Understanding Present Day Culture and the Implications for Church Revitalisation

Church revitalisation, alongside church planting, is an essential strategy for gospel growth in the countries of Europe. However, a church revitalisation strategy will only be effective if it takes account of the cultural context that has led to church decline in the first place, and is aware of the obstacles that need to be overcome to bring about essential change and restore church health. John Stevens draws on the specific experience of the Fellowship of Independent Churches in the post-Christian secular context of the UK, but the principles of contextualisation he identifies are transferable to other contexts such as atheist, Catholic or post-Communist societies. The talk does not seek to provide answers but rather equip leaders of networks and churches that have a vision for revitalisation to ask the right questions so that the probability of success is improved.