What does it take to rekindle the church?

Growing up, my family would often camp on the shores of the Mississippi River or a Minnesota lake, and one of our favorite parts of camping was always the campfire. Every night, we would cook over the fire and then sit up to watch the flames dance in the dark, and every morning, the first person up was responsible for rekindling the fire for washing and cooking. Sometimes, rekindling the fire was as easy as adding some firewood. Other times, however, the first had to be restarted completely.

In 2002, I was called to lead a small church. After seeing explosive growth during its first 20 years of life, the church split in the early 1960s and entered into four decades of spiralling decline. The challenge before us was clear: rekindle the church. Just as rekindling a fire, though, rekindling a church can be easy, but that is not guaranteed. If you find yourself in a church that needs rekindling, and it is apparently not easy, it is important to review the three things needed to make fire.

Fuel: Your church’s why.

Every fire begins with something to burn. Whether it is wood, coal, gasoline, or sodium, fuel is the thing that keeps the spark burning. In a church, the fuel which keeps it going is its God-given mission and vision. Of course, the universal mission of all churches is to make more and better followers of Jesus Christ (or some variant thereof). The vision is a shared understanding of what it will look like to accomplish that mission in the church’s specific context.

These things answer the central questions of why the church is here and people should join the cause. A clear, Spirit-shaped answer to these questions will enable the church to persevere throguh challenges and setbacks. It will keep the church’s various activities focused on a singular purpose. It will inspire and commitment and sacrifice, and when stoked regularly, it will sustain all of these things for years.

Air: Your church’s environment

Even with ample fuel, fire dies without air. Just as oxygen enables a flame to breathe and grow, churches require the right environment to thrive. The right environment includes a variety of factors such as timing (i.e., is this the right time to be doing this ministry?), the margin to respond faithfully, the resources to move forward, the people with the right spiritual gifts and abilities to make it work, and the patience and perseverance to allow the church to grow. If any of these are missing, the church will suffocate regardless of how compelling its mission and vision may be.

A great example of this can be found in the book of Exodus. Israel had God’s promise to deliver the descendants of Abraham into the Promised Land. This vision was compelling, but until they were released from slavery in Egypt, their calling had no oxygen.

Once the vision is cast, probably the main responsibility of a church leader must be creating margin, drawing and training people, developing culture, developing resources, and fostering rhythms of faithfulness that will allow the church to thrive.

Spark: The Holy Spirit

Finally, even with all the fuel and oxygen in the world, fires do not ignite on their own. Indeed, you can arrange wood in a perfect pyramid and ensure there is plenty of air, but without a spark, there will never be fire. Leaders in every industry have endeavored to answer the question of what sparks success, but in the church, there can be only one answer. The spark which rekindles the church is the Holy Spirit. Consider the words of Acts 2:3-4:

They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them. Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.

In the verses that followed, people were drawn to the disciples. By the end of the day, 3,000 men, plus women and children, were baptized. And the thing that catalyzed it all was the spark of the Holy Spirit. Prior to that, they had the fuel (the Great Commission was delivered 10 days earlier, according to Acts 1:8) and the air (about 120 disciples were gathered in an upper room for the last 10 days). As soon as the Holy Spirit sparked, the church became a roaring inferno.

It should be noted that the spark of the Holy Spirit was provided only in response to prayer. So if your church has the vision and the resources, but it has not yet seen the spark, then it is time to pray. Pray early. Pray often. Pray earnestly. And then pray some more. Because without the Spirit’s spark, the church will never be rekindled.

Conclusion

Fuel without air suffocates. Air without spark sits idle. Spark without fuel fades quickly. But when all three are present, the result is a fire that can wawrm, illuminate, and transform. So also, a church without the proper resources suffocates. A church without the Holy Spirit just sits there. And a church without vision fades quickly into the night.

As leaders, our role is not to manufacture fire, but to present the vision, prepare the environment, and pray for the Holy Spirit’s spark. When we do these things, God has a way of setting hearts ablaze in ways that spread far our wildest imagination.