Waking the Dead: Returning Plateaued and Declining Churches to Vibrancy

Do you remember . . .

when you had to arrive early to get a seat? when the church was a beehive of happy activity? when baptisms occurred regularly? When the church seemed alive with the Spirit? Is your church still like that today? Or has attendance dwindled? Are the glory days a distant memory? Is so, then this book is for you.

The average life span of a church is about 70 years. They plateau at only 15 years of age-the same age when most humans stop growing.

Eighty percent of all Adventist churches in North America have plateaued or are declining. But just as the sick can regain their health through diet and exercise, so feeble congregations can, by taking radical action, begin to grow again. There is a price to pay, but the rewards are great. Church growth expert Russell Burrill explains how Laodicea can be born again. He diagnoses the diseases that cause premature hardening of the attitudes, and prescribes restorative therapy. For churches willing to get off the plateau and aim for the summit, here is the way back to vibrancy.

The author concludes with an enlightening section on worship renewal and contemporary Christian music.

Russell Burrill, director of the North American Division Evangelism Institute since 1985, is a pastor, evangelist, and church consultant. Books he has written include The New World Order, Revolution in the Church, Radical Disciples for Revolutionary Churches, The Revolutionized Church of the Twenty-first Century, Rekindling a Lost Passion, Hope When Your World Falls Apart, Creating Healthy Adventist Churches Through Natural Church Development, and Waking the Dead.