I experienced a wonderful surprise while purging emails today. It is a note from Pastor Michael Zabel of First Covenant Church in Sioux City, Iowa.

He recommends a book entitled, “I Refuse to Lead A Dying Church!” by Paul Nixon (Pilgrim Press, 2006). The author lays out six choices that a church has to make in order to not die.

They are:

1. Choosing life over death
2. Choosing community over isolation
3. Choosing fun over drudgery
4. Choosing bold over mild
5. Choosing frontier over fortress
6. Choosing now rather than later

Michael says that the book has a lot of good insights but warns that the author has a thing against conservative/evangelical churches. So be it.

But I sure like these six choices.

I would also want to know if a church has the vision, intention and means to follow through on these choices. (See VIM Questions). Does the church really know the cost of these choices? Is the church willing to ask the significant questions and take the significant steps to move forward?

Jesus said that no one builds a tower without first counting the bricks (Luke 14:28-30). I have found that most churches underestimate the cost of vitality. Part of my role is to help churches confront their current reality with hope, honesty and faith… and to count the cost.

And make no mistake about it. There is a cost and the cost is usually greater than most people imagine. Vitality takes longer than planned, is messier than expected, costs more than originally figured and requires greater determination than once thought

I love these choices, but remember the cost.

As I look back over the last year, this is one of the lessons God has taught me: That hope and warning are two sides of the same coin. Warning without hope is despair. Hope without warning is fantasy.

Reflections on the Journey:

1. As you look at these six choices, which one speaks most loudly to your context?
2. What would need to happen for the church to make this choice?
3. What are the forces for and against this choice?
4. Why is the cost of vitality so high?
5. In your church, what is the dynamic balance of hope and warning?