{"id":728138,"date":"2020-12-08T02:00:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T07:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=728138"},"modified":"2020-12-07T21:18:30","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T02:18:30","slug":"9-reasons-young-seminarians-are-interested-in-church-revitalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/9-reasons-young-seminarians-are-interested-in-church-revitalization\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Reasons Young Seminarians are Interested in Church Revitalization"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, seminary students were more interested in church planting than in working in a church that needs revitalization. That\u2019s changing, though\u2014and here are some reasons why:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. They have a new burden for churches where they grew up.<\/b> I\u2019m always concerned they\u2019re simply wanting to \u201cgo back home,\u201d but that\u2019s not what I\u2019m seeing. They\u2019re thinking missiologically about reaching people they know and renewing churches they love.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. They welcome the challenge.<\/b> They\u2019re not interested in mundane ministry and easy Christianity. They want a challenge, even if it means the hard work of church revitalization.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. They\u2019ve seen some of the struggles of church planting.<\/b> They\u2019ve learned from others that starting a new church isn\u2019t as glamorous as they once thought. For example, that\u2019s particularly become the case for plants that used to meet in schools or theaters prior to COVID.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. They see the value of having older people in their church.<\/b> In fact, they deeply desire for their church to include multiple generations. They want to lead, but they also want the support and mentoring of veteran believers.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. They\u2019ve seen what happens when churches don\u2019t do evangelism or discipleship\u2014and they want to make a difference.<\/b> You might argue they\u2019re idealistic in their goals, but their passion is nonetheless real. Whereas they may have once only judged unhealthy churches, more and more young leaders want to step into the mess.<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. They understand that church plants and missionaries need healthy sending churches. <\/b>While they may not be called to either of these tasks, they know their responsibility to be senders. Frankly, some churches in need of revitalization also still have resources they can contribute to this work.<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. More seminaries are focusing on church revitalization. <\/b>At a minimum, they\u2019re offering at least one course (if not a degree) in this area. Thus, seminarians are getting exposure to revitalization they may not have gotten ten years ago.<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Some of their heroes actually revitalized churches long before \u201cchurch revitalization\u201d was popular.<\/b> As young leaders learn these stories, they realize that revitalization is indeed possible. And, they learn the importance of pastoral tenure in turning a church around.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  9. They\u2019re more open to bi-vocational work than my generation has been.<\/b> That truth makes them more open to church planting, too, but it also applies to unhealthy churches that cannot yet afford a full-time pastor.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What are your thoughts?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, seminary students were more interested in church planting than in working in a church that needs revitalization. That\u2019s changing, though\u2014and here are some reasons why:","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":728139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","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":[176],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-728138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-revitalize"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n9 Reasons Young Seminarians are Interested in Church Revitalization | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For years, seminary students were more interested in church planting than in working in a church that needs revitalization. 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