Are you looking to brand and market your church? If you are truly a church founded by a call of God and a move of the Holy Spirit you are already branded by the blood of Jesus Christ and if the Spirit is moving in your people you need no marketing plan as He will draw people to where He is working.
If He is not the founder or energizing your church no amount of Madison Avenue techniques or evangelism programs will be of any lasting effect. At best, you will have a roller coaster of boom and bust as people come looking for some new thing and get bored when the new is not so new and they get bored.
As Pastor Carter Conlon has said, "It is time to come out of the boardroom and go back to the prayer room."
Psalms 127:1 A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
Stop trying to resuscitate what God did not create or remodel a mausoleum. You are wasting energy. Look around and ask the Lord where He is working. Then close your doors and go there to serve and be refreshed and blessed rather than being stressed and distressed over a memory.
Be part of a growing Body. That also means not trying to be a random and separated string of DNA or amputated limb. A small group or connection group as part of a Body is a good thing. It is dangerous to be a loose finger not attached to a Body. Indeed, that is how many cults start and how some develop a sense of hyper-spirituality leading them into pride. The wolves pull down the weak that are separated from the flock. If you think you are too spiritual to be in a church you are weaker than you think.
Your gifts are meant to edify the Body, not just a few people. If you were in an area where there was no church then your two or three would be the church in that area. If there are vibrant churches in your area than you are not doing well being isolated from one. The early church met daily in the temple and broke bread from house to house. (Acts 2:47) Maybe we should go back to daily as well and we might lose the many distractions and start seeing more power than we have seen in some time.
Use your gifts in the Body. I will upset some here, but use your gifts in the Body in your town. If God has placed you in your community then He intends for you to use your gifts there or else He would lead you to move to another community. He created the local church and it is technology that has developed the buffet church and the ideology of the church of your choice. The automobile may be a curse as well as a blessing since we can wander far and wide.
Paul wrote to THE Church at Corinth, Ephesus, etc. not to the churches. Jesus spoke to the seven churches as one church per town, not a multiplicity of churches. Division is not what He ordained though Paul predicted that there would be heresies and divisions for it was already happening. Division is also a heresy, along with false doctrine.
If the doctrine is the same the houses should be one. I wonder if God turned the color of the roof red on all the churches He did not plant how many would there be and would yours be one of them? What if He colored the door purple because it was started by pride? What if blue was the color of anger? We could do a rainbow of reasons for a church building started by someone or something else other than God's decree.
Decline should be a red roof issue. If it has been steady, then either something is wrong or it is just the end of a season. Few people live past 100. We average 70-80 years. Some have suggested that churches have a life cycle as well. Some people die young. So do some churches. Often it is because of a birth defect. If the church was not conceived by God then its birth would be defective and may have a short life unless placed on life support by the finances of man. The soul may be long gone, but the shell continues.
Whatever the cause, consider merging with a vibrant church of like doctrine. If no one knows you exist and you have no impact on your community that is a clear sign that the building is a fellowship hall of memory not a church as we see in the Word.
The time is coming when we will have to put away our silliness, pride and ideas. Better to seek the Spirit and start now then to be forced by the times or culture. We may get to bear the marks or brand of Jesus as Paul did. We will have much regret that we did not do the Father's business empowered by the Spirit thwarting what Jesus was leading us to do. May He come quickly, but may He find us in better shape than what we are because we repented of our will so His would be done. Maranatha!
