There’s an interesting new phenomenon in the church world today. Churches are starting to hire Church Consultants --- the same way companies have hired consultants for years. Consultants are trained as problem solvers. They provide fresh eyes and new perspectives when businesses or churches face stagnation or decline. The good news is that those who listen to the advice of the Consultant can often turn things around. The bad news is that not everyone who hires a Consultant takes their advice.
Years ago the Ridgecrest Christian Church in Albuquerque hired a church growth expert from California. I remember his presentation to the church board while I was a Youth Minister there. He gave many suggestions, but his biggest recommendation was that the church was located in a part of town that had no growth potential left. He urged them to sell their property and move to a part of town where growth was happening.
Well, they owned their property free and clear. They’d been there a good while. The bottom line is, they weren’t interested in any solution that involved major change of any kind. Since they didn’t like the advice they were given, they began to question the church growth expert’s qualifications. (Never mind the fact that he had helped other churches.)
In the end, they chose to do nothing the consultant had suggested. Sure enough, today that church is in decline --- barely able to keep the doors open. That was precisely what the Consultant warned would happen if they were unwilling to change.