Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB), one in all the flagship evangelical churches within the Church of England, has issued a rallying cry for struggling churches, in addition to providing practical recommendations on learn how to turn a declining congregation right into a revival.
Sarah Jackson, co-pastor of HTB and CEO of Revitalise Trust, is asking any church that’s considering closing down for good to get in contact first to see if HTB may help.
Speaking to Outreach Magazine, she said, “Our vision is to reverse the decline within the Church of England … We don’t want our denomination to shut another church without first offering it to us to send a team to revitalize it.”
She added, “We’ve lost a minimum of one generation, and we don’t wish to lose more.”
The Revitalise Trust began in 2017 and has led to the birth or rebirth of 184 churches. Around a 3rd of those were revitalisations of existing churches that had almost dwindled out of existence.
HTB is well referred to as the birthplace of the Alpha Course, pioneered by the church’s previous vicar, Nicky Gumbel.
The Alpha Course has been praised as a key component in bringing revival to churches in addition to individuals and has been adopted by churches everywhere in the world. It is believed that last 12 months alone over two million people worldwide began exploring faith via the Alpha Course.
Jackson shared some worthwhile advice for churches wishing to see revitalisation, including making use of retired church members and welcoming them into ordained ministry.
With significant life and faith experience already, Jackson said that if 8,000 such people may very well be mobilized over the subsequent decade the decline in church attendance is perhaps reversed.
She also suggests raising leaders from underrepresented ethnic, social or educational backgrounds, and that churches “exhibit justice” of their local communities.
“Quite lots of them [Gen-Z] come to our homeless shelter or our food bank to volunteer because they’re justice-driven,” said Jackson.
“At some point they ask, ‘Why do you guys do that?’ We respond by inviting them to an Alpha course, where lots of them come to faith.”
 Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB), one in all the flagship evangelical churches within the Church of England, has issued a rallying cry for struggling...){kind=link}