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Da Sheik

Phasing out a ministry gracefully

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1860 **11/30/15 11:09 am**

I recently saw one of my friends decrying the lack of attendance at his church's Sunday School on social media. Our church has a strong Sunday School program (that was strong long before I arrived here) but I have been in churches where it was a pitiful and dying ministry. I have plenty of weaknesses as a leader , but something I am blessed with is the ability not to get married to any particular methodology. There are times that it just makes more sense to phase out a method as opposed to beating your head against a proverbial wall.

I mentioned months ago that I was struggling with going from two services to one. The consensus of our church was that they wanted to continue doing 2 Sunday morning services. They are both serving two vastly different cultures / demographics, so I'm "ok" with that. That decision would be much more difficult for me however if there was a drastic inequality in terms of attendance and support for both services.

I would like to hear some of your stories of how you successively phased out or refocused an existing ministry. I hate seeing my friends frustrated because they are trying to keep something alive that is destined to die. I do concede that God is able to make the "dry bones " live again. Having said that, most ministries in steep decline tend not to rebound without Divine intervention.