The country in which we live might be termed by some sociologist as an aging society. Based upon the demographics, we have more individuals living today above the age of 65 than ever before in our country.

There is another group referred to as the "babyboomers" which are rapidly approaching the age of retirement. This characteristic of graying not only portrays the face of our society, but also the profile of our churches. Creating a dilemma which must be faced by church leaders across the nation.

Based upon a book written by Robert D. Dale entitled "To Dream Again", we are able to gain insights on how a congregation can be revitalized. Traditionally, our churches have either chosen to sell their building and move to a new location or simply "defend the fort" until they have to close the doors.

Robert D. Dale has compared the life cycle of a church to the life cycle of a human being. For a child is born into the world, physically grows stronger, reaches a level of maturity, health begins to decline, and then eventually death occurs. Let us consider the life cycle of a congregation: dream, beliefs, goals, structure, ministry, nostalgia, questions, polarization, and drop out.

The dream begins with the founder. What was the founders' dream within the congregation? Was it a maintenance mentality and simply established because there was no church in the community? Was it to take a defensive posture to simply promote and defend a certain issue or stance? Or was it an offensive approach to put Christ in every man? (Colossians 1:25-29).

The writers of the constitution of the United States had a dream. The restorationist of the early 1800's had a dream. Jesus Christ, according to Acts 1:8, had a dream and His disciples captured and fulfilled that dream. According to the apostle Paul the gospel was preached to every creature within the first century.

In the belief stage, we establish the general direction in which we must move. Many questions must be considered at this point. Should we maintain a distinctiveness? Should the desired results be temporary or eternal? Should the source of our instruction be omniscient or imperfect? Who has the ultimate and final authority in our belief system and should it be subject to change? For example, during the history of the Restoration Movement we have been challenged to evaluate our belief system. In 1906, the disciples of Christ officially separated themselves from the churches of Christ. During the 1930's the Christian church split away. These two religious groups took with them the majority of the funds and properties leaving the churches of Christ with only their faith. This caused the churches of Christ to reevaluate, asking the question "What do we believe?"

In the third stage, our congregation must establish goals which will determine our course of action. Will our '20a15 be survivalistic based upon a need to pay the bills and staff members, or a need to reach the lost? Some congregations set goals by default by simply repeating last years agenda. Some make a financial commitment by accumulating new debt. But some simply function with a maintenance approach of "busy work".

In the fourth stage, organizational structure is put into place. This gives "the dream" something to stand on and work through. There is one basic principle we must keep in mind as the structure is developed, "form follows function". This simple means the structure is determined by the goal. If our goal is finite, our organization will also be short lived. But, if our goal is infinite and of a divine origin our organization will also endure requiring divine instruction.

In stage five ministry occurs. Ministry, from an organizational perspective, is the kingdom dream incarnate or Christ in action. "The length of a congregations ministry is virtually endless," Dale says, "but when the ministry looses its focus on extending and expanding (3od's kingdom an organizational plateau occurs."

Dale refers to this plateau as "the view from the top". Now, a number of characteristics must exist in order to maintain organizational basis for ministry. (1) A sufficient sense of ownership, (2) trusting relationships, (3) emotional and spiritual needs met, (4) volunteers adequately rewarded, (4) high morale, and (5) basic norms must be healthy and growth enhancing. There are three things which eventually occur during this state of plateau: leadership loses the personal touch, communication becomes slow and inadequate, and many triumphs may develop the attitude of smugness among the membership.

In the sixth stage nostalgia, or as Dale puts it "the lull before the storm". Nostalgia defined is homesick, this is the earliest stage of decline. It effects an organization in transition. It is experienced by people who do not like where they are now and have a distaste for where they are headed. To them, the future is a threat, but the past is familiar and attractive. This is a frustrating time for the leadership because the membership longs for the "good ole days". Charles Kuralt put it this way, "There are three kinds of memories: good, bad, and covenant". Will Rogers said "things ain't what they used to be and probably never was". Second, this weakens their commitment to the present. because they have no energy for today and they are blind to tomorrow. Thirdly, nostalgia is a fragile bridge to the future. It can help during the bad times by giving us a toe hold in the turbulence of transition. It may also be a stepping stone to tomorrow by helping to build momentum needed to move forward.

Robert D. Dale describes the final three stages as a "descent into organizational hell." These final three stages normally move rapidly as the congregational climate descends into conflict. This is the last chance for the leadership to revitalize and renew the dream.

In this seventh stage many members begin to question. They are frightened and disappointed by conflict. Though they may welcome conflict or competition in other aspects of their lives but are afraid of conflict in the church. There are three reasons why we are afraid of conflict. Though some conflict can bring constructive help. (1) Some fear it may weaken the church and its effectiveness. (2) Some feel Christians should never disagree, "its simply unchristian". (3) A critical mode is difficult to overcome. As it has been said "it takes three positive words to overcome one negative word."

If concerns of nostalgia are not met, members begin to question goals, direction, ministries, and the usual pat answers do not help. Even when doctrine is questioned, scripture and logic are no longer adequate. Without direct and effective organizational revitalization measures, the crises is set. The point of no return has been reached. Either the conflict will be resolved or at least managed at the questioning level or it will destroy the organization. Questioning is the now or never point of congregational health. Health or death are the choices.

In the next stage if the answers are inadequate, doubt sets in and polarization occurs. "Is this right?" becomes a vicious yes or no. Conflict is now open and growing nasty. Notice how our view of conflict shapes method of response: 1) Conflict shows a basic relationship which is rarely found between two strangers. 2) The closer the relationship the fiercer the conflicts may be. 3) Higher since of ownership brings about keener conflict. 4) People argue but groups war. 5). Stable congregations have more frequent but smaller conflicts. 6) When a congregation suppresses conflict, the conflict overflows and a major explosion occurs. A word of caution; a congregations energies will tend to focus on the conflict rather than on ministry.

In the final stage "dropout" occurs. Dale states "My studies show only about one church in ten making any concerted effort to recover its dropout members. Several reasons may explain apparent disinterest in dropouts. First, church leaders may assume dropouts are hostile. That sometimes isn't the case. Quite likely their anger is spent. In fact, their lack of feeling for their church may indicate a complete breach of emotional loyalty. Second, some leaders may not realize how vast a reservoir of potential ministry volunteers is resting dormant on the fringes of their church. In a denominational survey, southern Baptists recently discovered 27% of their numbers were actually inactive church members."

At the point of questioning, commitment to the institution is still present and there is still hope. From the time of polarization to dropout is a very emotional time and death most likely is inevitable because polarization creates an atmosphere of rebellion and very little loyalty is present. It is then that dropout occurs.

How do we avoid the eventual death of a congregation? We must go back to the dream. We must return to the dreams and aspirations of our founder Jesus Christ. We must instill this dream within the members of the congregation both young and old. We must allow each member in the congregation to play a part in building the dream. And we must have a leadership who is committed to the dream more so than anyone else in the congregation. For they must truly be dreamers and idealists, much like the leaders of the early church.

Our belief system must be established upon an unshakable foundation, the word of God. The Bible must be the ultimate and final authority. Our goals must be to seek the lost and equip the saints for the work of the ministry. These goals must be kept public, formalized, prioritized, very specific, evaluated regularly, and responsibilities must be shared throughout the congregation. Our church structure must be based upon that exemplified in the first century according to the New Testament. Elders, deacons, and every member ministering. Then we must portray Christ incarnate.

As Robert D. Dale said in closing. "Thomas Jefferson once hoped aloud that America would have revolution every twenty years. Jefferson wasn't advocating the overthrow of the government. He envisioned no battles, no new flags, or any prisoners of war. Jefferson wanted a redefining of America for every new generation. No church is healthy without a defined kingdom dream. Congregations either redefine their basic purpose every generation or they die. The road to health is to dream again. Charles A. Lindbergh stated our hope: 'We actually live today in our dreams of yesterday; and, living in these dreams, we dream again.' The gospel of Christ' kingdom hasn't changed. We have only to dream it again."