Kruse Kronicle

Separating the Viable from the Non-Viable Church

—

by

mwkruse
in

Quotidian Grace (Jody Harrington): Separating the Viable from the Non-Viable Church

Wendy emailed me a very interesting article today. "How to Measure Viability" by Thomas Bandy discussed how to measure the viability of churches and when to decide it is time to “pull the plug on them.” In the article, Bandy argued that “many regional judicatories are being held hostage by non-viable churches” and that “most viable churches have distanced themselves from the denominations.” (I'm quoting from it because it isn't available on the web.)

……

Bandy suggests that a leader of a church must give three years of effort devoted to trying everything possible to help a “non-viable” church grow. If within 6 months after the end of that time at least 3 out of the 5 following criteria are not realized, then it is time for the pastor to move on and for the judicatory to close the church: …

Comments

2 responses to “Separating the Viable from the Non-Viable Church”

  1. RPS Avatar
    RPS

    I’m going to ask Wendy for a copy. Am a bit intrigued, yet can’t help but think / feel that it’s right on the “line” of “hard formula” — and that makes me wonder… Denom. wide, how many of our churches, of all sizes, wouldn’t measure up? 50%? 60%? Notice, I’m beginning my wondering at those figures.
    Respect what Bandy / Easum are doing, but there’s still a bit of the old “church growth” formula there that doesn’t lend itself to multi-cultural contextualization.

    Reply
  2. Michael W. Kruse Avatar
    Michael W. Kruse

    Rodger, I too have some of the same concerns you have. I subscribed to some Easum Bandy e-mail discussion lists for awhile and both loved it and hated it. I think Bandy has some good conceptual tools, I am just not sure I come down to some the same conclusions he does.
    I think for presbyteries with declining funds they have to do some triage. Churches that are not growing and have become totally insular are usually not the best place to be dumping resources or time. On the other hand, if a congregation has the wherewithal to keep going without presbytery assistance I don’t know why a presbytery would actively seek to close such a church.
    Our presbytery has been struggling to do a better job at meaningful annual visits and really tracking what is happening with congregations … to come alongside them as the begin to enter stagnation and decline rather than waiting for a crisis at a point where it is too late.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Discover more from Kruse Kronicle

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading