by Bill Wolfson.
Which is easier: walking the plank and starting a new church, or revitalizing a church that is over 80 years old? I’ve chosen the latter, and by now the fruit is on the tree for others to analyze. I do know this much: When you start a church from scratch, it reflects your DNA. Regardless of the financial struggles and the lack of personnel, you are able to influence the young church’s direction. Years later, it will live or die by your core values, your mission, your vision and your strategy.
When I came to this congregation, the church was already 82 years old. Pastors over that length of time had been here an average of 4.3 years. I, on the other hand, had been in only two churches my entire Christian existence-the second of which I was an associate pastor for eight years. I certainly did not accept the call here to be a short-term interim pastor, or be fired.
Twenty years later, Church For All Nations has obviously been influenced by my DNA and leadership skills. Nevertheless, there is still a significant presence of the DNA of yesteryear. I am not suggesting that this is bad; I am only suggesting that it simply is. Some of those individuals who influenced the days gone by are people of integrity with a great spiritual dynamic. In fact, many of those who represent the past are some of my dearest friends on this planet.
The combination of our rich history with our vision for the future has been healthy and edifying. However, whenever I want to make a decision of any importance, I must filter it against the background of the past. I have to consider the insight and input of the patriarchs of days gone by. For a visionary, this can be very frustrating; it can considerably slow down the process. However, in other cases, it has also saved my bacon (or in my case, being Jewish, my corned beef).
So I cannot say conclusively that either pioneering a church or revitalizing a church is better or easier. We need pioneers, and we also need those who will lay their life on the line to be a part of a revitalization project. I do not believe it is God’s will for one man to pioneer a church that will fall apart when he dies. Clearly, the Lord does call others to come in and build or rebuild broken-down walls. He certainly called Nehemiah to rebuild Solomon’s Temple, which had been utterly leveled.
Church For All Nations is a church that has been revitalized and is still in the process of being revitalized. The reality is, what I have done over the last 20 years is currently obsolete. What was cutting-edge 20 years ago is nearly irrelevant today. Therefore, in order for a church to stay in the center of God’s purposes, it has to reinvent itself on a continual basis. It is much like the human body, which in three to six months replaces 98 percent of its cells!
I consider it a privilege to be a part of this revitalization journey, even though I don’t really know what the conclusion will be. I do trust, however, that it will be a victorious one.
Bill Wolfson is lead pastor of Church For All Nations, Tacoma, Washington.
