whether the future calls for revitalization, replanting, partnership, or a faithful small-church reset. Hartford’s national data suggests there is still resilience in American congregational life. The harder and more local question is what form that resilience should take. (hartfordinternational.edu) The work of renewal is rarely dramatic in the moment. It is usually slow, honest, prayerful, and patient. But week by week, the churches that face reality, stay on mission, and take faithful next steps are the ones most likely to see lasting fruit. Sources: Hartford Institute / FACT, NAMB Replant, Baptist Press, Graphs About Religion, Karl Vaters, Lifeway Research. (hartfordinternational.edu)  I work closely with declining and dying churches. I love them. I grieve for them.
Many were once thriving congregations filled with children, disciple-making, gospel witness, and meaningful community presence. But somewhere along the way, something changed. First love was forsaken. Leadership failed. Mission drifted. Conflict calcified. The church slowly turned inward. And now many of these congregations are facing the consequences of years—sometimes decades—of poor stewardship, resistance to change, and leadership mismanagement. So eventually this thought occurs and the request comes: “We need another church to send us money and people.” On the surface, that sounds reasonable. Declining churches do need resources. They do need people. But here’s the problem: many churches asking for help are not asking because they want to join a greater Kingdom mission. They are asking because they do not want to die. That’s understandable. But it is not enough. A church which is unwilling to change, a church that makes demands, a church that rejects solid counsel from multiple consultants and potential partners shouldn’t be bailed out. Why? Their own survival is a weak ambition. The Kingdom question is not: “How do we preserve ourselves?” The question is: “How do we contribute to the mission of making Jesus known in our communities and to the ends of the earth?” Those are very different questions. Here’s what unhealthy churches often do: they consume the margin, energy, people, effort and prayer. All the while they reject any and all advice that presses them to face their reality. They want the people and finances of healthier churches without ever embracing the repentance and surrender necessary for real renewal. They are consumers of kingdom assets instead of contributors to kingdom mission. They drain outward-focused mission energy inward toward preserving their preferences, traditions, control structures, and legacy systems. They say things like:
That isn’t partnership. That’s dependency. And when a struggling church approaches revitalization this way, it doesn’t just hurt itself. It limits the impact of the churches trying to help it. Because resources that should be aimed outward—toward evangelism, disciple-making, church planting, community engagement, and Kingdom expansion—get redirected inward toward institutional preservation. Healthy churches instinctively understand this. That’s why many are hesitant to send people and money into churches unwilling to surrender control, embrace change, or acknowledge the realities that brought them to decline in the first place. Here’s the hard truth: Some churches do not need rescuing first. They need repentance first. Until leaders are willing to honestly confront the failures, pride, fear, dysfunction, and inward focus that produced decline, outside support usually only delays the inevitable. Resurrection in the Kingdom has always required death first. And many churches want revival without surrender, renewal without repentance, and resurrection without a cross. So what’s the solution for a church that approaches with one hand open, ready to receive help, while the other hand grips the controls tightly? Tell them the truth. Straight up. “We are willing to help you. We would gladly invest people, resources, coaching, leadership, and prayer into your future. But you will have to surrender your leadership positions and your posture of control.” That sounds harsh until you remember the alternative is simply enabling continued decline. Declare this: “It has not gone well under the current leadership structures and culture. That is not said to shame anyone. It is simply reality." Healthy churches and leaders are not called to humiliate struggling churches, but neither are they called to subsidize denial. At some point, honesty becomes mercy. So say plainly:
Grieve the right things.
Stop criticizing churches that are actually reaching people, making disciples, baptizing converts, and engaging their communities. Many declining churches have become experts at critiquing the methods of others while producing little fruit themselves. At some point, humility requires acknowledging the obvious: If every consultant, denominational leader, associational strategist, interim pastor, and potential partner church has been telling you the same thing for years, maybe they were not the problem. Maybe the common denominator was your unwillingness to listen. If so, confess it plainly: “We were prideful. We were defensive. We were in denial. We resisted what God was trying to tell us.” That confession is not the end. That is the beginning. Now, step aside. Not because you are worthless, but Kingdom Advance is worth more than your control or position. Step aside, but don't leave. Join in the new effort so you can become part of the future work God wants to do instead of standing in the way of it. If this article offends you, that may actually be a good sign. It means your heart is still tender enough to feel conviction. Let offense lead you to repentance. My prayer is that the energy you've spent being offended would become energy directed toward prayer, surrender, and obedience. And perhaps, by God’s grace, your church might once again experience genuine Kingdom growth. Week ending May 9, 2026
A weekly roundup of revitalization, replanting, and church renewal insights and news. Every week, I want to surface the signals that matter most for pastors, associational leaders, and renewal teams. The goal is not just to track news, but to notice what is shaping the work of revitalization, replanting, and church renewal on the ground. This Week’s Big Signal The clearest signal this week is that renewal activity is showing up in front-door ministry metrics before it shows up in institutional stability. The new 2025 SBC Annual Church Profile, released this week, shows higher baptisms, higher worship attendance, and higher small-group attendance, even while total membership, total churches, and church-type missions all declined. That is a meaningful pattern for renewal leaders: there is still spiritual receptivity and ministry momentum on the ground, but it is happening inside a thinner, more fragile church base. (Lifeway Research ACP summary, Baptist Press/AP coverage) For pastors and associational leaders, this means the old question, “Are people still reachable?” is not the main problem this week. The more urgent question is whether churches have the health, leadership depth, and structure to convert openness into durable discipleship and congregational stability. Renewal work is not starting from zero interest. It is starting from mixed signals: renewed engagement, but weak organizational resilience. One important qualifier: these gains should not be romanticized. Attendance growth does not erase closure pressure. Lifeway’s recent postmortem on lost SBC congregations found that 906 congregations active in 2023 were no longer active in 2024, with 712 disbanded or closed. So the hopeful indicators are real, but so is the churn. (Lifeway postmortem analysis) Trends for Leaders to Notice Younger adults are not simply “open”; they are showing up more often than older generations, but still not with weekly consistency. Barna’s latest work says Gen Z and Millennials are now the most frequent churchgoers among churched adults, averaging roughly 1.8 to 1.9 attendances per month. That matters because many revitalization conversations still assume the main challenge is attracting younger adults at all. The newer challenge is building discipleship pathways for people whose attendance is meaningful but intermittent. Leaders should notice that renewed interest without relational follow-through will not produce lasting renewal. (Barna church attendance data) Associational and network-based replant structures are becoming more central to renewal strategy. NAMB’s 2026 AMS Replant Lab drew more than 250 leaders and framed associations as frontline renewal infrastructure, not just administrative bodies. The emphasis on practitioner-led training, team-based participation, and renewal partnerships suggests the field is maturing beyond one-pastor heroics toward systems that can help churches diagnose, intervene, and sustain change. Leaders should notice that the most serious renewal ecosystems are investing in repeatable processes, not just inspiration. (NAMB report, AMS Replant Lab page) The formation gap is becoming more visible just as spiritual openness rises. Barna’s 2026 research shows stronger curiosity about faith, but also a major authority challenge: nearly one in three U.S. adults say spiritual advice from AI is as trustworthy as advice from a pastor, and only a small minority of pastors say they feel comfortable teaching about AI. At the same time, Lifeway’s 2025 State of Discipleship highlights that personal devotion remains uneven even among churchgoers. Leaders should notice that renewal is no longer just about restarting programs; it is about rebuilding credible spiritual formation in an environment where authority is diffuse and attention is fragmented. (Barna on faith and AI, Lifeway State of Discipleship) A quieter but important pattern is that discipleship strategy is moving closer to the center of denominational conversation. Lifeway is putting free discipleship training in front of SBC leaders in June, signaling that leaders increasingly see unclear disciple-making systems, not just weak attendance, as a core issue. Leaders should notice that the field is shifting from “How do we get people back?” to “What kind of pathway are we actually inviting them into?” (Lifeway Discipleship Conference) What’s Overhyped The most overhyped narrative right now is that renewed attendance among younger adults automatically means broad revival or durable turnaround. The better reading is more restrained: there are credible signs of openness, especially among younger adults, but closure rates, membership decline, and weak formation patterns all suggest that interest has not yet become institutional renewal at scale. Excitement is warranted; triumphalism is not. Where the Greatest Opportunity Exists The greatest opportunity right now is not generic church growth. It is building conversion-to-discipleship pathways inside churches that are small, aging, or newly receptive but structurally weak. This is especially true in Southern Baptist and non-denominational settings where leaders may be seeing more spiritual conversations, more occasional returners, or better attendance, but do not yet have a clear process for moving people into community, doctrine, service, and mission. That makes renewal teams and associational leaders unusually important this season. Churches do not only need encouragement; they need help with diagnosis, sequencing, and honest next steps. In practical terms, that means stronger assessment, clearer decision trees about revitalization versus replanting, and simpler disciple-making systems that work for people who are present two weekends a month rather than four. My inference from this week’s sources is that the next 12 to 18 months will reward leaders who can hold realism and hope together. The churches most likely to see lasting fruit will not be the ones chasing a dramatic narrative. They will be the ones that face closure pressure honestly, steward fresh openness carefully, and build repeatable structures for prayer, leadership development, assimilation, and discipleship. The work of renewal is rarely dramatic in the moment. It is usually slow, honest, prayerful, and patient. But week by week, the churches that face reality, stay on mission, and take faithful next steps are the ones most likely to see lasting fruit. Sources: Lifeway 2025 SBC Annual Church Profile, Barna: Young Adults Lead a Resurgence in Church Attendance, NAMB: AMS Replant Lab Spurs Hope, Renewal for Dying Churches, Lifeway analysis of lost congregations, Barna: Insights on Tech, Media and Faith in 2026  John 10:12–13 draws a clean line.
A hired hand runs when the wolf shows up. He doesn’t own the sheep. He doesn’t love the sheep. So when it gets dangerous, he’s gone. That’s true. But it’s not the whole picture. Sometimes the hired hand doesn’t run. Sometimes he stays. And staying can be just as dangerous. Not because he’s plotting harm. Not because he’s malicious. But because somewhere along the way, the relationship between shepherd and sheep quietly shifted. What began as calling became comfort. What began as stewardship became survival. What began as ministry became mutual dependence. I’ve seen this up close. A church declines slowly—then steadily—then predictably. Over decades. The reasons are rarely mysterious: unresolved conflict, poor leadership decisions, a resistance to change, a slow drift from mission to maintenance. The people who wanted to push forward eventually leave. Not all at once, but over time. They grow tired of the friction or the futility. What remains is a smaller, aging, faithful core. And into that vacuum, someone steps up. It could be anyone on staff. A pastor. A worship leader. An administrator. They start carrying more weight. Filling more gaps. Keeping things moving. They become the stabilizing force—the one who makes sure the doors open, the lights come on, the sermon is preached, the songs are sung. And the definition of success subtly changes: No longer about reaching people. No longer about making disciples. Just… being faithful. Keeping it going. Holding the line. More people leave. The congregation gets smaller. Older. Tighter. And here’s where it turns. The people don’t want to leave. This is their church. Their memories are here. Their friendships are here. They remember when the place was full. They want to see it alive again—kids in the hallways, baptisms, new families—but they’re not willing to risk losing the things they still have: the care they receive from the person holding it all together, their friends and the familiarity of it all. And that staff member? He loves them. He genuinely does. He visits them. Prays for them. Walks with them through loss and sickness and grief. He becomes their pastor in the truest relational sense. And they, in turn, love him. Affirm him. Depend on him. It feels meaningful. It is meaningful—on a human level. But it’s not healthy. Because now both sides are stuck. The people stay, in part, to take care of the pastor. The pastor stays, in part, to take care of the people. To them, Jesus is no longer the bread of life. They are trying to feast on the crumbs of their dysfunctional relationship. That’s co-dependency. And here’s the harder truth: sometimes the hired hand begins to feed off the sheep. Not in some obvious or predatory way. Much more subtly than that. He draws a paycheck he’s afraid to lose. He finds identity in the role he’s afraid he can’t replace. He receives affirmation he’s reluctant to live without. He convinces himself that staying is sacrifice, when in reality it’s fear… or comfort… or both. In an unguarded moment, he might admit it: “I don’t know if I could find another place.” “I’ve been here too long.” “I can’t leave these people.” It sounds noble. It feels pastoral. But it’s not the voice of the Good Shepherd. Jesus laid down His life for the sheep. He didn’t build His identity on their need of Him. He didn’t stay because He was afraid to go. He didn’t need their affirmation to validate His calling. He loved them enough to do what was necessary—even when it was disruptive. Churches like this don’t drift into renewal. They calcify. You’ve driven by them. Paint peeling. Parking lots empty. Signs still inviting people in, though the community around them has long since moved on. People in the neighborhood can tell, without stepping inside, that whatever is happening in there… it’s not reaching them. And inside those walls is often a small group of sincere believers and a loyal staff member locked in a quiet, unspoken agreement: we’ll keep this going as long as we can. The problem is--this can’t go on. No strategy fixes this. No new program turns it around. No clever rebrand changes the trajectory. Only God breaks cycles like this. It starts when someone inside—someone who loves both the people and the leader—develops a holy dissatisfaction. Not cynical. Not critical. But clear-eyed enough to say, “This isn’t what the church is supposed to be. And we can’t pretend it is anymore.” That kind of clarity is disruptive. It threatens the system. It also opens the door for repentance. The staff member has to come to terms with the role he’s playing. He has to remember that Jesus is the one who died for the church. He doesn’t have to. He can’t. And often—this is the part no one wants to say out loud—the most loving thing that a leader can do is leave. Not as a failure. Not as abandonment. But as an act of obedience. Sometimes renewal begins with subtraction. If there’s a controlling personality in the mix—a de facto pastor holding the reins from the shadows—that will have to be addressed too. Control doesn’t coexist with renewal. That person will either be broken and repent or removed, or called home by God. None of this is easy. None of it is quick. And none of it happens without deep, sustained prayer. But I’ve seen enough to know this: God is not hindered by stuck churches. He renews what people have written off. He breathes life into what looks finished. He does what no system, strategy, or staffing plan can accomplish. But He won’t bless a quiet agreement to settle. The hired hand in John 10 runs because he doesn’t care. Today, the danger is often more subtle. He stays… because he does care. Just not in the way that leads to life. |
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