Church Renewal is not an event in a church; it isnot a program, a seasonal initiative, a weekendretreat, or a series of revival services. Churchrenewal is a change of culture and the embrac-ing of a new perspective as to what the Churchshould be and do. This change of culture matures into being afresh, new lifestyle for a church that is ongoing and that car-ries no expiration date. Ironically, this fresh, new lifestyle isactually the intentional return to a very old lifestyle, that of the original church as seen in Acts 2:42-47 and Ephesians 4:1-16; in short, that of a biblical New Testament Church.You might object, “Wait a minute! We’re already a biblicalchurch and yet we’re struggling!” Are you, really? This is notmeant as a judgment, but more as an observation. The GreatAwakening has come and gone, but perhaps today it is timefor a Great Wake-Up Call. Our churches are led by sincere,committed leaders who desire to serve God well and to see Hischurch blossom and grow. However, the primary mission of thechurch should be that of Jesus Christ as stated in Luke 19:10,

“The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”Yet, it seems that the typical church sees its primarymission as shepherding and serving the found.

Mostchurches are very ineffective at outreach and evangelism- theessence of seeking and saving!Church culture must permanently change and renew tobring the Church into alignment with the mission of JesusChrist. Congregations do not exist to serve themselves; theyexist to serve God through search and rescue of God’s lost,and, by the grace of God, bringing them to His family estate,the Church.Simply hoping that churches get turned around is not astrategy but wishful thinking. Outreach North America has re-sources to provide your church leaders with the training andcoaching to make a difference. Three years ago, ONA began toprovide the TurnOut Solution Seminar to lead into 2ND WIND (acomprehensive approach to renewal). 2ND WIND has maturedinto its current form, HIGH M-PACT Revitalization. ARP church-es in several Presbyteries have committed to renewal throughthe ministry of ONA. Status quo might be comfortable, but if your church is in plateau or decline, status quo must give wayto HIGH M-PACT. ONA stands ready to serve you.

Please contact Ken or the ONA ofce to nd out how to

bring renewal to your church.Ken: 804-550-0768kenpriddy.com@gmail.comwww.kenpriddy.com

OutreachNewsletter

A Publication of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian ChurchBoard of Outreach North America

Inside this Issue...

• 2ND WIND Brings Growth and Professions of Faith• Ebenezer Elders Learn Revitalization Principles• High M-PACT Revitalization at 208 Year Old Church• News and Notes from the Field

ona

Outreach North America

Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church

Renewal at Redeemer

Winter 2010

By Rev. Bill Slattery Reedeemer ARP Church, Moore, SC

Redeemer is a young and busy church. So why are we in-volved in the 2ND WIND program? We saw ourselves driftinginto a pattern and wanted to reverse that drift.We believed that we were neglecting our evangelistic pur-pose. The session approved a vision team to study Bible pas-sages, pray for wisdom, and identify ways we need to changeas a church. We realized that functionally we were committedto worship and discipleship but were lacking in evangelism. Webegan studying our community and saw needs that matchedthe strengths of our church. For example, the average fam-ily in our area is a double-income, too-busy family with twoor three children; they are nominal Christians, and beneaththe appearance of stability, family relationships are tense andtroubled—perhaps even hostile. Families know they need help,and we have that help.How can we help? We have three ministries that could serveour community well:

The Kid Zone

, an after-school programfor elementary grades; a middle school youth group; and our

Continued on page 2

From the Director

Dr. Ken Priddy, Director of Church Renewal

Page 2 Outreach

whom

we are ministering. Several havejoined our choir, taught Sunday school,and assisted with events.We also believe God has placed usacross from Greenwood High School be-cause he wants us to minister to highschool students. In an effort to meet stu-

dents, we hosted our rst tailgating event

before a game last fall. A band playedworship songs on our front lawn whilewe served hotdogs and baked goods toapproximately 60 people and interactedwith them. We followed up with a secondtailgating party at the Greenwood Highcampus a month later. These have been

signicant ways for us to say to our com

-munity, “God is interested in you.”We have also become more intentionalabout how we interact with guests. It has

occurred to us how crucial rst impres

By Rev. Bryan BultGreenwood ARP Greenwood, SC

We began the 2ND WINDrevitalization process twoyears ago and have spenta lot of time planning.Now we are beginning the exciting butchallenging implementation phase.Along the way, we are unquestionablybecoming more outreach-minded. Oneof our more exciting developments is aburgeoning college ministry. We believeGod has placed us near three collegesbecause he wants us to minister to col-lege students. We have started a collegeSunday school class and have a covereddish meal once a month after worshipfor the purpose of forming relationshipswith them. It is an opportunity not onlyto provide a “home away from home” forstudents, but also for our congregation tofellowship. Though the college studentsbegan as a group

to whom

we minister,they are becoming more of a group

with

2ND WIND Brings Growth and Professions of Faith

In January, KenPriddy presentedrevitalizationprinciples andtools at an EldersRetreat for Ebene-zer ARP Church of Rock Hill, SC.

Above: Boyce Wilson on acoffee break with twoeldersLeft: Ken Priddy teaching

Continued from page 1

monthly Parenting Workshop. Theseministries had, until recently, focusedprimarily on our own church members.Now we are looking for ways to “turnout” to lost families. One of the strate-gies we are considering is to offer theseministries and youth events at variouslocations in our community. We hopethat these will provide contacts withunbelievers and lead to conversions.Perhaps the biggest challenge inlearning to “turn out” is making themental shift from an inward to an out-ward focus. It sounds simple, but manysimple changes are hard to do and de-mand a major shift in priorities— suchas staying on a budget or on a diet. Toreach our community, we must moveour focus outside of our church build-ing and outside of our comfort zoneand into our community. We must makeit our business to talk to lost peopleabout the Gospel. That is our vision.We pray that, by God’s grace, Redeem-er will help many sinners to be rescuedand learn to live for Christ.

...Redeemer

sions are. We are discussing practicalways of making our building more guest-friendly. Meanwhile, we are steadilygrowing in our warmth and genuine in-terest in newcomers.Finally, we have implemented a Fel-lowship Group ministry that is both deep-ening relationships among members, andproviding another “open door” throughwhich to reach out.We praise God for the addition of sev-eral families to our congregation in thepast two years. Among these, we are par-ticularly thrilled at

two professions of faith in Jesus Christ. This is a mod-est number, but it is an encouragingsign that the Holy Spirit is active.

We pray to see many more in the com-ing years as we seek to befriend our un-churched neighbors and introduce themto our Lord who came “to seek and tosave the lost.”

Contact the ONA ofce for a free brochure:

Helping Guests Connect withYour Church.

It is an example of a four step systemto help you retain guests.

HIGH M-PACT Revitalization at 208 Year Old Church

Winter 2010 Page 3

By Rev. Wayne Frazier Back Creek ARP Church, Charlotte, NC

Churches have a lifecycle just likepeople. Outreach North America is con-cerned not only with birth, the plantingof new churches, but also the revitaliza-tion of existing churches. Revitalizationmust be an essential ongoing process of life. Otherwise churches die. The aver-age church in the United States existsonly a little over 70 years.How can churches pass the batonfrom one generation of congregants andleaders to the next? How can we adjustto generational and community changesthat are always challenging the future vi-tality of any congregation? At Back Creekwe are facing change. Started 208 yearsago, Back Creek was situated in a rural,farming community. Now our demograph-

ics have changed signicantly. We are a

suburban community with a wonderfulmix of ethnicities including people fromall over the United States and world. Thiscommunity has also become dramaticallyyounger with 75% of the people in our zipcode being under 44 years of age. Anotherfactor is a post-Christian and post-mod-ern culture here in the United States. Itused to be that new community memberswere always looking for a church. That isno longer true.The good news is that the Gospel of Je-sus Christ is trans-cultural and trans-gen-erational. Jesus Christ and His Word arethe same yesterday, today and forever.Yet, how we apply this unchanging Gos-pel to a changing community and worldis what Back Creek and all ARP Churchesare facing.Here is where HIGH M-PACT Church Re-vitalization with Dr. Ken Priddy has beena helpful tool for us. In 2009, I receivedthe gift of a three-month sabbatical.During that time, our elders were active-ly working. They contacted Ken and hecame to make a one-hour presentationto our elders and deacons about churchrevitalization. They were so impressedthat this would be helpful that they com-mitted to an all day seminar. After this,the session made a commitment to therevitalization process. We selected threeelders, deacons and women to be our vi-sion team. Each person along with memade a commitment to HIGH M-PACTTraining at Reformed Theological Semi-nary in Charlotte.Each vision team member secureda prayer group to support our efforts inprayer. We earnestly pray that God’s vi-sion for Back Creek reaching this commu-nity will be etched on our hearts togeth-er. Redemptive history is rolling on. Nowis the time to connect with the lost folksin our neighborhoods.

As Jesus said, “Icame to seek and to save that whichwas lost.” (Luke 19:10)

The HIGH M-PACT Training gave us aquick overview of the revitalization pro-cess which includes aligning: Perception,Vision, Strategy, Structure, and People.We have completed the Perception phasewhich answers the two key questions:What will be discovered about ourselves?What will we do in light of what we dis-cover? There are a variety of differentcharacteristics that identify where achurch is.

Incline

is future oriented, vi-sion driven, and has conversion growth.

Recline

is present oriented, programdriven, and has transfer growth.

Decline

is past oriented to the “glory” days,structure driven, and has no growth.These are just a few of the ten indica-tors that help you discover where yourchurch is and what is necessary for a vitalchurch.During the Perception phase, we dis-covered what we already knew, but hadfailed to address in a comprehensiveway. We made some changes in our wor-ship service times to reach our commu-

nity. This was a difcult change for some

people. Ken’s training has encouragedour elders to reach out to the congrega-tion and especially those who have beendistraught with the changes. We trustthat this will become an ongoing bibli-cal process in our church family. We donot want to derail the process of seekingof God’s vision due to existing conditionsour church.We are now in the process of devel-oping a vision from Scripture that willbe non-negotiable commitments guidingour church’s decisions and resources. Weare studying and praying about the man-dates given from Scripture such as theGreat Commission, Commandments, andthe model churches found in Acts 2 andEphesians 4. We also are identifying ourgeographical target using demographicinformation to identify who really livesin our community. All of this is helping usbetter understand how to bring the Gos-pel to this community.You can see that we have only begunthis revitalization process. It is a pilgrim-age of faith. Yet, is that not what Christ’sChurch has always been- pilgrim people?Abraham, our forefather in the faith, wasgiven promises from God in Genesis 12.He obeyed and went even though he did

not know his nal destination. Our prayer

is that God would give us grace to obeyand follow Christ’s guidance as Abrahamdid. Our vision team is “…looking for acity with foundations, whose architectand builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:10)We are excited about where theLord is leading us and that He is meet-ing us where we are. We are delighted tohave Ken, who has worked with over 400churches, come alongside us in the pro-cess. HIGH M-PACT Revitalization is en-abling us to do the best possible for thesake of Christ’s kingdom expanding in ourlocal community. We are excited aboutwhat the Lord will be doing through thiscongregation in the years to come. Wealso realize that this is not a one-timeevent, but an ongoing process of revital-ization necessary for any vital organism.