What is a
Restart Church?
A Restart Church is the rebirth of any existing church which is on the decline and in danger of closing if it does not change course. The Restart uses some components of the existing church while changing or eliminating those detrimental parts of its current existence to Restart. Restart is a focused effort concentrated on a specific point of time, often after an intentional shutdown of public ministry for a point of time to allow the necessary changes to take place. This website is offered as a way to explore these possibilities and give information which can help churches continue to minister to their areas, taking advantage of some of the resources left over from the declining church.
How does Restart Differ from Revitalization or Replants?
Revitalization is something that a plateaued or declining church attempt in order to turn their church around. When churches are still large enough to support their ministries and some incremental adjustments will help them turn around, often revitalization is used to help them gradually once again become a vital entity.
Replants are generally planting a church in an abandoned church building, where nothing remains except the building itself. The church may have closed recently and the building sold to a different church association, or may have been closed for years and a church planter comes in to once again try to plant a church in the existing church building. Since there is nothing left except the building itself, this is considered a “replant,” rather than a restart.
Look through the resources available on this website to determine if a restart is a possibility in your circumstance. The producer of this website is currently writing a Doctor of Ministry dissertation on this subject. You may follow some of his progress in the resources above, and Restart Pastors are encouraged to be part of his research project by participating in answering the questionnaire noted in the main menu above.