By J.R. Carrel
“Who ya” gonna” call?” was the catch phrase made popular by the 1984 hit movie Ghost Busters, but for us it was a serious cry for help.
We were a 35-year-old church in a lousy location and in a complete tailspin. Our attendance was dropping steadily, and we were barely able to pay the bills. We had refinanced the building the year before, a move that had kept us from closing the doors then. But now we knew something drastic had to be done or we weren”t going to survive.
We needed help, but we didn”t know who to call. Where do you go when you”ve tried virtually everything you can think of and prayed yourself silly and the answers still don”t come?
A New Idea
Our answer came in a book by Thom Rainer that mentioned an idea we had never even heard of: church consulting (as in professional people who help troubled churches). What we needed was advice from a church consultant.
We contacted one who was much too expensive. We contacted another who seemed not-so-interested in helping. Then we contacted one who agreed to help us at a reasonable price and we began the process of analyzing data and putting together a plan to save our church.
Unfortunately for us it was too late. We were, in essence, already dead. The consultant”s best advice was to die a dignified death””sell the property and donate the funds to start another church, or two churches in our case, and to give all our assets””van, furniture, and office equipment””to local churches who could use them. We also tithed 10 percent of the sale of the property to local missions we had supported in the past, like the Crisis Pregnancy Center and the nearby children”s home.
A Lifted Burden
Making that decision was hard in one sense, but in another sense it was like removing a tremendous weight from our shoulders. Our consultant came and prayed with us, and made the dreaded presentation in a congregational meeting we were sure would erupt in chaos. But not so! As our consultant answered questions, some of which were quite pointed, a spirit of peace enveloped the crowd.
He showed us our options, and we knew we really had no other choice. It was the right thing to do. It was the selfless thing to do. We cried, we laughed, and together we made the toughest decision any of us had ever made, to close our doors.
And so we did. We held our last service on October 3, 2006. But it was not a funeral service. It was a celebration of a brave decision; a celebration of looking forward instead of back.
But the answer to one of the questions raised during that initial congregational meeting haunted me long after it ended. Someone asked, “What if we were to merge with another church? Would that help?” The answer was deliberate and precise. “It might have worked two years ago, but it”s too late for that now! It”s just too late!”
A New Quest
That question and response began for me a new quest of discovering how I personally could continue to turn our tragedy into triumph. How could I help other churches in a similar situation avoid suffering the same fate? It was especially appropriate in light of the fact that our consultant said dozens of other churches are in the same dire straight.
The answer came in a church consultant training seminar hosted by Church Central of churchcentral.com. The closing church agreed to send the associate minister and me as part of our severance package because both of us were eager to help other churches avoid a similar fate.
We were astounded to discover that of the approximately 385,000 churches in America, 85 percent of them are experiencing some sort of difficulty””typically plateaued or declining attendance””with accompanying financial problems. Countless others are experiencing a host of other maladies, including staff issues, leadership problems, and management woes.
It was as if the seminar leader was speaking directly to us. Why hadn”t we heard of church consulting before? Why had we waited so long to get help?
Those are questions without answers, but after becoming licensed and soon-to-be certified church consultants, we have already seen firsthand other churches in similar situations, unsure of what to do and desperately waiting for some sort of answer. They know they are in trouble, but don”t know who to call for help.
In the now 23-year-old movie Ghost Busters, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and Harold Ramis save the beleaguered city of New York from demonic destruction because somebody finally made the call to Ghost Busters headquarters.
Today the church consulting industry is growing rapidly and there are an increasing number of trained consultants, and even a few consulting firms, ready to help struggling churches. The fees they charge vary, but they all want to help churches avoid a deadly fate.
Churches can and do close, but with the proper assistance many could go on to recover, rehabilitate, and grow.
J.R. Carrel is presently serving as interim minister with Forest Hills Christian Church in Tampa, Florida, and as a church consultant with Integrating Focus, Seminole, Florida.
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