Mark Clifton said he learned while working with an adoption ministry years ago that you don’t “give up” children but rather you “choose” adoption.
“This is what the McElwain congregation did lately,” he said. “The church’s vision team worked and prayed and chose a new relationship with the Shades Mountain Baptist Church. They’ll be known now as the Hope Community Church.”
Clifton, senior director of replanting for the North American Mission Board, served the past year as interim pastor at McElwain Baptist Church, Birmingham, though he used Zoom video conferencing to preach for most of the Sundays.
Clifton spoke at a pastors meeting at the Birmingham Metro Baptist Association on Oct. 26. He has served as a consultant to the association during his time at the former McElwain congregation.
‘Spiritual warfare’
Clifton admitted the current COVID pandemic has complicated the work of the church and discouraged many pastors.
“Satan is using the virus to discourage us, but it’s much more than a matter of music or masks, or anything else that divides us. It’s a matter of spiritual warfare,” he said. “The church must always be on guard against our spiritual enemy. We must ‘armor up’ and fight the good fight of faith.”
Clifton said the opening vision of John in the book of Revelation encourages him.
“John saw Jesus among the lampstands,” he said. “This means that Jesus is among His churches. They’re not ‘our’ churches, but His, and we need to do what He wants us to do, no matter the cost.”
Clifton noted that Southern Baptists were program-driven in the 60s and 70s.
“We thought whatever problems we had, if we could go to Ridgecrest [Baptist Conference Center], they could fix it,” he said with a laugh. “We even had a magazine called ‘The Baptist Program.’ But [Southern Baptist author] Henry Blackaby helped us see beyond this. He said no program ever changed someone’s heart. And Blackaby taught us that God puts no expiration date on His church. We must stay connected to the Lord of the church and follow Him into the challenges ahead.”
Clifton said congregations must follow Jesus into their communities.
Different agenda
“Though Christians are uncomfortable with the world, and we have a vastly different agenda, we must bless our communities,” he said.
He described his current interim pastorate in Kansas where the congregation planned three outdoor movie nights and has taken on the responsibility of a community Christmas celebration.
“Our communities must be better because of us,” he said.
Clifton acknowledged church revitalization can take a long time, and he counsels pastors to preach, pray, love and stay.
“Spurgeon said if Jesus isn’t in your sermons, you must ‘cross the hedge’ to get to Him,” he said. “The church belongs to Him and we must preach obedience and mission.”
Clifton said biblical prayer is called “wrestling” in Colossians 4:12. “Biblical prayer isn’t just ‘God bless them, amen,’” he said. “It means that we get serious in seeking God’s intervention in people’s lives.”
Clifton said many preachers say they love to preach, but it’s also important to love the people to whom they preach.
“Love is costly sometimes,” he said, “but if Jesus loved Judas, surely we can love even those who disagree with us.”
Lessons from revitalization
Clifton said research documents church revitalization is dependent on the pastor’s tenure.
“We’ve found if a pastor departs in less than three years from a troubled church, he leaves the church in worse condition. It usually takes five years to earn trust.”
Clifton also exhorted attendees to find avenues of celebration in their churches.
“Celebrate even the small victories of your ministry footprint,” he said. “In your travels throughout the week surely you can find one changed life, one answered prayer, one healing or one act of blessing. We’re good with the big celebrations, but we need to celebrate incrementally, too. Sometimes we can look to other churches in the area and ask our members to celebrate with them since we’re in the same Kingdom work.”
In response to a question about what he’s observed in his travels, Clifton said the COVID response is contextual.
“In California, some of our churches still aren’t meeting in person, but in Florida, they’re wide open,” he said. “Every place has a diversity of opinion, too. What I say is none of us knows what’s right, but we must make the best of our situations. We should ask our members to give us grace as we go forward and try to learn the way to the future.”
Birmingham Metro Executive Director Dr. Chris Crain hosted the event and said the BMBA and Bessemer Baptist Association would meet virtually later in the day to consider a proposed partnership.
For more information on NAMB church planting and revitalization efforts, visit namb.net/send-network.
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