The church did not start off wanting to decline. No church planter ever thinks the church they pour their heart and soul into will close. So, what happened? It was a question Desmond Barrett asked walking into his new assignment. There is a stigma that an aging congregation is a dying congregation. If a pastor is asked to go to an aging church and buildings with a host of deferred maintenance, many will run in the other direction. Who would blame them? However, there are pastors who feel the call to serve the comeback church and who see hope in decline. Countless pastors before and since have asked, Is God done with the local church that has seen better days? If not, are you being called to a church that is seen as hopeless, but God sees as hope-filled? To pastors or laypersons in the church, the legacy church needs you. It needs your wisdom and support.

Desmond Barrett is the lead pastor at Winter Haven Nazarene in Winter Haven, Florida. He is a podcast host of Revitalizing the Declining Church with Dr. Desmond Barrett, has extensively researched in the area of church revitalization, and serves as church revitalizer, consultant, coach, and mentor to revitalizing pastors and churches. He is a graduate of Nazarene Bible College and Trevecca Nazarene University.