I want to tell you the story of a church that recently experienced the kind of change in spirit that we covet for every church.
This particular church didn’t think they had a problem. The church was what is called a “replant” and contained only a few people from the original congregation. (A replanted church uses the people and resources of a dying ministry to start a new one.) It is common to assume that a replant “erases” the church’s previous history, like everyone’s memory gets wiped or something. And if the old congregation no longer exists, why would its history impact the replanted ministry?
It didn’t make sense to their ambitious new pastor either. But, just to be sure, the pastor decided to look into the history of the ministry whose place they had taken. What he and his team discovered shocked them. They were seeking to build on the foundation of a ministry that had a horrible reputation in their community and within their denomination.
While, on a human level, it didn’t make sense to “own” the previous history, they took that ownership and sought God’s forgiveness publicly. Under the guidance of one of Blessing Point’s consultants they held a special service to repent of their tainted heritage to which their “new” ministry was connected.
The replanted church had already been seeing fruit, but when they repented corporately, the spirit of the congregation changed for the better. Now, instead of getting bogged down by the damaged DNA of the old ministry, they continue to make advancements for the Kingdom of God! They really are “replanted.”
This story illustrates the vision that drives us at Blessing Point. We long to see the spirits of churches change across this country and beyond. Our vision is to restore the radiance of Christ’s Bride – one church at a time. And, in so doing, spark a movement that transforms the Church and culture at large!