For Districts
You already know which churches are on the list.
Every District Superintendent has one. The mental list of congregations that are not going to make it. You have prayed over that list. You have sent coaches. You have probably had the conversation nobody wants to have.
What you may not have is a plan built for those churches specifically.
That is the entire reason Fresh Start Network exists.
Monty Wright · District Superintendent · Alliance Northwest
Fresh Start Network serves districts and churches of The Christian and Missionary Alliance across the United States.
Every district has a plan for the stuck church. Almost nobody has one for the dying church.
So the dying church gets handed the stuck church's playbook. A new program. New signage. A revitalization consultant. And it does not work, because it was never built for a congregation that is out of runway.
Districts are left with three bad options: keep funding a church that cannot turn, let it close quietly, or sell the building and absorb the loss.
There is a fourth one.
The part nobody puts in the report
- A shrinking congregation that will not name what is happening
- A pastor who is exhausted and has nowhere to go next
- A building worth more than the ministry inside it
- Board members who confuse loyalty to the past with faithfulness
- The quiet math on how long the reserves last
Right tool, wrong patient
- Revitalization is what a church does for itself. It needs runway to work.
- Replanting is what happens when the runway is gone
- A church past the line cannot coach its way back
- Calling it revitalization when it is not costs the district years
A different question entirely
- The question stops being how do we save this and becomes what could God start here
- A healthy partner church carries weight the district does not have to
- New leadership arrives prepared instead of drafted
- The congregation gets to end well, which is its own kind of ministry
What you actually get
You are not buying a curriculum. You are getting a bench.
Fresh Start is what we do. Network is who we are. When a district partners with us, four things show up that a district cannot easily build on its own.
A trained Fresh Start pastor
Certified replanters who have been evaluated for the specific wiring this work requires. You stop drafting whoever is available.
A partner church that carries weight
A healthy congregation that adopts the replant. People, resources, encouragement, and a reason for the dying church to believe something is actually coming.
A Champion coach who has done it
Someone who has walked a congregation through releasing a building and a name, and did not lose their faith doing it.
A room full of districts doing the same thing
The part you cannot buy. District leaders who will tell you what worked and what they would never do again.
We are not trying to save churches. We are trying to rescue the mission they were built for.
Three ways to start
Start wherever it is easiest.
None of these commit your district to anything.
District Leaders Zoom
Third Thursday of every month, 3:00pm Eastern. One hour with other district leaders working the same problem. Come with a church on your mind, or come just to listen.
- Next call: November 19
- One hour, no commitment
- Leave any time
Bring a Day One to your district
A one day experience for your pastors and leaders on the three stages a church passes through before a Fresh Start is possible. We come to you.
- Hosted in your district
- Built for pastors and district leaders
- Or send a few people to one of ours first
A conversation with Mike
No agenda and no pitch. If you have a church on your mind and you are not sure which road it is on, that is exactly the call to have.
- One conversation
- Bring a specific church
- I will tell you honestly if this is not ours
Tell us where you are
One form. We will take it from there.
Tell us which of the three you want and a little about your district. Someone from our team will be in touch within two business days.