One of the most urgent challenges facing the church today is not simply declining attendance or aging congregations—it is the shortage of leaders equipped to guide churches through renewal and revitalization.

Biblically and historically, the primary place for developing new church revitalizers has always been the local church, or a close network of local churches. This conviction is why I continue to believe deeply in the importance of local church associations and regional partnerships. Renewal leaders are not best formed in isolation or abstraction, but in real congregations facing real challenges.

Just as church revitalizers must personally embrace their God-given responsibility to raise up other leaders, healthy local churches must embrace their responsibility to develop their own future ministers and revitalizers. Renewal cannot be outsourced indefinitely. It must be cultivated.

When churches commit to building revitalizers from within, several critical benefits emerge.

1. Multiplication Solves the Leadership Crisis

A church-based approach to revitalizer development creates a model that can be multiplied almost endlessly. Every local church—or cluster of churches—becomes a learning environment for new leaders.

If every church intentionally developed even one or two leaders for church renewal, the leadership shortage we currently face would quickly diminish. Multiplication, not centralization, is the biblical solution.

2. Holistic Formation Happens Best in the Local Church

Revitalization is not merely a technical skill—it is spiritual, relational, and deeply practical. Development is far more effective when it takes place inside the life of a congregation, where theology, leadership, conflict, mission, and faith intersect daily.

The local church provides the context needed to form leaders who are spiritually grounded, emotionally resilient, and practically competent.

3. The Right People Get the Right Training

The leaders who most need revitalization training are not those watching from the sidelines—they are those already engaged in renewal work.

When training is rooted in the local church, we move away from preparing the wrong people and toward equipping those already carrying the weight of leadership. Training becomes timely, relevant, and immediately applicable.

4. Flexibility Meets a Changing World

Church revitalization does not follow a single template. One size does not fit all.

Across cultures, denominations, education levels, and ministry contexts, revitalizers emerge with different strengths and needs. A church-based model allows for flexibility, customization, and responsiveness to rapidly changing ministry environments.

Rigid systems struggle to keep pace. Local churches adapt naturally.

5. Sustainable Development Requires Local Ownership

When the local church supports the development of its own leaders, it maintains responsibility for—and ownership of—the process. This creates systems that are self-supporting, self-sustaining, and self-propagating.

A church that equips future revitalizers ensures continuity of mission, long-term health, and the ongoing work of renewal in its own context.

6. Leaders Are Built Over a Lifetime

Revitalizer development is not a short-term program—it is a lifelong journey. The most effective training does not end after a course or credential but continues throughout a leader’s ministry.

Healthy churches create cultures of ongoing learning, reflection, and growth.

7. Evaluation Is Strongest in Community

Those best equipped to help shape and evaluate emerging revitalizers are the people who know them best—local leaders, mentors, and congregants who work with them regularly.

Local evaluation fosters clarity, accountability, and meaningful progress toward well-defined goals.

A Final Word

The future of church revitalization will not be secured by distant institutions alone. It will be secured when local churches reclaim their role as leadership incubators, intentionally raising up men and women called to guide congregations toward renewal.

Churches that build revitalizers are not only renewing themselves—they are investing in the future mission of the Church.