{"id":694136,"date":"2019-02-27T02:00:40","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T08:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomrainer.com\/?p=694136"},"modified":"2020-02-07T15:34:53","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T21:34:53","slug":"six-reasons-relaunching-is-more-difficult-than-revitalizing-or-replanting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/six-reasons-relaunching-is-more-difficult-than-revitalizing-or-replanting\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Reasons Relaunching Is More Difficult Than Revitalizing or Replanting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Relaunching. Revitalizing. Replanting.<\/p>\n

So many \u201cre\u201d prefixes. It gets confusing.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s review our definitions. Revitalizing means an existing congregation experiences health and turnaround. Replanting typically means another church acquires a declining or dying church and starts it anew. Relaunching could be considered a hybrid approach. A declining or dying church re-starts itself. There is usually a name change, but there is not an acquisition by another church.<\/p>\n

Of the three, relaunching is both the rarest and most difficult. Let\u2019s look at six reasons this challenge has many obstacles.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Relaunching can be perceived to be a magic bullet<\/strong>. The congregation sometimes think they can slap a new name on the sign, have a grand re-opening, and watch growth take place.<\/li>\n
  2. Relaunching does not always address the issues and people that are barriers to church health.<\/strong> Church health is a DNA issue. Without changes in the essential hearts and attitudes of the people, healthy change will not take place.<\/li>\n
  3. Relaunching can divide a church.<\/strong> This divide can occur along many fault lines, especially worship styles and name changes.<\/li>\n
  4. Relaunching will struggle if expectations and sacrifices are not explicit and clear.<\/strong> Otherwise, members will have varying expectations about the changes and results of a new launch. Clarity and transparency are essential.<\/li>\n
  5. Relaunching is often a compromise.<\/strong> It\u2019s the \u201cin-between\u201d decision between revitalization and replan There is not a total commitment to the process.<\/li>\n
  6. Relaunching is often decided without really knowing the change readiness of the church.<\/strong> This factor is essential. It will be a focus of future emphases here and at Church Answers.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    You may conclude I am not a proponent of relaunching. It might surprise you that I actually see it as an incredible option for dying and declining churches. But it is an option that requires open eyes, willing hearts, and sacrificial actions.<\/p>\n

    You will hear more about these issues later. For now, let me hear from you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Relaunching. Revitalizing. Replanting.\u00a0Of the three, relaunching is both the rarest and most difficult.","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"","publish_post_category":"","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[188,1,186,176],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-694136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-adoption","category-church-answers","category-health-and-metrics","category-revitalize"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSix Reasons Relaunching Is More Difficult Than Revitalizing or Replanting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Relaunching. Revitalizing. Replanting.\u00a0Of the three, relaunching is both the rarest and most difficult.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/six-reasons-relaunching-is-more-difficult-than-revitalizing-or-replanting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Six Reasons Relaunching Is More Difficult Than Revitalizing or Replanting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Relaunching. Revitalizing. Replanting.\u00a0Of the three, relaunching is both the rarest and most difficult.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/six-reasons-relaunching-is-more-difficult-than-revitalizing-or-replanting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-27T08:00:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-07T21:34:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/spacex-1130896-unsplash.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Thom S. 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