What Will It Take to Turn Around Your Church?

What will it take to turn around your church? It’s time to evaluate your priorities, inspire your team, equip the church, and set the course.

By Andrew Cross

What can pastors possibly do to reverse the negative trends we see occurring in so many of our churches today? You’ve likely seen overall attendance and engagement decline in your church. You may have even seen local churches close their doors recently. According to Lifeway Research, the Southern Baptist Convention has lost over 1,000 congregations each of the past three years. The state of many of our churches is in disarray, whether due to theological drift, moral controversy, relational conflict, financial scarcity, failing facilities, personnel turnover, or any combination of these challenges. What can a pastor possibly do to see the Lord transform the flock he is responsible for shepherding?

We can learn from those who’ve stewarded similar situations as opportunities for positive change. In his book Turnaround: The Remarkable Story of an Institutional Transformation and the 10 Essential Principles and Practices that Made It Happen, Jason Allen, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS) and Spurgeon College presents MBTS as an example and case study for what is possible for many of our churches today. From the moment he arrived in 2012 to the time he wrote the book in 2022, he saw the Lord turn around the seminary as he prioritized strategic principles and practices.

Leadership stewardship

Success for the leader in ministry boils down to stewardship. Throughout the book, Allen prizes stewardship and the theme of leading where you are. Admittedly, turning around any church will also hinge on God’s kind providence. But inasmuch as it’s up to you, are you a leader that the Lord delights to bless? Are you seen as a credible leader? Is your team prepared to follow you by embracing and embodying the same leadership principles as you? You won’t get far without the Lord’s empowerment and the support of those He’s placed around you to help you.

“Success for the leader in ministry boils down to stewardship.” — @AndrewFCross Share on X

The first few essential principles Allen presents concentrate on growing in knowledge—what you know about yourself, your context, your team, and your convictions or what you say you believe. The pastor looking to turn around the church must know when he works best, what motivates him, as well as what discourages him. Then he must shepherd his team well by learning some of those same tendencies in them. And the whole team needs to know what they stand for convictionally.

Many pastors and church leaders already know a great deal about themselves and their ministry context. When it comes to their convictions, they hold fast to God’s Word and their statements of faith in the midst of terrible adversity from the culture today. Where they may struggle is in knowing their church’s purpose and what direction they’re supposed to be going. Allen delivers great insight into establishing the mission and vision of an institution by answering these important questions: Why do we exist, and where are we heading?

Mission and vision

Allen summed up the mission of MBTS in three words: for the church. He writes, “It’s been implemented across every square inch of the campus, embedded into every aspect of our institutional programming and curriculum, and embraced by every member of the team.” The mission statement is short, clear, and biblical. Thus it became the team’s mission, and then the seminary’s mission. What is the mission of your church? Declaring why you exist will help determine where you’re going.

Leaders can mistakenly conflate the mission and the vision of an organization, so Allen clarifies that “your convictions are what you believe, your mission is why you exist, and your vision is where you’re going. Together these three coalesce to define and describe your organization’s identity–who it is.” While a pastor’s vision isn’t as important as the church’s convictions or mission, it is the area to which guests and prospective members are giving most of their attention. Where is your church going? Is it clearly defined? Pastors are God’s chosen leaders to cast the vision for the church and set them on their course. What is the vision for your church, pastor?

“Your convictions are what you believe, your mission is why you exist, and your vision is where you’re going. Together these three coalesce to define and describe your organization’s identity–who it is.” — @JasonKeithAllen Share on X

A vision statement once employed by MBTS was “to be the strongest seminary on the planet by 2022.” Along with that vision, they outlined several strategic priorities for working toward accomplishing that vision. Allen writes, “In addition to clarifying for our own team what we’re targeting, these priorities determine where we’ll invest our resources, whom we hire, what we initiate, and how we’re progressing as an institution.” The priorities made the vision measurable. And because they were priorities and not plans, they proved to be immune to momentary setbacks and unforeseen circumstances.

A trustworthy team

Once you know what you believe, why you exist, and where you’re going, you need to discover who is joining the team by whether or not they are trustworthy. Allen notes the importance of cultivating trustworthiness in the organization by first leading in a trustworthy manner and then demanding it of those with whom you serve. When the team is trustworthy, the task becomes adding trustworthy people to the team. The people you hire must share in the convictions, mission, and vision of the church. Otherwise, they will get frustrated and burned out. Or worse, they will cause division and strife in the church.

One priority Allen urges the leader to insist upon is creating a culture of ownership and accountability. That means everything the organization does has someone who puts their name on it. That doesn’t mean team members have their goals handed down to them; they help produce them. Pastors can inspire their team to take ownership of the ministry. What a joy it is when pastors and teachers “equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12, CSB). But it is not enough to inspire and equip. They must insist on accountability in the team and celebrate with the team when owning responsibility pays off.

Budget alignment

Few things are more comforting to us in ministry than knowing where we’re going and who’s coming with us. And nothing is more worrisome in ministry than discerning how we’ll pay the bills. Allen says, “Where there is no money, the vision will perish.” He esteems the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 to preach the importance of stewarding money well. Again, success boils down to stewardship. “Every organization should have a business model,” he writes, “a template that projects sources of revenue, amounts needed, and where to allocate resources.” More than merely creating a budget, pastors should collaborate with their team to propose a budget that aligns with the church’s convictions, mission, and vision.

“More than merely creating a budget, pastors should collaborate with their team to propose a budget that aligns with the church’s convictions, mission, and vision.” — @AndrewFCross Share on X

What will it take to turn around your church, pastor? Ultimately, it has to be an act of loving kindness from God. Be encouraged that the Lord wants to do it. He wants to reverse the trend, starting with you. It’s time to evaluate your own priorities, inspire your team, equip the church, and set the course. May the Lord do a transforming work as you pursue the vision he has given you for your church.

For permission to republish this article, contact Marissa Postell Sullivan.